Emma Daniel, Projects and Finance Administrator at Libraries Connected looks back on a day of learning and celebration.

Know Your Neighbourhood: Connecting communities through libraries

The Know Your Neighbourhood (KYN) programme has been an inspiring piece of work to be involved in. Supporting Project Manager Tess and the 26 participating library services over the last few years has shown me just how important libraries are to their communities, offering people the chance to connect, tackle loneliness and isolation, and volunteer their time to help others. 

Conference planning 

After the successful interim KYN conference in autumn 2024 for participants involved in Strand 1 of the programme, Libraries Connected were given the opportunity to host a 2026 conference bringing together all KYN participants across both strands.  

The event was designed as a hybrid conference to ensure it was accessible to a wider range of attendees. It was important that the online and inperson experiences were equally valuable. York Guildhall was selected for its beautiful space, strong communication from the venue team, and their well-established partnership with an audiovisual company that knows the space well. 

A day of learning and networking 

Robin Simpson from Creative Lives opened the conference and guided us through the day. We began with insights into the ongoing evaluation of the programme, due to be published later this year. Kieran Jones from Fortia Insight reflected on the participation of funded organisations and their efforts to help collate the data that now paints a rich picture of the programme’s successes. 

Next, Katie Pekacar and Shameila Ahmed explored the benefits of networks when working with partners across sectors. Katie shared insight into the Know Your Neighbourhood North East Impact Network, recently formed by a variety of organisations coming together in the region. Sham, from Heart of England, discussed the peer networks that have emerged thanks to KYN funding. 

A panel session followed, hosted by Dionne Buckman of Golden Sankofa and featuring representatives from UK Community Foundations, Arts Council England, National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England. They offered practical advice and perspectives from national funders. 

We then heard from Grace Stubbings of We Make Sound about their KYNfunded project, which has since secured further funding and been recognised with a Youth Music Trailblazer award. Grace shared the journey of setting up the project and how it grew into the success it is today. 

Music, movement and midday conversations 

Lunch offered a chance for networking and conversations. For those wanting an activity, Phill Fairhurst of Electric Pink Voices led a Singing for Creative Health session that resulted in a group performance after the break. Phill also ran an extended session that encouraged inperson participants to sing and move around, helping to reenergise the room. Meanwhile, online attendees took part in a poetry exercise led expertly by Rachel New. 

The final plenary session was another panel, this time hosted by Daren Henley from Arts Council England. The discussion brought together Professor Manuela Barreto, Emma Fitzimmons from YMCA Staffordshire, and Tess DenmanCleaver from New Writing North. They explored how inperson interventions can address and prevent the harmful consequences of stigma around loneliness. The panel covered topics such as the challenges of using the word “loneliness” and how to measure success in programmes like KYN, where people’s actions may not always be easily captured in qualitative data. 

World Café: Bringing everyone Into the Conversation 

The day concluded with a World Café activity. Here, the online and in person experiences diverged. In the hall, twelve tables each focused on a different topic. Attendees visited three tables over the hour, sparking lively and thoughtful discussions. Facilitators guided conversations and captured key themes. 

Online attendees joined rotating breakout rooms, allowing everyone to contribute to each of the three discussions – resulting in equally insightful conversations. 

Robin then closed the conference, and attendees made their way home, hopefully carrying with them a renewed sense of inspiration and connection. 

Sector Development Project Manager Tessa Blades looks at how the lessons learnt from Know Your Neighbourhood can be carried into the future.

Looking back and ahead

Since 2023, I have managed the library element of the DCMS-funded Know Your Neighbourhood Programme – an initiative focused on reaching people at risk of or experiencing chronic loneliness and widening participation in volunteering. As the programme comes to an end, I find myself reflecting not just on what was delivered, but on what will endure.
 

A project about people and belonging

At its heart, this programme has always been about people. Across the programme, libraries delivered a wide range of activity designed to support connection: from regular social groups and creative sessions to volunteering opportunities and larger-scale community events.

This mixed approach enabled libraries to reach a broad and diverse audience, including people at risk of or experiencing chronic loneliness, as well as those new to volunteering. Many participants engaged regularly over time, while others accessed one-off activities as a first step into connection.

Through this, libraries created accessible, community-rooted opportunities that supported people to build new relationships, develop skills and confidence, and take part more actively in community life.

For a project centred on loneliness, it was especially powerful to witness connection in action – seeing individuals, organisations and communities come together. What began as funded activity has, in many cases, grown into lasting partnerships and even genuine friendships. That, in itself, feels like a profound achievement.

