Find out what is
available at each of our libraries around the borough.
For those who can not get to a local library we offer a mobile
library service and a housebound library service.
Reader development
activities in our libraries
There are more than a third of a million items for loan in our
libraries, ranging from board books and story sacks for babies and
toddlers to the latest best-selling authors; from books to help
with your homework to books to help you change your life. And if
you can't see to read a book we have talking books on tape or CD
and books in Braille and Moon formats.
We also support reading, writing and poetry groups in our
libraries. If you are interested in joining one of these groups,
please ask at your local library.
Many of our libraries have regular story times for children
and class visits for schools. We also have poetry sessions;
author visits and other reading events.
Information and learning activities
in our libraries
Information resources in our libraries include reference
collections of books, pamphlets and maps; local studies
collections; and access to local and online information resources.
There is free access to the Internet in all of our libraries.
We also host and support a variety of learning activities and
events in our libraries.
Events in our libraries
As well as our regularly-scheduled activities we often have
one-off events in our libraries. These may be part of a wider
programme - school holiday events for children; national
celebrations such as Family Learning Week or World
Book Day; etc. - or may be local celebrations such as carnivals or
local anniversaries.
Library services from home, work or college
You might not be inside a library, you can still use our
services.
- Our Web Catalogue lets you search the three hundred and ninety
three thousand items in stock in all our libraries; and if an
item is available in a lending collection and can be reserved, you
can select it for picking up at your local library. So long as you
are a member of the library: it is free to join and it is also free
to reserve an item. We will let you know when it is available for
you to pick it up.
- We subscribe to a selection of online reference and information
resources, including encyclopæædias, reference books and learning
resources.
Web Catalogue — search the
Catalogue; also includes reading links and links to resources on
the web