Islington Libraries
Islington Libraries constitute the public library service for the borough of Islington in London. The service provides the best level of library access of any council in the country, with 97% of residents within a 15-minute walk of a branch.
The service opened its first library in 1906, after decades of campaigns. Since then, the service and its staff have played a key role in defining the modern public library, incorporating and advocating for open-access shelving, more gender-equal employment, children's libraries, and affordability.
The service's Central Library is in Highbury, and is one of the service's four Grade II listed Carnegie libraries. Following World War II, the service built more branches and now runs ten libraries, including the "library of light"-style Finsbury Library, which houses the Islington Local History Centre and Islington Museum.
The service has a £3.93 million budget, overseen by the Islington Borough Council. Over the past two decades, the Council implemented budget cuts: these have led to more limited opening hours, but not to branch closures. In 2024/25, the library loaned out 530,000+ items physically, 325,000+ items online, and registered 890,000 visits.
History
1855-1921: Founding
Despite the passage of the Public Libraries Act of 1850, it took Islington until 1905 to establish its first public libraries. In that half century, there were a number of failed efforts to establish public libraries.A first attempt seems to have been made in 1855, when a public meeting was held at St. Mary's, to address a motion from an MP for Finsbury for the establishment of a free public library system. The motion failed, upon objections that war taxation "had greviously burdened" people, and taxing poor ratepayers for the project would cause "more evil than good." Another attempt was made in 1874, when Professor Leone Levi proposed the formation of a free public library and museum -- the motion was rejected 1,435 to 338.
In 1897, Passmore Edwards offered £5,000 for the building of a central library, and twice £2,500 for the building of two other library buildings, on the condition that Islingtonians agree to maintain the libraries. Passmore had helped fund libraries in other parts of London. In his offer, he lamented that:
"such a large and commanding parish like Islington, should have no such libraries, and particularly when so many other smaller and poorer parishes in London have adopted the Public Libraries Act, and provided themselves with libraries now leave the matter in the hands of the ratepayers of Islington, and hope they will practically act on it, and so be abreast of other London districts, in the promotion of a great education and ameliorative enterprise."By a majority of 3,075, Islington ratepayers rejected the proposal.
In 1904, plans for a central library and four branches were finally adopted, with the support of £40,000 from Andrew Carnegie. The system's first library, North Library, opened off of Holloway Road in 1906.
By 1921, the system had expanded to also include the Central, West and South Libraries, and to contain more than 95,000 volumes in its lending departments, as well as 10,000 works of reference. Library usage grew dramatically after the end of the first World War. According to a 1922 report of the Islington Public Libraries Committee, the total number of books borrowed was 585,368 in 1919/20 -- this roughly doubled by 1921/22 to 1,052,914.
20th century: service expansion
Following World War II, additional branch libraries opened, including a dedicated children's library. The passage of the Public Libraries and Museums Act of 1964 mandated that councils provide a "comprehensive and efficient library service" to all those "whose residence or place of work is within the library area of the authority or who are undergoing full-time education within that area".The 1965 merger of the borough of Finsbury into Islington led to Finsbury Library becoming the newest public library in Islington upon its opening in 1967.
In the 1950s and 60s, Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell began surreptitiously to remove books from several Islington Libraries and to modify the cover art or the blurbs before returning them -- activities for which they were later convicted and incarcerated. In "Library Tolls and Database Animals," Melissa Hardie argues that "rather than simply disrupt the circulation of library books the men introduced queer objects to the library that facilitated and fostered new and more engaged understandings of the library's collection of book objects." The book covers have since become a valued part of the Islington Local History Centre collection, with some exhibited in the Islington Museum. Amidst debates about how the Orton archives should have been handled, literary critic Simon Shepherd credits librarian Eric Willats as having "the foresight to establish and mainstream an Orton archive before Orton became an industry." In 2000, The Guardian qualifed the collection of a "local treasure."
In 1986, Islington Libraries was one of several Labour-controlled library services that was called out for refusing to stock News International publications. Richard Luce, the Arts Minister, threatened to force them to stock the publications due to their obligations under the Public Libraries and Museums Act.
