l Share the vision and achievements: let others know about the positive contri- bution refugees make to our society and the benefits of a welcoming culture to everyone.
The human touch
The impact on people seeking sanctuary and other new arrivals can make a huge difference. Many new arrivals will not be used to visiting a public library (and may not know what they offer). The following quotations give something of the surprise and excitement about what they discover – and the lasting impact.
“No concept of libraries like this in my country.”
Activities such as conversation clubs make a huge difference: “Although I have been living in UK so long time, my English is still very poor. I don’t have the opportunity to speak English in my life until I joined the English coffee conversation in the library last year. The teacher is very kind, she always smiles and helps us learn. We often ask lots questions and she is patient to answer them. I really enjoy this English conversa- tion and always learn the words from the teacher. And I met some friendly people in the class. A lovely woman became friends with me, we went for a walk some times. My home is not just a house, it’s about the family numbers support each other, no matter where we are.”
At a Libraries of Sanctuary event held online on 11 March 2022 and organised by CILIP in Scotland, Dylan Fotoohi (Refugees for Justice) described just how welcoming Springburn Library, and, later, the Mitchell Library (both in Glasgow) had been to him; he said: “Day three of my arrival saw me settled in the library already, that was my daily hub from that point onwards. It was the gateway into a new society, allowing me to access infor- mation, communicate with my family and friends, and get to know a new community I was about to join.”
He also talked of the library as being the place where he could really sit down and
April-May 2026
A workshop exploring the meaning of sanctuary run by facilitator Manal Ahmed. Photo © Manal Gharez Eddin
plan for his new life. (taken from: Vincent, 2022, p. 114)
Finally, as if we need one, a reminder
of why people have fled: “I feel very lonely without my family, and it also feels cold a lot. But I feel free. I can go anywhere with- out the fear of fighting like back home.”
A place of connections
New arrivals visiting a library – especially a Library of Sanctuary – make all sort of connections. These include with:
l Library staff (they may be amongst the first “friendly faces” they have met)
l Other local people – maybe by the coincidence of their both being in the library at the same time, maybe by design, at an ESOL group, for example
l Local council and other services
l Other people from ‘home’ – and that may be face-to-face, but also via email and the internet.
They may also have taken part in a wider, Council-led welcome, such as those offered in Hampshire, for example, where new arrivals can meet not only library staff (and join the library) but also other service-providers, and other people who are also newly-arrived.
A lot of people will have arrived from places where they face restrictions on their personal liberties – things that we
might take for granted such as access to books and information, the internet. They may also be fearful of speaking to people “in authority” (or even entering a formal-looking building) based on expe- riences in their home country. Therefore, one of the most important things that a Library of Sanctuary (and, indeed, every library) needs to show is that people are welcome and safe, and that the library offers support (signposting to other ser- vices, for example) not a threat.
Welcoming spaces
Good libraries are welcoming, and we know that libraries offer a place of safety/ refuge/escape for all sorts of people and have been doing so for a very long time. There is not space here to look in detail at this, but here is just a couple of examples. Libraries can provide a place of refuge for people who are being bullied – from my own teenage experience (when I was 6ft plus tall, with bright red hair and probably rather camp – and certainly being bullied at school for being queer), the library was somewhere that I could go, feel safe and be me. They can also provide support and a place of safety for people who are neuro divergent: as, for example, Tameside Libraries have created with their Neuro inclusive Libraries Project (Tameside Metropolitan
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