This toolkit has been developed by Carnegie UK in collaboration with Libraries Connected. It draws on evidence collected during the Engaging Libraries programme which ran from 2016-2021. This programme supported public libraries across the UK to develop and deliver public engagement activities. 

Engaging Libraries was supported by Wellcome, and the second phase (from 2019-2021) was also supported by the Wolfson Foundation. The second phase of this programme focussed specifically on enabling partnerships with universities to deliver public engagement activities on research.

We would like to thank Wellcome and the Wolfson Foundation for supporting the second phase of Engaging Libraires, and the members of the Advisory and Steering Group who provided guidance along the way.

We would also like to thank all of the Engaging Libraries Phase 2 projects for sharing their experiences and collecting rich feedback from their participants. External consultant Marge Ainsley conducted an independent evaluation of the programme and her findings are reflected in this content: without the evidence collected from a robust evaluation, this toolkit couldn’t exist.

The toolkit was researched and written by Carnegie Associate Katie Pekacar, with the support and guidance of Rachel Heydecker at Carnegie UK and Marsha Lowe at Libraries Connected.

Library staff from Kent, Kingston, Manchester, Oldham, Norfolk, Suffolk and Wakefield Libraries also gave up their time to help design, review and suggest improvements to the toolkit to ensure it is relevant and helpful to library staff.