How libraries help combat loneliness
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Loneliness affects many people across all parts of our society and can cause poor health and even lead to premature death. According to figures published by the Government last year more than 9 million people always or often feel lonely.
As more people live and work alone and as we spend more and more time online, it’s important that we don’t lose the opportunities for in-person social interaction.
We know that reducing loneliness can help people lead independent, happier and healthier lives, for longer. So, why do we so often find it so hard to talk about?
Loneliness Awareness Week was set up in 2016 by the Marmalade Trust to help raise awareness and to change the way we think and acknowledge loneliness.
At the forefront in combatting loneliness are libraries, so we’ve taken a look at just some of the highlights of their great work across the country…
iPads and paying visits
Kent Library runs the Touch a New World project for library members who can’t physically get to a library. They are loaned an iPad for eight weeks and a volunteer visits them providing one-on-one training and advising how to set up email accounts and shop online safely. One user commented “I don’t feel so isolated - the world can come into my life.”
In Good Company is a campaign to help target loneliness in Norfolk. There are more than 150 events taking place every week in libraries from chair-based exercise classes for those living with dementia to Widowed and Young, a national support network for young widowed men and women.
Learning new skills
Sefton Library Service runs the Human Library project across Sefton and Bootle which, supported by our National Lottery Project Grants programme, includes opportunities to learn new skills such as printmaking and sharing a communal meal as part of the One Pot Project.
Explore Labs, a community-based project coordinated by Explore York (part of York Library Service), has been supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council to run several projects including a digital making and media arts club and Cuppa and a Chorus: Connecting through Singing. Participants work with professional artists, digital makers and coders while experimenting with their own creativity.
Making new friends
One of our National Portfolio Organisations, The Reading Agency, has created Reading Friends which brings people together to read, share stories and meet new friends. The groups meet regularly in venues including libraries, care homes and community centres, with one-to-one sessions also available.
And Books Together is an innovative reading project run by Hackney Libraries supported with National Lottery Project Grants funding. In partnership with The Reader (another Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation) and Hackney Community Transport, older disabled and/or socially isolated people are brought together to enjoy shared reading activities.
A hamper full of books
Wakefield Library Service provides picnic baskets full of books, objects and activities which can by borrowed by all types of groups. Supported through our Libraries Opportunities for Everyone Innovation Fund, Unhampered Reads are themed around activities such as sports, cooking and gardening or around seasons and locations like the seaside – all inspiring social interaction and engagement.
Libraries can rightly claim to be at the forefront in helping to reduce the stigma of loneliness. Share what you or your organisation is doing this week using #LetsTalkLoneliness and let’s help more people in our communities and across the country.
