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From Monday 6 July we will open Cambridge Central, Huntingdon, St Ives, St Neots, Bar Hill, Cambourne, Ely, March and Wisbech libraries for 3 sessions a week, 4 at Cambridge Central. For opening times visit or website here.
In order to maintain a safe environment, a number of service changes have been made. Customers will be required to maintain social distancing outside library entrances and once inside the buildings, will not be able to browse titles.
To help people access the books they want we are introducing a new service called ‘Select and Collect’. Customers can choose titles according to their preferences (eg genre, fiction, non fiction, talking books, children’s books etc) and then collect them from libraries.
To order a book using Select and Collect visit https://cambridgeshire-self.achieveservice.com/service/Select_and_Collect or call Customer Services on 0345 045 5225.
The health and safety of our staff is an utmost priority, so we would ask customers to please be patient when collecting books and adhere to social distancing guidance. We always welcome your feedback so please let us know about any issues around our library services.
The council plans opening all remaining libraries from 3 August for 2 days per week and will continue to review the situation.
Public access IT facilities will be available by appointment only, with a limit of one 45 minute appointment per day per customers
For more information about library services visit https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/libraries-leisure-culture/libraries
This year’s online Summer Reading Challenge ‘Silly Squad’ is now up and running.
The ‘Silly Squad’ team of animal friends are encouraging children to read lots of books – they will unlock fun rewards as they progress through the challenge. Although aimed at children aged 4-11, younger children are also welcome to take part.
The Reading Agency’s website has book recommendations, as well as activities, quizzes, videos and games to keep children entertained at home. Find out how the website works and how children can sign up here:
Silly Squad Summer Reading Challenge 2020
Don’t forget that children can borrow eBooks, audiobooks and comics to take part in the challenge. You can find details here of how to access them free of charge, as well as updates to our SRC offer.
Get Silly this Summer with your library online!
Make a date each Monday to discover which wonderful eBooks and eAudio you can download from your online library to help you complete the Reading Challenge.
Tune in on Tuesday mornings for the Silly Slot: jokes, challenges and just plain silliness from Elisa and Sara; and for our Silly Squad posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram about how to make the most of The Reading Agency’s fabulous Silly Squad website.
Then join us on Saturday mornings for a Silly Squad Craft demo.
And of course, we still have our Monday Rhymetimes, Wednesday & Friday 0-4s Storytimes, and our Local Author Storytimes on Thursday mornings.
You can find all these silly activities and events on Cambridgeshire Libraries’ Facebook page, plus Twitter and Instagram.
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By the time you read this we will have published 13 weekly timetables of online events from Cambridgeshire Libraries. We post it on Facebook and Twitter every Friday and all details are uploaded to our website too. For the last few weeks it has been viewed over 10,000 times each week on Facebook!
We have staff recording themselves doing rhymetimes, storytimes, craft events and information videos. We have streamed events from the British Library and our The Library Presents…In Your House arts programme.
We post keep fit links to Joe Wicks, Love to Move and Everyone Health to cover all ages.
We have TwitterChats where anyone can join in or just watch in the background – to date we’ve chatted to 12 authors and we’ve had some very big names!
We’ll keep on with our programme as long as necessary – what would you like to see?
Take a look at our weekly timetable on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Have you Listened In yet?
Last month we launched Cambridgeshire Listen In for Kids!
We will have 4 titles which will be available to 500 or 1,000 customers at the same time. Perfect for getting a countywide discussion started. Follow the links to BorrowBox Audiobooks to download:
Share your thoughts on Twitter using #CambsKidsListenIn
You can leave your comments on our Facebook and Instagram pages too.
‘The Library Presents… In Your House’ programme content is available until the end of August so there is still time to enjoy the music, drama, storytelling and poetry offer for adults. You can watch or listen online using your phone, tablet or computer.
Click the titles below and we will take you straight to the entertainment!
Stories from the Shvitz is three episodes of intimate and hilarious true stories about identity, home and getting washed by old men.
Discover Florence Nightingale and her work as a statistician and campaigner with songwriter Louise Jordan.