21st century: library renovations, budget cuts and COVID-19
At the start of the 21st century, all libraries in the system were either rebuilt or renovated. In 2004, the N4 library opened, followed in 2008 by the reopening of the Lewis Carroll Children's Library. In 2017, Islington opened the Cat and Mouse Library, which replaced the John Barnes library, and maintained the number of libraries in Islington -- bucking a national trend of library closures. The Library was named after Cat and Mouse laws, and aims to recognize the sacrifices endured by Suffragettes imprisoned in Holloway Prison, which used to stand nearby. The other seven libraries in the service all experienced refurbishment at some point between 2000 and 2025, with the Central Library experiencing a significant refresh.Budget cuts in the 2010s led to expenditure cuts for libraries, which have yet to be reversed. As of 2024/2025, the total expenditure on the library service stood at £3.93 million, a decrease from the nearly £6.8 million in 2010/2011, particularly when accounting for inflation. Most of the funding goes towards staff costs, at a higher share of overall expenditure than peer library services.Opening hours for a number of libraries were cut, and have yet to fully recover -- as of 2023/24 they were down 6%, or around 1200 hours annually. In 2011, partly to reduce costs, the system began to introduce automated terminals for book check-outs.
In 2016, in partnership with the ALA, British Library and Free Word, Islington Libraries led the organization of Banned Books Week for the first time in the UK. Then Islington council member Asima Shaikh noted that “Islington – one-time home of George Orwell, with its rich history of radical thought, creative expression, and innovation – is the perfect place to celebrate Banned Books Week." Additional iterations took place in 2018, 2019 and 2021.
During the COVID-19 crisis, all libraries were closed to the public at various times, with libraries later serving as vaccination centers.
In 2023, Islington Council ended library fines in the name of access, and in the context of the "cost of living" crisis. In 2014/15 and 2015/16, around £60,000 had been charged in overdue fees.
In 2024/25, Islington Libraries had 23,472 active members.
Potential future developments
The development at Vorley Road, expected to start in 2027 and finish in 2029, would include the redevelopment of Archway library.Governance
The Library Service is a part of the Directorate of Community Engagement and Wellbeing.Within the Islington Council, libraries fall within the Equalities, Communities and Inclusion portfolio. As of 2025, Councillor is the Executive Member for this portfolio.
The Library Service is also overseen by the Homes and Communities Scrutiny Committee.
Services
Islington Libraries provides a wide array of services, including access to books, music, DVDs and other physical items; access to e-books, audiobooks and other digital media; as well as access to computers and the internet. Five of the libraries also offer toy libraries, where parents can borrow toys for their children. In 2024/25, the service issued 530,267 items physically, and 325,833 items online, with the most loanded out title being Andrew O'Hagan's Caledonian Road. The service uses the Library Management Cloud LMS, and provides dedicated reading lists on subjects and for specific communities, and buys monthly selections of LGBTQ+ books from Gay's the word bookshop.In 2024/25, the library registered 889,990 visits, a 6.5% increase on the previous year, with continued progress towards the pre-covid high of 1,076,355 in 2019-2020. For those unable to go to a library in person, the service runs a Home Library Service that can bring books, CDs and DVDs to residents in Islington. The service is regular and free.
The service organizes a number of events in the library spaces, ranging from reading and game sessions for children, to exercise and gadget support classes for adults. In 2024/25, 62,789 people attended events across the libraries, including 29,633 children. Library staff have been trained to welcome and support homeless people; Islington libraries function as "warm spaces" in winter months.
The borough's LGBT History Month programme is co-organised with Camden with events across both boroughs in February in many of the libraries.
Branches
As of 2025, Islington operates a total of 10 public libraries, meaning that Islington had one library for every ±22,000 residents. As of the 2021 Census, 97% of Islingtonian residents had a library within a 15-minute walk, the highest proportion in England and Wales. All residents were within a 30-minute walk. According to the 2023-2024 Participation Survey, an estimated 33% of Islingtonians visited a public library in the last year.In 2024/2025, library in the system with the most active members was the Central library with 5793 members, followed by the Archway and South Libraries.