Universities across Leicestershire are opening up their libraries to everyone in the county. The new scheme means libraries at the University of Leicester, De Montfort University, and Loughborough University will be open to anyone who lives, works, or studies in the area.
Anyone aged 18 and older in Leicester, Leicestershire, or Rutland can sign up to the libraries for free and borrow up to 10 books at a time. The new arrangement is part of the Universities Partnership, a group formed in 2022 involving the three universities and Leicester City Council, Leicestershire County Council, and Rutland County Council.
Paul Angrave from the Universities Partnership said: “Universities are fantastic assets to their regions and by opening their library doors to local people, we are not only welcoming them onto our campuses – we are providing a wonderful additional service. The educational resources we are making available will benefit our locality and reflect our collective ambition to inspire and provide additional learning opportunities for local people.”
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Loughborough University holds broad collections, particularly in the fields of sport, business and creative arts, while the University of Leicester has collections of books and journals on regional and local history, a very large collection of Sue Townsend’s published works, and an extensive English literature collection. They also have a Represent collection, being developed in partnership with students, to include more works by under-represented voices. De Montfort University holds collections relating to local history, the history of photography, sports history - especially winter sports - and chess, arts and illustration, plus fashion and costume history.
Councillor Vi Dempster, Leicester’s assistant city mayor for leisure and culture, said: “This is a fantastic addition to our library services. Our three local universities are an asset to our communities, bringing in knowledge, skills, and prosperity to our region as well as making a considerable contribution to our local economy and culture.
“Thanks to this new initiative, they will make a further positive contribution by sharing their resources with local people. It’s a great opportunity for library users, who will now be able to access a range of free library services seven days a week.”
Councillor Christine Radford, Leicestershire County Council’s lead member for adults and communities, said: “The new partnership is a fantastic opportunity for Leicester and Leicestershire residents and will open an even wider range of resources and assets to our communities. I hope local people are able to make the best of what our fantastic universities have to offer and take advantage of this new partnership.”
