Join us on Saturday 15th June to witness a real archaeological excavation in action in the grounds of The Old Library! We’re working with the Museum of Liverpool and local volunteers to investigate the area around the building in an attempt to uncover more about its history and the heritage of our local area.

Drop in between 10am – 3pm to see our volunteers at work in the trenches and check out any finds we’ve discovered over the week. We will also be running tours of the ground floor of the library – an amazing chance to see the building’s interior before major restoration work begins. Access is limited so tours are available on a first-come, first served basis but don’t worry – this won’t be your only chance to see inside The Old Library as we’re planning more tours in September!

If you’re planning to visit The Big Dig, please read the essential information below:

• Access to the site will be on the corner of Green Lane & Lister Drive. There may be a short wait before entry if we are very busy!
• Please wear sturdy footwear with no open toes, otherwise we will not be able to allow access inside the building.
• Be aware that The Big Dig is taking place on a live construction site. Whilst all necessary health & safety measures have been taken to ensure you have a safe visit, some areas may be uneven underfoot which may not be suitable for wheelchair users or those with mobility issues. Please take care whilst on-site, especially if bringing children.

Starting on 17th April, we’re running a weekly Read & Relax shared reading group at The Ale House in Old Swan.

Shared reading is really simple – we come together to read aloud a story or poem and then talk about what we’ve read. It’s not like school, we’re interested in hearing about people’s personal thoughts and experiences rather than testing your literacy skills, and there’s no pressure to speak if you’d rather just sit back and enjoy the story. It’s also not a Book Club as you don’t need to do any reading outside the group or commit to coming every week – just drop in when you feel like taking a little time out for yourself.

It’s a really relaxing way to escape the world for a couple of hours and connect with other people through great literature. It’s also a great way to meet people and make new friends in a relaxed & sociable environment.

We’ll be in The Ale House (647 Prescot Road, L13 5XG) every Wednesday from 2pm – 4pm so come and give it a try – you might be surprised at how it brightens your day.

If you would like any further information about shared reading, you can check out The Reader website or contact Olivia on olivia.johnson@listersteps.co.uk 07988 77 83 72

After years of hard work, we're really excited that construction is finally about to start on-site!

To celebrate and to let everyone know what to expect throughout the building phase, we're holding a project update event on Wednesday 3rd April at St Cecilia's Club on Green Lane from 6pm - 8pm.

Please join us for a free drink and meet the contractors who will be introducing themselves and telling us a bit more about the construction programme. We'll also be sharing details of our upcoming community events & activities, as well as finding out what our volunteer research group have discovered about the history of The Old Library.

Thank you for all your support and we hope you can join us at the start of this really exciting stage of the project!

We’re passionate about making our area better for everyone so this year we’re joining in with Keep Britain Tidy’s ‘Great British Spring Clean’.

We’re holding three lunchtime litter picks on Friday 29th March, Friday 5th April and Friday 12th April to help tidy up our streets. Meet us on the corner of Green Lane and Lister Drive at 12.30pm and spend some of your lunch hour making a difference in our community.  We’ll provide all the equipment, just dress for weather and get involved!  

If you have any questions, email olivia.johnson@listersteps.co.uk or call 07988 778372 for more information.

One of the main aims of The Old Library project is to celebrate what’s good in our community so what better way to show this off this than through photography! We would love you to get out & about in our local area to capture the unusual, the beautiful and the unique that you come across in our neighbourhood. Anyone can take part and you don’t need any special equipment to join in, just get snapping on your phone!

To get started, all you need to do is check our social media (@ListerStepsHub on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram) for each month’s theme. Then go out, get creative with the theme and send your photos to info@old-library.co.uk by 25th of each month. You can send in as many photos as you like and don’t forget to add a caption.

The winning photographs will be announced &shared on social media at the end of each month and will feature in our 2020 calendar. At the end of the year, an overall winner will be chosen to receive the grand prize of a camera and their image on display in The Old Library when it re-opens.

Full rules and Terms & Conditions are listed below. We can’t wait to see your photos, good luck!

Terms & Conditions
1.    The photography competition will run from February 2019 – November 2019. Each month will have a different theme which photographs should focus on.  