The Ballad of Wisbech Museum is a re-worked Victorian folk song created by folk trio Harp and Monkey after they were inspired on their visit as part of The Library Presents programme last year.
Animated Wordsmith, a 15 minute poetry set full of energy, comedy, theatrical flair and hand drawn animations.
To be continued: Lost journals of passion, adventure and tragedy 1925 – 1976, three short films tell the extraordinary story of one ‘ordinary’ man - Dick Perceval, and lastly Greyhounds VE Day Audio Drama and Then Again a podcast looking behind the big moments in history.
To find out what is available in our programme for families visit www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/arts
Image: Stories from the Shvitz (Luke Wallis)
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Over the past two years the Living Knowledge Network, a collaborative partnership between the British Library and public libraries, has livestreamed unique cultural events to audiences across the UK. The programme aims to celebrate libraries as vital free-to-access spaces for open conversation and cultural engagement through a series of dynamic events featuring literary icons, academics, artists, activists and other luminaries.
In light of widespread library closures due to coronavirus, we have curated an archive programme of our past events to keep you entertained and inspired and to remind everyone of the special place libraries have in our communities. Once lockdown is lifted you will be able to enjoy livestreamed events in libraries again.
A new event will be released on living-knowledge-network.co.uk each week, where it will stay for you to access for free at any time. Recent releases have included: Rebel Girls: with Jacqueline Wilson, Michael Cashman in Conversation presented by Ian McKellen, and Jane Eyre: Gothic Rebel.
Follow us at @LKN_Libraries for updates of event releases and to connect with our wonderful network of libraries across the UK. As always, join in the conversation with #BLLive and please let us know what you think through the ‘Feedback’ button on the webpage.
This month’s choice of '10 novels that shaped our world' explores Coming of Age.
From Harry Potter finding his feet and fulfilling his destiny in the wizarding world, to newly-orphaned Emily Moon standing up to her snobbish relatives and malicious classmates, the ten Coming of Age novels explore characters growing up and finding their way in the world.
Visit the BBC website here for more information.
You can enjoy many of the following in an e-format - just download the App!
Golden Child - Claire Adam
Claire Adam's devastating first novel compassionately brings to life different ways of experiencing the world. A resoundingly human story of aspiration, betrayal, and love. Available as an RB Digital eBook.
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Oryx and Crake – Margaret Atwood
With her shocking material and customary sharp wit and dark humour, Atwood projects readers into a less-than-brave new world, an outlandish yet wholly believable space populated by a cast of characters who will inhabit dreams.
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The Outsiders – S. E. Hinton
Written by S.E Hinton at the age of 17, this has been called the original teenage rebel novel. The Socs' idea of having a good time is beating up Greasers like Ponyboy. Ponyboy knows what to expect and knows he can count on his brothers and friends - until the night someone takes things too far.
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So Long, See You Tomorrow – William Maxwell
A man haunted by guilt from a childhood incident recounts the events that led him to shun a friend in need. In doing so, he vividly conjures up two families, two failed marriages and the tragedy that led to murder. Available as an RB Digital eBook.
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The Twilight Saga – Stephenie Meyer
When seventeen-year-old Bella Swan moves to Forks, Washington, she soon finds her life in danger when she falls in love with a vampire, Edward Cullen.
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Emily of New Moon – L. M. Montgomery
Of all the books she wrote, this was L. M. Montgomery’s favourite, with a spirited heroine who will beguile readers of all ages. Emily's story is heart-rending, magical and completely unforgettable. Available as an RB Digital eBook.
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Swami and Friends – R. K. Narayan
Ten-year-old Swaminathan is living through the beginnings of the Indian struggle for independence, but though he happily demonstrates, he wouldn't dream of missing cricket practice.
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The Country Girls - Edna O’Brien
Naive, reckless Kate Brady and Baba Brennan escape from their convent school and the Irish countryside to the bright lights of Dublin City, and a whirl of dances, flirtations and passionate misadventures.
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The Harry Potter series - J. K. Rowling
The international phenomenon about a young orphaned boy who learns he is a wizard. The books chronicle the adventures he and his gang of magical buddies have at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as well as their fight to defeat dark wizard, He Who Must Not Be Named. Full collection available in RB Digital eBook and eAudiobook.
