Libraries to lead reading plan in London Borough of Camden

Camden Council has agreed a new plan to help people of all ages enjoy reading more and to address the problem of poor literacy skills in a borough where a fifth of adults struggle to read.

The five-year plan, Camden Reading Together 2025-30, was approved this month by Councillor Sabrina Francis, cabinet member for jobs, young people and culture.

Camden Libraries led the work to develop the strategy using ideas and feedback from local people and organisations. The service will also lead the reading plan which focuses on helping young people, early learning, lifelong education, and supporting mental health.

The Reading Together report identified serious concerns about reading levels in the borough. Around one in five adults struggle with basic reading, and the problem is worse in poorer areas.

During focus groups held to assess need, families said young children were falling behind with reading, and many adults didn’t feel confident understanding things like letters or forms, making it harder for them to find jobs or use services.

Library staff and volunteers also said that many people come in for help with reading, especially older people in social housing and those who don’t speak English as their first language. These problems helped show why a borough-wide plan is needed to support reading for everyone.

In June, Camden reopened Holborn Library after a refurbishment which included new furniture, artwork, and stripping back the decoration to reveal the building’s original features. The building first opened in 1960 and was designed by Sydney Cook the then Holborn Borough architect.

The main entrance is on Theobalds Road and there is a smaller rear entrance opening on to John’s Mews leading to Bloomsbury.

Councillor Francis, who is also the ward member for Bloomsbury, said: “Camden’s libraries are vital neighbourhood spaces, offering places to read, study, engage, and find information.”

Holborn is now one of just nine public libraries run by the council. The others are at Swiss Cottage, Camden Town, Kentish Town, Pancras Square, Highgate, West Hampstead, Kilburn, and Queen’s Crescent.

In 2011, Camden Council took the decision to hand Chalk Farm, Belsize and Heath libraries over to community groups to run, and stopped the mobile library service altogether.

Two years later it closed Regent’s Park Library, a decision led by Tulip Siddiq the then cabinet member for libraries and a councillor in the ward which is one of the most deprived in the borough.

Local people in the ward called it “a betrayal” saying it took away an important space for the community.

A cabinet member report on the new reading initiative identifies a “key risk” that the library service will not have “sufficient capacity to work with stakeholders to deliver this strategy”.

To offset the risk, Camden Libraries will “deliver the plan in partnership with other service departments including Public Health, Early Years, Adult Community Learning and Adult Social Care”.

The reading programme is planned to be financed through existing staffing budgets, with an additional two part-time jobs to be funded via grants from the Local Community Infrastructure Levy and the National Lottery Fund.

Throughout the lifetime of the programme the libraries service will seek other outside funding “to further support the implementation of the action plan”, states the report.

Camden Reading Together: an All Age Reading for Pleasure Strategy. Camden Libraries.

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