Oldham Libraries earns national Met Strong status from Arts Council

Oldham Libraries has been placed in the top tier of England's public library services after Arts Council England awarded it the rare 'Met Strong' rating under the new Libraries Development Framework. The badge signals that the borough's 12 branches are judged to be among the most responsive and inventive in the country, using local data to shape everything from baby-rhyme sessions to help getting online.

Inspectors singled out three areas where. Oldham outperforms most other authorities: early-years literacy, digital inclusion, and health literacy. Staff track borrowing patterns, school-readiness scores, and GP referral figures, then redesign offers such as story-time packs, tablet loans, and blood-pressure kit lending so they reach the streets where the need is sharpest.

The honour is not just a plaque on the wall. Acceptance onto the Framework gives Oldham first sight of national funding pots and the right to swap working notes with the 14 other 'Met Strong' councils, a group that includes Manchester and Leeds but no other Greater Manchester borough. Leaders hope the peer network will help them win grants that might otherwise go to bigger cities.

Next on the drawing board is 'Author Sparks', an Arts Council-funded programme starting in spring 2026. Every primary school in the borough will be offered free author workshops, short films shot in local libraries, and travelling book-bag visits, with priority given to schools where reading for pleasure is lowest. The £190,000 grant, spread over three years, will also pay for 30,000 branded notebooks to be handed out at festivals and clinics so children can start their own stories.

Council chiefs warn the rating brings no extra cash for day-to-day running, so opening hours will stay as they are for now. Instead, they plan to use the status to argue for a share of the next Greater Manchester culture settlement, due to be negotiated in 2027, and to convince local health commissioners to keep prescribing books rather than pills where evidence shows it works.