Guest Article: SENDIAS Bathnes - BaNES Virtual Library

Partnership working to support families with children with additional needs in B&NES libraries, by Emerald Brampton-Greene, Community Engagement Coordinator.

BookTrust is the UK’s largest children’s reading charity, working with local authorities across every region of the country. An important part of this work is our partnership with more than 2,400 libraries and librarians across England and Wales.

As Community Engagement Coordinator for the South Region, I sit within BookTrust’s Partnerships Team, helping with organisation and planning for projects and programmes with our partner network.

One of my highlights of 2025 has been working with Samantha Meunier, Development and Outreach Librarian at Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) Libraries. B&NES is one of our Learning Zone partners, which means we focus on deeper, community-led engagement and pilot work here. Sam and I first met in person at Bath Central Library in August, and since then we’ve been working together on a development and outreach project that focuses on the brilliant Sensory Spaces at Bath Central, Keynsham and Midsomer Norton libraries.

The first strand of this development work kicked off in December 2025, when Sam connected with Bath Opportunity Preschool, a specialist setting providing early years education and therapeutic services to children with additional needs.

Sam offered to deliver a bespoke Storytime session within the setting, providing the group with a warm and supportive intro to shared reading and to the library offer. I was lucky enough to attend and watch Cathy and Sam work their magic. Afterwards, each child was gifted a book to take home, feeding into that sense of reading as something joyful, personal and theirs.

That visit also included a tour of Keynsham Library, and I was struck by just how much was happening in the space: a book swap, warm clothing provision and help and advice from partners including Citizens Advice , and much more besides. It was a powerful reminder of how libraries remain one of our most flexible and responsive frontline services, evolving to meet local need and grounded in their role as trusted community spaces.

In the new year, this work continues with a Relaxed Storytime planned at Bath Central Library for the 15^th January. By working in partnership, testing ideas and listening closely to families, this project is about much more than a single session – it’s about building lasting relationships and reducing barriers to access over time.

To capture and celebrate this learning, Sam and I are producing a Spotlight Report that will shine a light on the development work around the Sensory Spaces and the wider learning from this Learning Zone project. Keep an eye out for it towards the end of February 2026.

Working alongside passionate outreach and engagement librarians like Sam has deepened my appreciation for the role libraries play in championing families, often in the face of ongoing funding pressures and competing demands. Supporting these partnerships is definitely one of my favourite parts of the job. I’m really looking forward to continuing this work together into the year ahead.