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The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾ - Sue Townsend
Teenager Adrian writes candidly about his parents' marital troubles, the dog, his life as a tortured poet and 'misunderstood intellectual'. His painfully honest diary makes hilarious and compelling reading. Available as an RB Digital eBook and eAudiobook.
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If you have a favourite from this month’s list then please tweet about it using #MyBookLife and @cambslib so the BBC and the library can retweet it.
Enjoy our selection of new eBooks and eAudiobooks for July.
New-Books-for-July-2020.pdf
Follow the links to BorrowBox Audiobooks download and listen today:
Join in the discussion on Twitter #CambridgeshireListenIn
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Books and Reading
Our free eBooks, eAudiobooks, eMagazines and eNewspapers are available to download to pc, tablet or smartphone. Follow the link Cambridgeshire Libraries - library online to find out more.
Have you tried our eComics?
Our RB Digital service has expanded to give you access to over 1,500 comics. You’ll find Marvel, Dark Horse, Disney – the Avengers, Thor, Captain America.
If you already have an account with RBDigital, there’s nothing you need to do – use your login details. You may need to log out and back in to your account.
Cambridgeshire Libraries - eComics
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Free Online Resources
You'll find access to encyclopaedias, directories, genealogy, online film, history and music resources and so much more. Plus a list of open access learning, reading and health resources.
Go to Cambridgeshire Libraries - library online.
We know that small business owners and entrepreneurs are facing an incredibly worrying and uncertain period and, at the BIPC, we want to use our online resources to offer as much support and information as we can in these difficult times.
• Grow your business with online business resources, business support and e-learning
• Use our business support COBRA database free from home to start your research
• Join a British Library business information webinar or watch previous British Library webinars on YouTube
• Read British Library articles for top tips and advice on starting and growing your business and protecting your intellectual property
• Read the British Library innovation and enterprise blog
• Read free British Library industry and IP guides
• Watch inspiring videos of entrepreneurs
• Coronavirus support and advice for businesses
Contact us on : BIPC@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/BIPC
If I was going to write a ‘lockdown memoir’ it would probably be titled ‘Diary of a Doorstep Conversationalist’.
When the libraries had to close in March, our Library at Home Service had to be suspended as well. But almost from that first day the Volunteering Development Team has been working very hard to find ways of re-instating the service amidst the ever changing reality of a lockdown. The customers who normally rely on the service felt the loss of it very keenly, as many of them need large print books or audiobooks, and for various reasons cannot access our libraries digital offer. They are avid readers or listeners, books or audiobooks help many of them to alleviate loneliness or physical pain.
In May, the team got a green light to start trialling a Revised Library at Home Service, with bags of specially chosen books or spoken word delivered to the doorsteps of those who had to shield or self-isolate due to age or health conditions. After the successful trial we have continued to expand, and in five weeks a hundred of our most vulnerable customers received their bags.
Not being able to come in for a proper visit, there have been a lot of conversations on people’s doorsteps. Shy smiles and heartfelt thanks as many looked at the bags with joy. Conversations about books and life, sharing stories and laughter, checking if a person has the support they need… Many were saying; ‘the lockdown hasn’t been so bad until we read the last of our library books’, ‘I cannot knit any longer because of my arthritis, books are all I have’, ‘this is a lifeline, THANK YOU’.
As life in lockdown begins to relax and a few libraries start opening for a limited service, the Library at Home service will continue unabated. We will do our best to get books and audio books out to anyone who relies on reading or listening to stories and who is housebound and/or is in the Covid-19 vulnerable group.
If you know someone who fits the above criteria you are welcome to send an email (with their permission, of course) and tell us about them.
To contact the Library at Home team you can email us at -
volunteers@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
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For the past 10 years many libraries have held EngAGE sessions - our programme of talks and demonstrations, with a guest speaker - followed by Q&A and a cup of tea. The audience for this programme is over-50s.
Whist Covid 19 restrictions continue we are happy to announce that Cambridgeshire Libraries are bringing you "EngAGE Online". These digital and interactive sessions will temporarily replace EngAGE events in libraries.
