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“A library in the middle of a community is a cross between an emergency exit, a life-raft and a festival. They are cathedrals of the mind; hospitals of the soul; theme parks of the imagination. On a cold rainy island, they are the only sheltered public spaces where you are not a consumer, but a citizen instead” – Caitlin Moran
Public libraries have come a long way since Humphrey Chetham founded Chetham’s Library in 1653 - the oldest public library in the English-speaking world, and the oldest surviving free public library in Britain.
There are now over 3,000 public libraries (including mobile libraries) in the UK, issuing almost 165 million books a year to over 7 million customers.
Despite their popularity, there are some common myths about public libraries that we'd like to bust...
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Busted: Anyone with a UK address can join Cheshire East Libraries for free
There is no charge to join the library and you can then:
- all for free!
It's easy to join, either at the library or online. Plus, when you join Cheshire East Libraries you can also use Cheshire West and Chester libraries with the same membership.
If you're not a member, or don't want to join, you can come and read in the library and use some of our services, but you won't be able to borrow any books or items to take home.
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Busted: Libraries are open to everyone, no matter how young
Did you know that you can register your baby as a library member as soon as they’re born?
We have a large selection of board books and picture books for our youngest members to enjoy, and we hold regular free Baby Bounce, Stories and Songs and Rhymetime sessions for pre-school children and their families. A great opportunity for you to meet other parents and for your children to socialise in a relaxed, welcoming and inclusive environment.
Libraries also partner with BookTrust to promote language and learning skills in young children. BookStart gifts free books to children at key ages before school to help families read together every day and inspire children to develop a love of books and reading.
If you're lucky, you might even get to meet Mr Bookstart Bear at a library event!
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Busted: The library has something for you, whatever your age
It's true that many older people are library members, but we have members of all ages and a wide range of books for all tastes. But it's not just books!
Children and teens can enjoy activities such as LEGO Clubs, games clubs, book groups, STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) events.
You can borrow Reading Sparks boxes which bring together STEM and creative arts and reading.
You can use our free computers and WiFi for everything from homework and family history research, to emailing family, job hunting, online shopping or printing travel documents.
Our friendly Customer Service Desks handle things like applications for Blue Badges, concessionary travel and benefits, as well as council enquiries.
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Individuals and organisations can hire meeting rooms at Alsager, Congleton, Handforth, Holmes Chapel, Macclesfield Nantwich, Sandbach and Wilmslow libraries. The hire charge depends on the size of the room.
Macclesfield Library also has an IT suite equipped with 10 laptops, and some libraries also have exhibition or display space. Just ask for details.
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There are resources for schools, playgroups and residential care homes and special collections relating to local studies or health and wellbeing.
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There are social groups for all ages, including craft and games groups, shared reading and book groups, and music sessions.
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There are informal learning opportunities such as language groups and courses, family history workshops, basic computer skills and STEM events for all ages.
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Some activities are aimed specifically at children or adults, but we hold lots of events where children and their families can have fun together.
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Busted: Libraries are not quiet all the time
If you pop in to meet a friend for a chat we won't shush you.
Libraries can still provide quiet study space, but most of our regular activities involve talking, clapping or music and singing, and refreshments. They can attract quite a crowd too.
Our activities are advertised, so if you'd like to come and join in, or if you'd rather avoid busier times, check your library's web page for details.
If you suffer from sensory overload, you'll find a Social Story on each library's web page explaining how the library could work for you.
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Busted: Libraries in Cheshire have a rich and fascinating history, but that doesn’t mean they are stuck in the past!
Photograph by G.H. Ingham, Courtesy of Cheshire Image Bank (ref:c13567)
Libraries have been constantly evolving over the years to best reflect the communities that they serve. Technology has made the lives of library staff much easier, being able to locate whether a book is in stock and where with a few taps of a keyboard!
Those who expect their local library to be filled with historic tomes may also be surprised to learn that libraries are filled with the latest releases and bestsellers! From Colleen Hoover and Taylor Jenkins Reid to Richard Osman and Lee Child, there’s a wide range of new fiction and non-fiction books for all ages. You can search the range books available on our catalogue.
Heard a review of a book you'd like to read? Has a hotly anticipated bestseller caught your eye? Why buy, when you could reserve it instead?
Did you know that you can reserve books from any Cheshire East or Cheshire West and Chester library? Just search the online catalogue, and if we have the book, click on the title and place a hold for collection at your local library.
To place a hold on a book, you will need to log in to your account using your library PIN. There is a small reservation charge (except for book reservations from our own catalogue for under 18s).
If we don't stock the book at any of our libraries, we can search the catalogues of all UK lending libraries and order it for you. To order a book that's not in our catalogue, ask a member of library staff.
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Busted: Libraries are relevant now and in the future
Does anyone visit libraries anymore? Do people still read books? Yes they do! Last year, Cheshire East libraries had 1,039,370 visits and issued 1,730,148 items. In fact, we've been the highest issuing unitary authority for several years running.
You may think everything is freely available on the internet. So, why do we need libraries when you can just Google it? Well, you can't trust everything you read online and some information is normally hidden behind a paywall on in the deep web. Libraries subscribe to trusted online resources to make sure you find reliable and accurate information - without ads!
One of the ways to bust the myth that libraries are a relic of the past is to talk about how important libraries will continue to be in the future! As well as the important work that libraries continue to do with social and digital exclusion, literacy development and community engagement – libraries will become increasingly important as we look towards becoming a more climate positive society.
Public libraries can help to educate communities around climate change and collective action. Borrowing books is a great way to reduce consumption – if you reduce the number of books that you buy, you reduce the amount of resources, pollution and waste used in the printing of the books.
