South Western Regional Library Services CIO (SWRLS) is a charitable organisation uniting libraries across the South West region and across the library sector, including HE, FE, Public, Schools, NHS Hospital and Health and Specialist libraries such as cathedrals, museums and others. In 2027 SWRLS celebrates its ninetieth year and is the only such regional library membership organisation in the country. Our mission is to foster collaboration, networking and workforce developmen

Life Writing, Wellbeing, and Nature We're excited to be embarking on a tour of author talks & workshops across 20 libraries from January to June 2026! We are also thankful for our partnership with the fabulous Literature Works so that we can build on the success of three previous tours, and for the Arts Council England funding that is making it possible. This time, the tour focuses on life writing, wellbeing, and nature . It combines author Q&A talks with hands-on creative

This year’s AGM welcomed SWRLS members to Exeter College on Thursday 13 November, where we also introduced the ACE-funded author tour for 2026: Words Alive in Libraries: Life Writing, Wellbeing and Nature.   It was also excellent to hear from four librarians from among our specialist library members, from the Marine Biological Association and Science Museum Library at Wroughton to NHS health libraries. Thank you to Carol Giles, Amy Williams, Stella Scott and Bethany Courtney

SWRLS has a long-established reputation for creating training opportunities across library sectors, and in 2025 we are excited to make...