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Here is a taster of some of the upcoming topics for July and August:
St Ives as a CALM Town
Street Art
Antarctica
Artist demonstrations
Chernobyl
Cambridge - Local history
Peter Murphy -Writing from Experience: how Judge Walden Began*
*Peter recommends participants read at least one of these novels to get the best out of this talk.
All 3 Judge Walden books are available for free as e-books through Cambridgeshire Libraries - Walden of Bermondsey; Judge Walden: Back in Session; Judge Walden: Call the next case.
If you are interested in being in the audience for any of these events please request your virtual ticket by sending an email to: volunteers@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
We are joining in this national campaign and we want to draw your attention to the following resources of quality health information.
Health information week is a national multi-sector campaign promoting high quality information to patients and the public. High quality health information can have a huge impact on peoples ability to stay healthy and manage illnesses effectively, giving them a better quality of life. #HIW2020
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Health conditions
When you or your family are unwell, finding information about the conditions, symptoms and treatments might be the first step you want to take, and you can always rely on the NHS website.You can also try patient.info, a website certified with quality marks for health information, where you will find the easy-to-use Symptom Checker to help you identify whether you need to seek immediate medical attention.
For specific long-term conditions, many charities and organizations offer good information and support, such as British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK, Macmillan Cancer Support and British Lung Foundation. While there is so much information on the internet yet not all of it is reliable, the health librarians at the Royal Papworth Hospital clinical library share with us a quick guide here about how to find trustworthy resources.
Patient support
Being unwell, going through treatments, and receiving care can be stressful experiences. HealthTalk contains a substantial collection of videos in which people share personal experiences of their conditions and of the health care they received. The Patients Association provides advice such as Make the most of your GP appointment to help patients take up an active role in making informed decisions regarding treatments and care.
The Patients Association manages a national helpline offering specialist information and signposting, helping patients and families find their way in the labyrinth of health and social care systems. Healthwatch delivers similar services helping patients to find the right support at the local level. Based in each NHS Trust, the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) provides immediate assistance to patients and families by sharing information about the Trust’s services, advising treatment options, and negotiating resolution of problems or complaints.
Health myths debunked
During the pandemic of covid-19, conflicting news and information circulated on social media have caused some confusion. You will find many false claims about coronavirus demystified by BBC Reality Check and by the UK independent fact checking charity Full Fact. If you are interested to learn more about the research findings mentioned in health-related news, the NHS Behind the Headlines frequently publishes articles analysing whether a news report is misleading or verifying the report is quoting the scientific findings truthfully with an accurate conclusion.
Simple strength and balance exercises twice a week are proven to keep you stronger for longer and ready to enjoy the great things you like doing when life returns to normal.
Cambridgeshire County Council is encouraging people to keep active at home so they’ll stay strong, steady and be able to keep doing the things they enjoy - for longer.
Judith, 70, has been doing the free ‘Keep Active with Oaks’ classes every day during lockdown since finding them on Facebook follow the link to @oakactivitieskeepactive
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Judith is waiting for a knee operation, and admits that with the way things are at the moment it’s sometimes hard to get out of bed - but doing the exercises with Lou from Oaks Activities sets her up for each day and puts a smile on her face.
Judith said: “I use a walking stick at the moment, and can only walk so far, so exercising at home is the perfect solution for me, and Lou manages to cheer me up with her new routines every day. I have a good laugh and I work hard. I used to go to keep-fit years ago and every class was the same, but with Lou each class is brilliant."
“I like the 9.30am class but sometimes it doesn’t suit me to do it then, so I watch it back and do it later. I enjoy watching the other classes too, even if I can’t do all the exercises!"
“If anyone is thinking about taking part but hesitating, my advice is to go at your own pace, listen to your body – and go for it!”
Cambridgeshire County Council is supporting the free Oak Activities online classes as part of the ‘Stronger for Longer’ campaign. The classes have been funded by Power2Inspire and Cambridgeshire Community Foundation. Live classes take place every weekday at 9.30am (beginners), 12pm (intermediate) or 3pm (advanced) and they are also available to catch up at a time convenient to you.
To join a class or find out more about the importance of strength and balance activities visit:
www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/strongerforlonger
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