Books may have got cheaper to buy, but just log in to your library account and you can see how much money you've saved by borrowing instead. Naturally, borrowing books also means that one book is reused multiple times by multiple people – meaning that it has a long, loved life! Many retired library books find a forever home through one of our book sales.
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Busted: Libraries support authors in a number of ways
Images: Erica James author visit at Nantwich Library
Under the UK Public Lending Right system authors receive annual payments from government funds to remunerate them for the lending of their books in public libraries. This includes not just authors but illustrators, photographers, translators and editors.
Libraries hold author events for local writers at the beginning of their career, as well as popular established authors.
People who read library books tend to be people who also buy books, and libraries are a great way to 'try before you buy' and discover new authors and genres for free. Publishers often provide promotional materials for new authors and latest releases as we can create eye-catching displays.
Last but not least, most authors are also avid readers and many say they were inspired by a book they found at the library when they were young.
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Busted: Library staff have various roles - and none of them wear twinsets and pearls!
Yes, you'll find some Librarians working in libraries but you'll also meet Library Assistants, Senior Library Assistants, and Library Managers. Whatever their role, there's rarely a dull day on the frontline. It's not all reading, shelving and stamping books.
Behind the scenes, the Specialist Librarians, Drivers, Systems Team and the Bibliographic Services teams support the frontline and the Library Services Manager.
You may see the Mobile Library Driver and Senior Library Assistant out and about.
There are also volunteers who help us deliver activities such as the summer reading challenge, IT Buddy sessions and the Home Library Service.
A day in the life of a library assistant: Lara Bailey at Congleton Library
I started the day by tidying the library ready for our customers to enjoy. I then manned the front desk whilst listening to the music and singing from our library group ‘Good Vibrations’. Later in the morning I helped with a food bank referral form at the customer service point.
In the afternoon, I ran a Lego Spike session with my colleague Rachel, this is one of our Summer Reading Challenge activities for children. We had lots of fun building ‘mini mini golf’ and coding the Lego to move, light up and make sounds using a computer. I took photos during this activity which I then scheduled to go onto our Facebook page to help promote the library. I ended the day by shelving books and doing a quick tidy in preparation for the next day.
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Busted: We don't but we know a library that does...
In Cheshire East, the Specialist Librarians buy books according to the guidelines in the stock policy. The aim is to provide a balanced range of up to date and appealing books and other materials that are suitable for all ages and a wide range of abilities and needs.
The British Library is the UK's national library, and as a legal deposit library it receives copies of all books produced in the UK and Ireland, including a significant proportion of overseas titles distributed in the UK.
Did you know that we have an inter-library loan system that means you can reserve books and get print or electronic journal articles from the British Library? (Charges apply)
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We’re busy doing some serious myth busting, but we all know libraries are a little bit magical, right? All those remarkable stories waiting to be discovered, all the intriguing characters to meet, all the breath-taking places to visit at the turn of a page.
Dip into an enchanting read to be conveyed to another world of wonder…
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The Midnight Library enables Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren't always what she imagined they'd be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger. Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live? Reserve The Midnight Library
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When Zachary Rawlins stumbles across a strange book hidden in his university library, he’s shocked to discover a story about his own childhood in its pages. Determined to solve the puzzle of the book, he follows strange clues to an ancient library deep within the earth. The library contains not only books, but the knowledge of lost cities and lost lovers. There are dangerous enemies determined to destroy the library, and Zachary must join forces with two others in order to protect it. Reserve The Starless Sea
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Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, which harvests fiction from different realities. And along with her enigmatic assistant Kai, she's posted to an alternative London. Their mission - to retrieve a dangerous book. But when they arrive, it's already been stolen. London's underground factions seem prepared to fight to the very death to find her book. Adding to the jeopardy, this world is chaos-infested - the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic. Reserve The Invisible Library |
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All books, no matter their binding, will fall to dust. The stories they carry may last longer. They might outlive the paper, the library, even the language in which they were first written. But the greatest story can reach the stars. Evar has lived his whole life trapped within a vast library, older than empires and larger than cities. Livira has spent hers in a tiny settlement out on the Dust where no one goes and nightmares stalk. The world has never noticed them. That's about to change. Reserve The Book That Wouldn't Burn |
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Ropa speaks to Edinburgh's dead, carrying messages to the living. A girl's gotta earn a living, and it seems harmless enough. Until, that is, the dead whisper that someone's bewitching children - leaving them husks, empty of joy and life. It's on Ropa's patch, so she feels honour bound to investigate. She'll dice with death (not part of her life plan) as she calls on Zimbabwean magic and Scottish pragmatism to hunt down clues. For Edinburgh hides a wealth of secrets. And in the process, she discovers an occult library and some unexpected allies. Yet as shadows lengthen, will the hunter become the hunted? Reserve The Library of the Dead |
The Strange Library – Haruki Murakami, The Library of the Unwritten – A. J. Hackwith, The Invisible Library – Genevieve Cogman
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Busted: Libraries are so much more than just a building
"From the oak-panelled Chetham’s Library to the latest state-of-the-art library in China, libraries are not just buildings. They are powerful physical symbols of a culture’s belief in the value of shared civic space for all, the right to free thought and expression, and the organisation and distribution of knowledge for the public good" - Piers Torday
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Do you have practical experience in financial management or accountancy? Are high standards of ethical behaviour important to you? If so, we're looking for an independent member to sit on our Audit and Governance Committee - helping to support good governance at Cheshire East Council. Specific training will be provided.
Deadline: Friday 8 September
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We hope to see you soon!
We always welcome feedback about our services. If you have enjoyed this newsletter or have any suggestions for improvement, please send us an email to libraries@cheshiresharedservices.gov.uk.
Alternatively pop into your local library and let the staff know. Thank you.
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