Public libraries remain a vital part of community life, providing free information and reading materials to everyone. Their role is particularly important amid a long-term decline in reading for pleasure among children and young people. But our research indicates that England’s public library collections are being hollowed out through long-term underinvestment.
In June 2026, former libraries minister Baroness Twycross confirmed that the government is developing a national strategy for libraries and reading in England, setting out ambitions for the next five years. The expectation was that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport would publish it over the summer. However, we have a new libraries minister but no published strategy.