2.    Entries should be submitted via email by the 25th of each month. Monthly winners will be chosen by the Lister Steps project team and photography partners Periscope based on how they have interpreted the monthly theme. Winners will be announced on social media at the end of each month and also be notified via email.

3.    An overall winner will be selected at the end of the year from the pool of monthly winners and any final month entries. The overall winner will be chosen by a panel and will receive the prize of a camera (or suitable alternative), plus their winning design will be displayed in The Old Library.

4.    The overall and monthly winners will be included in a 2020 calendar. Lister Steps reserves the right to select an additional two photographs from the pool of entries to feature in the calendar.

5.    All entries that are submitted assign copyright and permissions for use to Lister Steps and may be shared on our social media channels, website and other promotional materials. Where appropriate, the photographer will be credited.

6.    It is the responsibility of the photographer to ensure that consent has been given by anyone featured in photographs entered into the competition. It is therefore assumed that any photographs submitted to Lister Steps have the appropriate permissions to be shared as stated above.

7.    Entrants’ details will only be stored for the purposes of running the competition, and will not be used for marketing purposes without prior consent.

8.    By entering the competition, you confirm that you have accepted these Terms & Conditions and agree to abide by them.

We've partnered with our friends at Periscope to offer a fantastic free photography workshop for our local community.

On Saturday 2nd Feb, from 10am-1pm you're invited to Lister Steps to learn practical & creative photography techniques and get practicing by having a go at taking some photos out in about in our local area. With opportunities to share, discuss and edit the photos, this promises to be a fun day which will hopefully give you more tips, skills and confidence when taking photos whether that's on a camera or just snapping away on your phone. Who knows, if you take some really good pictures, you might want to enter in our photography competition which kicks off in February...(more news on that after the workshop!)

This session is suitable for adults only but we are working with local schools to offer photography workshops to young people in our area as well. You don't need to bring any equipment or have any previous experience to take part. If you're interested, please email olivia.johnson@listersteps.co.uk to book your space as places are limited.

Throughout 2019, we're gathering memories, stories & photos of The Old Library and our local area to bring people together & celebrate our community heritage. We welcome everyone who remembers the library or knows the area to share their memories with us, which will contribute to the heritage displays inside the new building, as well as a local community book at the end of the project.

We will be running monthly drop in memory sessions at West Derby Library for people to come along and have a chat (plus free tea and biscuits!) We've also set up a new Facebook group 'Community memories - Lister Drive and beyond'  for people to share their stories about life in our area over the years.

We'd love to hear from as many people as possible so please spread the word and we hope to see you at one of our drop in sessions or joining in the online discussions!

On Saturday 15th September, we’ll be joining Heritage Open Days 2018 to host an open day at Lister Steps and The Old Library.

We’ll have exclusive access to the grounds of The Old Library and will be taking small groups to get a closer look at the building every 30 minutes. You can also meet some of the experts and volunteers we’re working with on the project:

•    Our design team from OMI architects who can talk you through our plans for the future of the building
•    Dr Oriel Prizeman from Cardiff University who is leading an international research project into Carnegie libraries across the UK and USA
•    The community archaeology team from the Museum of Liverpool and our volunteers who will be revealing what they’ve discovered so far about the building’s archaeology
•    Our partners from Periscope who are helping us film and photograph the project and will be offering some exciting training opportunities next year.

Feel free to drop in any time between 10am and 3pm to have a chat and see what’s going on. The event will be held at our Lister Steps nursery, based in the blue portacabins at Old School Site, Lister Drive, L13 7HH. If you have any questions, email olivia.johnson@listersteps.co.uk.

We hope to see lots of you there for this special chance to get close to the building before construction work begins & find out about what’s going on in The Old Library project.

At yesterday’s  re-launch event, we announced some of the community events and activities we’ll be running throughout The Old Library project. Here’s a sneak peek of what you can look forward to.


Make sure you check out our Latest News page to hear about the exciting projects we'll be working on with some of our partner organisations over the next 12 months.


If you'd like to get involved,  head over to our Volunteering page to see what roles are available at the moment or join our mailing list to receive news about events and opportunities straight to your inbox.