Baroness Sanderson to help develop new public libraries strategy

Baroness Elizabeth Sanderson, a former journalist and special adviser to Theresa May, has been appointed by the government to help develop a new public libraries strategy. 

Sanderson will serve as the independent chair of an advisory panel, which will inform a new strategy for the library service in 2023, succeeding the previous strategy, which came into force in 2016. 

In a press statement, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said she “will be expected to provide a fresh, challenging and impartial perspective on libraries to help formulate innovative new policy ideas”.  

Through the autumn and winter she will lead a number of sessions with the advisory panel of contributors who will be drawn from the library sector and beyond. Participants in the panel sessions will be confirmed in due course.  

All sessions will be attended by representatives from Arts Council England, Libraries Connected and the cross-party Local Government Association. 

Input into the development of the recommendations will also come from the British Library, local authority library services and community-managed libraries, as well as other government departments. 

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay, libraries minister, said: “Libraries have a unique and precious role in communities across the country—something which was thrown into relief during the pandemic. As we bounce back from that, we want to make sure we are drawing on a wide range of expertise and best practice to give them the support they need to keep serving the public so well.  

“Baroness Sanderson and the panel of expert and outside voices will help us achieve this and I look forward to seeing the recommendations they put forward.” 

Baroness Sanderson said she was “thrilled” to be taking up the new role, adding: “Libraries play such an important part in our lives, be that instilling a love of reading in childhood or encouraging economic, social and mental wellbeing throughout adulthood and into old age.   

"Too often undervalued, they are one of the most critical forms of social infrastructure we have and I look forward to working alongside the experts, and listening to a wide range of voices, so that we may help develop ideas as to how we may promote and protect our libraries into the future."