Libraries Connected Awards Shortlist 2024
Children's Promise
Margaret Street, Early Years Librarian (job share)
Izzy Martin, Early Years Librarian (job share)
Hertfordshire Libraries
Showing dedication and tireless effort in promoting the importance of library membership, the love of books and book sharing from the earliest age to families and wider Early Years partnerships across Hertfordshire.
Gemma Mccaffery, Area Manager Library Services
Franka Aichour, Assistant Branch Manager, Botwell Green Library
Hillingdon Library Service
Improving services for young people and subsequently reducing the Anti-Social Behaviour in Hayes. This included engaging with focus groups to plan and facilitate a World Café and a participatory budgeting event.
James Powell, Communications Manager
Alex Downing, Fundraising and Partnerships Manager
Suffolk Libraries
Supporting a BBC Radio Suffolk campaign to donate new toys for children using the network of 45 libraries to receive toys and organising onward donations in time for Christmas, making a difference to many families and children across Suffolk, and raising awareness of Suffolk Libraries' community impact and wider wellbeing offer.
Suzi Wild, Service Development Officer
Amanda Haran, Neighbourhood Engagement and Delivery Officer
Thomas Ley, Neighbourhood Engagement and Delivery Officer
Cheryl Pridgeon, Service Development Specialist: Children and Access and Read Manchester Hub Manager (job share)
Margaret Duff, Service Development Specialist: Children and Access and Read Manchester Hub Manager (job share)
Manchester Libraries
Working tirelessly to deliver an amazing service, targeting some of the most deprived communities in Manchester, including book gifting to communities, work with schools and new initiatives such as ECO/Climate change events, and gifting books for Play Streets events.
Deborah Peck
Newham Libraries
Promoting the life-changing benefits for children who read for pleasure and striving to ensure this happens through her work, in particular the development of the year-round LEAP (Libraries Engagement And Participation) programme with local primary schools.
Libraries and Culture Team
Inspire: Culture, Learning and Libraries
Showing great resilience and ingenuity to deliver the Little Creatives Early Years programme, that stretched through the Covid crisis and creating resources and a legacy that continues to expand in the 23-26 programmes.
Culture and Creativity
Bethan Lee, Principal Librarian
Jennifer Dorrian, Programme and Events officer
Zoe Thomas, Library Assistant
Swansea Library Service
Showing initiative to create new activities and develop resources to enable Swansea Central Library to demonstrate that it is a library of sanctuary and welcoming to new people who find themselves settling in and near Swansea.
Alison Wheat, Outreach Librarian, Harrogate Library Team
Library Supervisors, Library Assistants, and library volunteers, North Yorkshire
Being a forward-thinking, ambitious team, passionate about providing impactful library services to their local community. Alongside partner organisations, they commemorated 100 years of Harrogate's War Memorial by producing the multimedia immersive exhibition ‘More Than a Name on a Memorial’.
Salma Chand, Library Customer Services Adviser
London Borough of Waltham Forest
Showing a commitment to inclusivity, creativity, and supporting networks reflecting a desire to foster community resilience and growth through library services and diverse engagement opportunities. Her ongoing efforts to implement PEEPS (Parent-Child Early Education Program) and collaborate with local artists exemplify her continuous commitment to community and cultural enrichment.
St. Albans Central Library Team
Led by Marco Peveri, Customer Services Supervisor (to November 2023) and Library Manager (from December 2023)
Hertfordshire Libraries
Being highly proactive and working together with a can-do attitude to exploit to the full the resources in the library to support culture, creativity and wellbeing for all residents in the local community, including those at risk of being socially excluded.
Fiona Diaper, Outreach Librarian
John Frankland, Outreach Librarian
Christine Holgate, Outreach Librarian
Sharon Houghton, Outreach Librarian
Deborah Thornton, Outreach Librarian
Alison Tutill, Outreach Librarian
Voirrey Whittaker, Outreach Librarian
North Yorkshire Libraries
Displaying innovation, skills, and resilience in delivering the Ey Up! project. Ey Up! came from a seed of an idea when working with the University of Leeds Dialect for Local and Community History Month 2022 and resulted in libraries making lasting connections with partners, volunteers, funders, artists, film makers and participants from hard-to-reach groups.
Dorothee Devouge
Danny Middleton
Chris Whitfield
Manchester Libraries
Driving the events programme at Manchester Central Library ensuring the bringing together of diverse audiences and a high quality cultural offer that is full of surprises.
Health and Wellbeing
Sarah Smith, Library Development Manager
Kate Elliott, Library Development Officer
Dhurata Loku, Library Development Officer
Margherita Haijima, Library Customer Service Assistant
Diana Manipud, Archives Officer
Brent Libraries, Arts and Heritage
Devising ‘Dress to Remember: a dementia-friendly project’, a totally new concept, to support people with dementia and their families, particularly after the pandemic.
Cathey Dunning, Library Information Assistant
Halton
Going beyond what is expected in a remarkable way by identifying a local need for a bereavement support for adults and garnering support and partners to create groups in libraries.
Rachel Haroulis, Library Outreach Project Officer
Helen Hay, Library Outreach Project Officer
Cumberland
Showing initiative to deliver a significantly improved outreach service to people in supported living in the local area, using VR headsets to improve wellbeing.
Peter Waterman, Access and Volunteer Development Manager
Wiltshire
Developing and launched the Warm and Welcome Libraries offer and creating an innovative and wide-reaching health and wellbeing offer.
