Libraries staff win prestigious award for making the most of every day conversation

Library managers in Witney and Hook Norton have scooped a prestigious award for Oxfordshire County Council linked to a programme that focuses on making the most of everyday conversations with library users

Making Every Contact Count (MECC) is a programme that has seen library staff seek to improve the health and wellbeing of local people by signposting them to important services as a result of chats that happen in libraries.

The recognition for MECC is part of the Libraries Connected National Awards 2025. Jake Tilling (Witney Library Manager) recently received the award at a special ceremony in Warwickshire. He shares the accolade with his colleague Karen Seymour, Hook Norton Library manager.

The duo have led on MECC in Oxfordshire for the last five to six years, taking the library service from having very little engagement with library users around health issues, to having trained 44 MECC champions (one in every library) and over 10,000 interactions in the last year.

On top of busy jobs delivering and managing frontline services, they have both enthusiastically taken on this additional role, expertly training and motivating other managers/staff to ensure that MECC conversations are of high quality and effective.

Councillr Neil Fawcett, Deputy Leader of Oxfordshire County Council and Cabinet Member for Resources, said: "It’s wonderful that the libraries team, and Jake and Karen specifically, have been recognised for their significant efforts to help improve the health and wellbeing of Oxfordshire residents.

“Libraries are ‘health centres’, in many ways, and are trusted, welcoming community hubs where all the community can connect and access information, support, and reading to help them feel better."