Featured image: Jack Oliver and Adomas Lukas Petrauskas

Libraries are the backbone of many communities, playing a vital role in connecting people with services and groups – often in surprising ways. aAh! dives into what makes libraries so valuable and why we must protect them at all costs.

Amid mass closures, libraries have never had it harder. BBC research in 2024 revealed that over the past eight years, more than 180 council-run libraries in the UK have either shut down or been taken over by volunteers. Lower-income communities were four times more likely to have lost a publicly-funded library, while 2,000 jobs were also lost. In Manchester alone, seven libraries reduced their opening hours and 39 staff were cut.

Despite this, libraries remain a vital part of our community’s ecosystem, offering safe spaces to access the internet, improve literacy, attend events, connect with others and escape from difficult home lives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government recognised libraries as an ‘essential service’ due to their public computers, order-and-collect loan services, and school and home library services. Many also made regular welfare calls to vulnerable people, with library staff redeployed to assist with shielding efforts and Test and Trace work, leveraging their deep community ties.

However, the support libraries offer goes far beyond these emergency services. Today, they continue to provide crucial resources such as job training, Citizens’ Advice sessions, IT courses and benefit support. Some libraries even provide free SIM cards loaded with free data for residents over 18.

Alan Lynch, Neighbourhood Delivery Assistant at Manchester Central Library and host of the library-themed podcast Full Volume highlights the important role libraries play in the lives of our society’s most vulnerable members. “We have regulars who come in and there’s a real camaraderie because people need libraries, especially if you’re struggling with temporary homelessness or in sheltered accommodation. For them, it’s a lifeline – somewhere to go where they can sit and be warm, read the paper, maybe even listen to the podcast.”

He adds: “There’s a high likelihood more branches will shut, but for people in economically deprived areas, libraries are lifelines – not just for books, but for everything. For a focal point, for finding out about your benefits, how to get work, or even just to use a computer. If you take that away from people, then you’ll really feel the effects.”

In addition to the myriad of physical and practical support, libraries also offer emotional support services. Gorton Library hosts ‘Death Club’, a regular event helping bereaved families deal with death, loss and grief.

Libraries serve as creative hubs too. Susie Wilson, a poet and winner of the Disabled Poets’ Prize, runs the monthly Sub Club at Manchester Poetry Library. She says neurodivergent workshops led by author Louise Wallwein at the library helped her connect with others. “It was just really fabulous to be in a room with late-diagnosed autistic people,” she says. “We all just sat and wrote together. Those people probably wouldn’t have come together in that way anywhere else.

“They could have met in a community hall, but having this curated library hub encourages people to think about community activities. It draws people in to mix with other people that they might not have linked up with otherwise.”

The cultural impact of libraries cannot be underestimated either, as a venue for events celebrating Chinese New Year and Diwali to music lessons, Lego clubs, folk nights, the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence series and open mics. Many Manchester libraries have performance spaces and some, like Central Library and the Forum Library in Wythenshawe, even offer podcast, music and film production facilities.

Martin Kratz, the programme manager at Manchester Poetry Library, highlights the importance of collaboration and how poets such as Bahraini writer and poet Ali Al-Jamri and Polish slam poet Bohdan Piasecki co-curated the library’s Arabic and Polish sections. Open mics and competitions like Mother Tongue Other Tongue helped expand language collections, including Greek and Persian.

“What happens is you’re able to say: ‘Yes, you’re right, that’s missing,’ and put it into the library,” he says. “That community stake in the library becomes cemented – it becomes physically present on the shelves and you know you’re part of it.”

Martin adds: “I often say the Poetry Library is a listening space, a space that listens – that’s really at the core of it.”

The forms of library-supported communities extend beyond people. Initiatives like Culture Nature England helped Didsbury Library create seed libraries, community garden beds and nature walks, promoting biodiversity and reconnecting people with the beauty of the natural world.

Violaine Reinbold, the neighbourhood engagement officer at Didsbury Library, says the potential loss of these facilities inspired a reaction from the community. “They’re that important that local people, when they were threatened, mobilised to keep them open.”

The strength of feeling  towards libraries can be seen in the fight to save Burnage Library, which was reborn in 2013 as a ‘community-powered’ library’ after locals rallied to prevent its closure.

Manchester’s dedication to literature earned it the status of UNESCO City of Literature in 2017, joining the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. The title recognised the city’s ‘rich literary heritage, vibrant contemporary scene and commitment to accessibility and inclusion.’

Martin Kratz supported Manchester’s successful bid: “In Manchester, there is a very strong sense that libraries are civic spaces that people have a right to access. I think that shows how important they are. They are not optional or a luxury – they’re a necessity.

He adds: “Libraries shouldn’t be radical spaces, but they are. They are radical because of the world around them. Libraries are free, welcoming and open to a community in a world that is increasingly expensive, hostile and closed. Libraries are a kind of activism.”

With three Greater Manchester libraries – Bolton, Oldham and Manchester – shortlisted in the North England category for the British Book Awards’ Library of the Year 2025, now is the perfect time to visit your local library and become part of its community.