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Lancaster University Library wins major national award

The Lancaster University Library Festival was held earlier this year

The team at Lancaster University Library have been recognised with a major higher education award.

Lancaster University was awarded the Outstanding Library Team trophy at the 2022 Times Higher Education Awards.

The awards attracted hundreds of entries from higher education institutions across the UK and Republic of Ireland and  nearly a thousand people gathered at the Hilton London Metropole hotel for the awards ceremony on November 17.

Andrew Barker, director of library services and learning development at the university, said it was "an absolute honour to win the award".

"I’m still giddy at the news," said Mr Barker.

"I am privileged to lead a team that I’ve long known to be outstanding. Everyone who works across all our activities does so collaboratively as one team living the University’s values. Their dedication, hard work and good humour is why our library sits at the heart of our university community.”

The Library team won the award for their aim to “connect, innovate and include”, ensuring that the wider community see the University’s library as a resource they can use.

A Library Community Card allows the public to use the university's library services for free.

The library recently hosted a three-day Library Festival and the Slavery Family Trees Conference. This was part of the Lancaster Slavery Family Trees Community Project, alongside the Lancaster Black History Community Group, students, schools and volunteers.

The judges highlighted the library team’s “strategic and holistic approach” to delivering culture change.

They said: “The submission focused on the library’s work in addressing a challenging topic, that of Lancaster’s history as a slave trading port, and in collaborating with the Lancaster Black History Community Group to expose, share and further grow locally held knowledge.

“It demonstrated a partnership approach between the university library, academics and the local community that is sustainable and would also be scalable to other parts of the sector.”

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