The London Library is delighted to announce the official renaming of its Writers’ Room to ‘The Stoppard Room’ in honour of Sir Tom Stoppard’s outstanding contribution to, and impact on, the Library while serving as its President for 15 years (2002–17), and since then as Vice-President. Stoppard and his wife, Sabrina attended an event held at the Library to mark the occasion and were joined by incumbent Library President, Helena Bonham Carter and former President, Sir Tim Rice (2017-2022).

Stoppard has given his time generously to the Library and has played a leading role in its development for the next generation and beyond. Upon his retirement as President, the Library created the Tom Stoppard Innovation Fund, which, thanks to dozens of generous supporters, has played a crucial role in helping the Library fund new initiatives. To date, the Innovation Fund has enabled vital developments such as the accelerated completion of retrospective cataloguing of pre-1950 books into the online catalogue, RFID security tagging of the collection and equipment for improved stock management. 

Alongside fundraising and stakeholder engagement, Stoppard has supported the Library publicly by engaging with the press and taking part in the Library’s literary festivals in 2016 and 2021.  

The renaming is also a tribute to his achievements as one of the country’s most distinguished and widely admired writers. A Library member since 1970, Stoppard continues to support the Library as a Vice-President. 

Founded in 1841, the Library has always been open to all and remains a world-class centre of creativity and the home of literary inspiration. Around 700 books are published each year by Library members, and over 460 film scripts, TV screenplays or theatre scripts are also produced by Library members annually, estimating an annual value of £21.3m generated for the UK economy (Nordicity and Chartered Accountants Saffrey Champness Impact Report, 2020).  

Following a period of growth and development in recent years, The London Library announced in May a major programme of improvements to its building in St James’s Square. These planned improvements will increase the Library’s public impact, make the collection more accessible, support the needs of the Library’s growing membership, and will contribute to the long-term sustainability of this leading literary institution.  

London Library Vice-President, Sir Tom Stoppard commented, “From the day I joined the London Library, it has been the institution closest to my heart, and I often indulge in the fantasy that I have been locked in to browse wherever my eyes take me. The idea that my name might be attached to one of the spaces protected by 14 St James’s Square lends a substance to my romance with our Library. I can hardly imagine a nicer compliment and I am very proud of it.” 

London Library Director, Philip Marshall commented, “We are incredibly grateful to Sir Tom for his extraordinary contribution to The London Library, both as President and in his ongoing role as Vice President. His tireless work to promote and support the Library’s development has enabled us to make tremendous improvements over the last 20 years and continues to support our future plans for the Library as the home of literary inspiration.” 

Member surveys are an important part of helping us to understand our membership and receive your feedback on how we can improve the Library. Earlier this year we sent out our regular survey online and received over 1,300 responses, almost 20% of our membership. Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the survey.

We were delighted to hear that 88% of members are satisfied with their membership and half are strongly satisfied. This is identical to the results received in our last survey in 2022. The survey showed that 77% agree the Library membership is good value for money, which is also similar to 2022 and is particularly reassuring in these challenging economic times.

Satisfaction with the collection is also very high, with 89% of members reporting being either highly or very highly satisfied with the physical collection, and 82% satisfied with the online material.

We note that almost a third of members (29%) would like us to acquire more fiction (rising to 48% amongst newer members). Other suggestions were also made and we are keen to respond where possible. We are making selective additional purchases in new areas to test levels of demand for different types of material.

Members requested more information about acquired books (42%) and book recommendations in various forms would also be welcomed, particularly by newer members (40%). We shall therefore be developing a new newsletter that will be with you this autumn and will allow us to shine a light on the new books we add to the collection.

It is very pleasing to see that both the number of visits to the Library and loans from the collection have increased and are almost back to pre-Covid levels. 34% of members felt that additional support in navigating the collection, such as signage, would be helpful and we are therefore working on ways to improve this. We also note that beyond the more obvious services we provide, members are less aware of the wide range of membership benefits, for example, our help with research enquiries by email and our book fetching service. We shall do more to bring these to members’ attention, including publicising the help available via our making the most of your membership section of our website. 

We also asked for your views on our communications and were pleased to see that members are frequent readers of the newsletter and magazine (80% and 82% respectively). Members also agreed that the tone of the Library’s communications suits the organisation and that the Library is true to its values; Inspiring, Independent, Welcoming and Excellent. We will continue to use the newsletter and magazine to keep members informed and present useful and interesting articles, helping members enjoy the Library to its fullest.

Part of what makes The London Library special is its sense of community. Our member survey revealed that 45% of members associate the Library with a sense of belonging, and a further 13% hope to discover a sense of belonging in the future. 20% of members would like to find networking opportunities at the Library and 16% hope to find peer support for their writing.  We hope to further foster this spirit of community through various initiatives, such as our regular member events (48% of members said they were interested in our events programme) and our plans for the Library building.

Finally, our membership is getting slightly younger, which has met one of the aims of our Library strategy. 16% of our members are now aged 16-34 (14% 2022). 38% are 35-54 (39% in 2022) and 46% are aged 65 or over (the same as in 2022). 

Thank you again for your support in answering our survey. Without your responses, our understanding of the member experience would be diminished, and we appreciate the time taken to give us your feedback. All responses are read and analysed and inform the way we develop the Library.

You can also share your feedback with us at any time via the email address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.