Redbridge Winners of Libraries Connected Awards 2023 • Vision RCL

Redbridge Winners of Libraries Connected Awards 2023


  • Vision RCL Librarians celebrate after scooping prestigious national Award
  • Winners of Information and Digital Award: Michael Davis, Senior Library Assistant, Maria Reguera, Development Librarian (Digital & Innovation)

Michael and Maria were nominated for their work with Lab Central, Redbridge’s digital makerspace programme which includes Tech Ilford, an annual festival celebrating Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths (STEAM). It was developed in 2017 as part of the Lab Central digital arts programme to engage and inspire the tech innovators of the future. Maria and Michael created the festival in response to growing demand for affordable STEAM activities in the borough. Both Maria and Michael are passionate about their work and consistently go the extra mile; their ideas have reinvigorated the library as a space for young people, with an estimated 10,000 taking part in digital activities.

Michael and Maria were nominated for their work with Lab Central, Redbridge’s digital makerspace programme which includes Tech Ilford, an annual festival celebrating Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths (STEAM). It was developed in 2017 as part of the Lab Central digital arts programme to engage and inspire the tech innovators of the future. Maria and Michael created the festival in response to growing demand for affordable STEAM activities in the borough. Both Maria and Michael are passionate about their work and consistently go the extra mile; their ideas have reinvigorated the library as a space for young people, with an estimated 10,000 taking part in digital activities.

The Awards celebrate the achievements of library workers who have had an exceptional impact on their library service, users or their local communities. Organised by Libraries Connected, the membership charity for public libraries, the Awards have six categories reflecting the core services that modern library services provide.

The winners were chosen by expert judges including crime writer Priscilla Masters and children’s author Cathy Cassidy. The judging panels also included Arts Council England, The Reading Agency, BBC Arts and OverDrive, creator of the Libby reading app for libraries, who are again generously sponsoring the Awards.

Librarians from Oxfordshire, Guernsey, Staffordshire, Redbridge, Kent, Portsmouth and Norfolk received their awards last night in a glittering ceremony at Wyboston Lakes, Bedfordshire.

The other six categories included were:

  • Children’s Award
  • Culture and Creativity Award
  • Health and Wellbeing Award
  • Reading Award
  • Vision & Print Impaired People’s Promise Award
  • President’s Award

Martin Solder, Chair of Vision Trustees said:

On behalf of Vision, we would like to congratulate Michael and Maria on achieving this special award, they both work extremely hard and display such passion, originality, and creativity when organising events and workshops for young people. We are honoured to have such dedicated library staff to continually develop the Lab Central programme..

Isobel Hunter MBE, Chief Executive of Libraries Connected, said:

“These Awards highlight the incredible opportunities that libraries offer to their communities. But most importantly they recognise the people that make that possible: the library workers who show such dedication, creativity and innovation every day. The winners are a credit to their library services – and to the public library sector as a whole. Huge congratulations to them all.”

Nick Forster, Regional Manager at OverDrive, said:

“It’s a privilege to be able to sponsor these Awards and it’s great to see them going from strength to strength. We’ve been hugely impressed by the quality of the nominations and this year’s winners demonstrate a breadth of innovation, commitment and talent that show our libraries at their very best. Congratulations!”