If you are a librarian at one of the EU's 65 000 public libraries, you may be curious to know how the EU supports the library sector. The EU primarily assists librarians indirectly through Erasmus+, Creative Europe and Horizon Europe, which provide funding for research in education, media, culture and more.

The Erasmus+ project Resourcing Libraries, for example, helps librarians learn about useful EU programmes, find project partners and design their own successful projects. To address the changing role of librarians in the digital world, the BIBLIO project assessed skills gaps among library professionals and developed training materials, some with an intergenerational focus. Public libraries have always been key providers of adult education. Through a web-based tool, the ADELE project helps adult education organisations reflect on how they can integrate digital technologies to better serve students.

The Europeana digital access point provides materials related to Europe held by libraries, museums and archives across the world. If you want to help citizens get involved with public institutions and in decisions on policy, check out the Rough Guide to Citizen Engagement in Public Libraries. Published by the EU in 2023, it contains a toolkit for kick-starting a citizen engagement project at your library.

More broadly, the EU's 2023-2026 work plan for culture pays special attention to the development of libraries of all types. This plan, which will underpin all EU policy in the coming years, acknowledges the monumental work libraries do to support community, culture and democracy.