Specific services for teenagers, and encouraging learning and engagement for children and adults, through a wide range of resources, activities, and partnerships was unveiled in a new five-year vision for the borough’s libraries, agreed at Cabinet on Tuesday night (20 January 2026).
Haringey’s residents have played a pivotal role following an extensive community engagement and co-design exercise with Friends groups, library users and staff, residents, stakeholders and young people across the borough throughout last year.
It sets out a bold vision for how the council will work together with residents to make libraries the beating heart of community life, with accessible and inclusive facilities to encourage creativity, lifelong learning and community engagement.
Haringey Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure, Cllr Emily Arkell, said:
Libraries are more than buildings filled with books; they are living, breathing cornerstones of our communities. They embody opportunity, imagination and connection. In Haringey, our libraries have long been places where residents of all ages and backgrounds come together to learn, share and thrive.
This Library Strategy sets out a bold vision for the future – one that ensures our libraries remain dynamic, inclusive and indispensable in the years ahead.
We know that young people and families are already our top users, but they drop off when those children become teenagers and we want to reverse that.
This strategy is ambitious, but it is also practical. It sets out how libraries will contribute to Haringey’s wider priorities for equality, opportunity and sustainability, while embracing innovation to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
Above all, it reflects the voices of our residents, whose passion for libraries has guided and inspired this work.
Hundreds of voices have shaped the strategy through community conversations, focus groups, surveys and workshops, thereby helping the council to better understand what Haringey residents value most about their local libraries and the improvements that they want to see in them.
As a result, this strategy is rooted in the aspirations and lived experiences of our communities and – launching right at the start of the National Year of Reading – sets out a very timely direction of travel and vision for the future.
The strategy commits the council to:
- Championing equity and inclusion, ensuring libraries are accessible, welcoming and responsive to the diverse needs of our residents
- Embedding resilience and sustainability, ensuring our libraries are future-focused and equipped to withstand economic pressures
- Harnessing digital innovation, expanding online service and equipping residents with the tools to thrive in a digital age
- Inspiring creativity and learning, supporting digital skills, lifelong learning and literacy for children, young people and adults alike
- Strengthening community wellbeing, positioning libraries as safe, trusted spaces and vibrant community and cultural hubs that foster belonging, cultural participation and resilience
Sitting alongside the strategy will be individual development plans for each of the borough’s nine libraries. Compiled collaboratively between council staff and the Friends of each library, these living documents will be refreshed regularly during the life of the overall strategy, with the priorities arising from each individual library plan being made publicly available once completed.
The Library Strategy 2026-2030 also aligns with the wider Arts and Culture Strategy (2024-2028), which underpinned our successful bid to become London Borough of Culture 2027, when Haringey libraries are set to play an important part in proceedings.
The successful implementation of our Library Strategy will also make a significant contribution towards achieving the ambitions of Haringey 2035, our borough vision – ‘to be a place where all our residents have the opportunity to thrive and enjoy the best possible version of their life...a place where people can put down roots and feel they really belong.’