 

Witnessing connection at the Know Your Neighbourhood conference

A particularly striking moment came during the final KYN Conference on 4 March 2026 (a genuinely joyful event that I felt proud to be part of). Sitting in that space, it was impossible not to notice the strength of the networks that had formed. Connections were happening in real time: people discovering shared goals, exchanging ideas and building relationships that will continue well beyond the life of the programme.

It was also clear that funders were actively listening to on-the-ground experience and feedback, adapting their approaches accordingly and engaging in meaningful dialogue with delivery organisations to better understand and respond to their needs.

 

Bringing library services together and sharing knowledge

These connections took many forms, for example between delivery organisations, national sector bodies and funders, creating a rich and dynamic ecosystem. Both formal and informal networks have become a vital infrastructure in their own right.

There is now a much stronger sense of who is working in this space, who holds expertise and who others can connect with. This visibility enables those involved in delivery to move more fluidly across different themes, share learning and build on each other’s work.

A key part of this has been the role of Libraries Connected as a network in its own right. Through the programme, it has brought together library services in a structured way, creating space for shared learning and collaboration. Built-in knowledge sharing events have ensured that learning was not siloed but actively shared across the wider sector.

 

Turning learning into lasting change

What has been particularly powerful is the emerging potential for that learning to flow. Insights from delivery, evaluation, monitoring and case studies can be translated into practical tools, thematic insights and embedded within Libraries Connected’s strategic approach.

The ambition is for this learning to shape local service design, strengthen evaluation approaches and support more effective volunteer management, while also informing regional and national practice. In turn, this will help position libraries as essential infrastructure for social connection, wellbeing and place-based change.

 

Why libraries matter in tackling loneliness

The programme has also reinforced the unique role that public libraries play in reducing loneliness and building social cohesion. Libraries provide inclusive, trusted spaces where people can connect at their own pace, build confidence and develop a sense of belonging.

They support participation in ways that prioritise choice and agency, enabling people to engage in ways that feel comfortable and meaningful to them.

 

Fostering future partnerships

Working within the cultural strand of the programme, alongside the Association of Independent Museums and Creative Lives, has created valuable opportunities to connect with partners. Through this, we recognised how closely our work aligns: reaching similar communities, addressing shared challenges and working towards common outcomes.

These connections have opened up real potential for future partnership working.

 

Recognising and reinforcing impact

A particular highlight for me was the extension funding awarded to libraries. This was not just a continuation of investment but a recognition of impact.

The monitoring data for library-based delivery has been exceptional, clearly showing that many of the target libraries were not only meeting but exceeding their targets in reaching community members at risk of or experiencing chronic loneliness and recruiting volunteers.

It was incredibly rewarding to see this evidence translated into further support.
 

Looking forward with optimism

While it is with a heavy heart that the programme is coming to a close, there is also real optimism. We are already seeing how the opportunities it created are influencing ongoing programmes and shaping changes in service delivery.

The full evaluation, due to be published in the Spring, will provide further evidence of the outstanding work libraries deliver with their communities. It will strengthen the case for continued investment, demonstrating how initiatives like this reduce loneliness and increase social connectedness.
 

Building a lasting legacy

Ultimately, the legacy of the programme is not just in outputs or metrics but in relationships – in the networks that continue, the partnerships that endure and the shared commitment to addressing loneliness and strengthening social connection.

Overcoming loneliness one cuppa at a time

The free Café at Bideford Library, part of Libraries Unlimited, provides a safe space for people who may be feeling lonely or be experiencing other challenges to enjoy a simple lunch, but most importantly to meet other people.

Will, a Chatty Café regular, credits it with easing his loneliness and having a major impact on his wellbeing. He retired to Bideford after working overseas for many years. His few relatives had all died. “The stress and loneliness of Covid left deep scars on many single people," he says. "Adding the Chatty Café and library to my weekly routine has had a positive effect, and I have recommended it to others. They even provided gluten-free soup for me. I felt quite moved by that kindness. Individually these caring gestures are helpful, but collectively they have had a powerful accumulative effect that is emotionally healing.”

33-year-old Cindy has been using Bideford Library with her children for many years. She then joined Chatty Café because she felt she needed some time for herself. “I suffer with mental health issues and I feel as though I can go to Chatty Café no matter what I have going on and there would be someone there to listen to me if I ever needed to talk," she says.

Joyce has been volunteering with Bideford Library’s Chatty Cafe project for over a year. She helps to set up the tables and clear away. “My husband died two years ago," Joyce says. "Around the same time my son moved to Plymouth and I was sat on my own in my flat. I’m learning to be on my own which is very hard. I’m the youngest of 13 children and have always had family around me. It’s been difficult. Coming to the Chatty Café has been absolutely brilliant. Better than a bag of gold!”