Naomi Peel, Area Library Manager
Jakki Racey, Area Library Manager
Terri Lewis, Area Library Manager
Shelley Hale, District Library Manager
Cambridgeshire
Working closely with their local communities in to proactively engage with and welcome refugees and asylum seekers housed in local hotels.
Alison Cassidy, Team Leader
Liverpool
Leading on developing health and wellbeing programmes, creating partnership and organising activities including, weekly health information, social prescribing and digital inclusion drop in sessions, and marketplace events to tie in with National Events.
Information and Digital
Kate Smyth, Development Officer
Anna Homer, Development Officer
Liam Marland, Digital Support Assistant
Oldham
Welcoming asylum seekers and helping them access learning, digital, information, and volunteering opportunities at their local library.
Kimberley Harston, Librarian
Caroline Wilkinson, Librarian
East Riding
Using technology to widen the reach of public libraries through school engagement and opening up new possibilities for the library service to reach other people and groups within the rural locality.
Georgina Carr, Partnership Marketing Programme Owner, Libraries
Lincolnshire Libraries (GLL)
Championing online improvements gaining internal support and external funding to enhance the customers experience through upgraded webpages and the integration of innovative ideas, including a bespoke video sharing customer’s library stories, integrated catalogue functions, and room and activity booking facilities within the website.
Luke Oakes, Library Development Manager
Rosie Veitch, Library Development Officer
Ana Silva, Library Development Officer
Paul Smith, District Library Assistant
Cambridgeshire Libraries
Responding to urgent digital inclusion needs helping asylum seekers connect with loved ones across the world and spearheading a national conversation about digital, shaping discourse with the view that to deliver digital inclusion you must deliver the digital trinity of connectivity, kit and skills.
Jackie Usher, Team Manager Digital Access Team
Amy Perry, Principal Librarian Digital Access Team
Michelle Carter, Team Librarian
Natasha Jones, Team Librarian
Georgina McLaughlin, Team Librarian
West Sussex Library Service
Identifying the digital training needs of library staff and produce 23 training modules and with the support of library managers across the service, to train all 340 library staff in12 months.
Loretta Awauh, Strategic Business Support Manager
Greenwich, Bromley, Wandsworth (GLL)
Creating the business support section in Greenwich and delivered the British Library SILL (Start Up in London Libraries) programme, expanding the service to Bromley and Wandsworth libraries, and leading the very successful ‘Start Up Business Week’ across the three boroughs.
Reading
Beth Brown, Adult Services Library Assistant
Guille-Alles Library
Diversifying the library offers and establishing the Lit with Liberate group, creating a place for the island's LGBTQ+ members to feel safe and comfortable discussing the books.
Mazhar Iqbal, Librarian
Ambreen Aziz, Librarian
Becky Longwood, Librarian
Kirklees Libraries
Running the weekly English Talk time sessions which make genuinely life-changing differences to some of the area’s most isolated residents.
Hayley Nicholson, Librarian
East Riding
Taking the lead with the Poetry competition, working tirelessly to develop and grow the project, whilst balancing her day-to-day workload.
Sarah Sparham, Prison Librarian
Jill Brown, Prison Library Assistant
Delia Armstrong, Prison Library Assistant
Karen Hedley, Prison Library Assistant
HMP Northumberland - provided by Northumberland Library Service
Highlighting the value of the library service across the prison estate and embedding reading for all.
Elizabeth Stanton, Customer Service Development Librarian
Kent Libraries
Engaging with partners and local teenagers to establish a dedicated Teen area within Dartford Library.
Justin Burns, Team Manager Books, Reading and Culture
Wendy Drust Principal Librarian Books, Reading and Culture
Jackie Manners, Principal Librarian Wellbeing
Rebecca Robertson, Team Librarian
Jo Moeller, Principal Librarian Enquiries, Learning and Enterprise
Vicki Davey, Principal Librarian Volunteers and Communities
Marion Goaman, Read On Librarian
West Sussex Library Service
Coming together to develop a comprehensive adult literacy offer improving literacy support and providing help for those wanting to learn to read.
Vision and Print Impaired People's Promise (VPIPP)
Jackie Burgess, Health & Wellbeing Lead
Guille-Alles Library
Pioneering the Stories on USB service for people with sight problems and blindness.
Basil Nankivell, Community Library Manager
Wiltshire
Constantly going beyond what has been expected through the establishment of a Visually Impaired Person’s Reading Group.
Gill Nutkins, Stock Librarian
Bromley Libraries (GLL)
Being dedicated to making library services more accessible to people with additional needs.
Kelly Christian, Operations Manager
Annette Price, Operational Team Leader
Natasha Hunt, Operational Team Leader
Samantha Meunier, Development and Outreach Officer
Sarah Deacon, Business Improvement and Stock Manager
Bath and North East Somerset
Working with RNIB and library user groups to improve services to people with visual impairments, including staff training, reading groups, and improvements to buildings.
Mark Eldridge, Learning Systems and Operations Manager
Derby City Library Service
Improving the offer for blind and partially sighted people throughout Derby City, including setting up one of the first Tech Hubs, specifically for Blind and Partially sighted people in partnership with RNIB in Riverside Library in the Derby Council House.
Priten Pancholi, Service Delivery Manager
Leicester City Library Service
Working with the RNIB to improve accessibility to the blind and partially sighted community in Leicester City.