Our libraries service successfully bid for the money from Arts Council England’s ‘Libraries Improvement Fund’, which comes under the government’s Arts Everywhere Fund, as part of a competitive process. Today’s announcement was made by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The money will be used to make the 3 libraries more engaging for children and families, creating spaces for communities to use the libraries in more flexible and adaptable ways, and generating increased income to ensure the long-term sustainability of the service.

The way it will be used aligns well with the current Derbyshire Library Strategy which aims to ensure a strong, modern and sustainable library service which is fit for the future including exploring opportunities to relocate or co-locate, making them as accessible, flexible and efficient as possible.

Alfreton, Ilkeston and Long Eaton libraries between them welcomed more than 146,000 visitors in 2024-2025, and now the funding has been confirmed, the service will look at ways of using the money which will encourage or enable even more people to use the services on offer.

More details of the improvements and changes across the 3 libraries will be announced in the coming months.

Our Cabinet Member for Health and Communities Councillor Dawn Taylor said:

“This is fantastic news for our library service, and we are grateful to Arts Council England for recognising our ambition to improve the services we provide and being confident in us to use the funding wisely and to best effect.

“We will be working carefully to ensure that the improvements to the libraries will make them even more welcoming to their communities, particularly children and families, and will future-proof them to provide long-term benefits for our residents.

“It’s incredibly exciting news and the team have worked hard to secure such a large amount of funding, and I am looking forward to watching the plans start to take shape now the money is confirmed.”

Liz Johnson, Midlands Area Director at Arts Council England said:

“Libraries are more than buildings with books in; libraries are about people, ideas and opportunity. The Libraries Improvement Fund helps libraries to flourish as safe, trusted spaces for their communities.

“We’re pleased to be supporting Derbyshire Libraries with £440,000 to refurbish 3 of their libraries, updating the spaces to engage more flexibly with their community now and into the future.”