Summer Reading Challenge

The Gadgeteers Summer Reading Challenge is well underway, and having signed loads of children up already we're looking forward to signing up loads more as the Summer goes on! The goal is for your child to read six library books over the course of the summer holidays, with stickers along the way and a medal & certificate for those that manage to finish. The theme of 'Gadgeteers' is all about STEM (Science Technology Engineering & Maths), so look out for events along this theme in our libraries all summer-long. It's free to sign up to our libraries, so why not take yourself along to your local library to get library cards for the family, or join online today?

For further information on the Summer Reading Challenge and the many exciting events, click here.

contact ask.library@derbyshire.gov.uk or call 01629 533444 for further information

(illustrations by Julian Beresford 2022)

Royal Coffee Morning Chesterfield Library

The Jubilee celebrations are continuing at Chesterfield Library this summer, with a royal-themed coffee morning on Friday 12^th August. Why not join us for a cuppa and a slice of cake whilst we have a friendly and relaxed chat about all things royal (or anything else that takes your fancy!). We will have some royal memorabilia for you to browse, a royal quiz, colouring for children, as well as a selection of our fun reminiscence games and puzzles for you to enjoy!  

Drop in between 10.30am and 12 noon, Chesterfield Library, (lower floor).

We look forward to seeing you!

For more information contact ask.library@derbyshire.gov.uk or call 01629 533444 

Work experience in libraries

Several Derbyshire school students have recently been working in some of our libraries on work experience. 

Jenson has spent a busy week at Bolsover library, shelving, finding stock rotation books and helping customers with Self Service Machines. Jensen is really into photography and is studying it at school. Here he is with a display he created of his photographs of Matlock Bath, with his choice of Local books for the display.

eBooks & eAudiobooks on BorrowBox

Our Library Blog

Have you checked out our library blog?

This time read contributions from two library customers.

Royal Memories from Marjorie

We asked customers to share their memories of past Jubilee and Royal celebrations with us. To read Marjorie's wonderful recollections click here

Poem about Clay Cross Library by Wendy

Wendy, one of our Home Library customers, remembers the library in Clay Cross opening in 1959. To read her recollections and poem, look here

Local History Coffee Morning

Chesterfield Library, Thursday 25 August

10 am to 11:30 am

Join us for tea & biscuits, and bring along your memories of the Derbyshire Miners' Camp, Skegness.

Our display of beautifully restored images and material from our archives will be available to view for the whole of August. The images were used by Geoff Gration in his book 'Best summer of our lives - a photographic history of the Derbyshire Miners' Holiday Camp' and restored by him.

For more information, ring 01629 533444 or contact ask.library@derbyshire.gov.uk

Derbyshire Record Office

Tennis? Cake!

We celebrated Wimbledon on our blog a few weeks ago with an intriguing recipe for tennis cake from the ‘Derbyshire Federation of Women’s Institutes recipe book’, dated 1954.Our Local Studies Librarian Lisa had a go at making the recipe and soon learnt the first rule of baking: check you have all the ingredients! Despite not fully understanding all the instructions (if you were baking in the 1950s do let us know if she did it right), the finished cake was “moist and very tasty”.  

Buxton Museum & Art Gallery

The museum contributed to the Buxton Festival Fringe programme with our annual series of Meet the Experts lectures. Ceramics  expert David Barker told us about the 1000+ potsherds excavated during the redevelopment of Buxton Crescent. Visitors to the Crescent before 1810 sipped tea from Chinese blue and white porcelain and ate dinner from plates that had brushwork blue edges against a white ground, served from platters the colour of rich cream. Individual servings of dishes served in little patty pots, and shared small bowls of punch. If it wasn’t Chinese, the pottery came mostly from Staffordshire.

Dr Tom Booth from the Francis Crick Institute updated us on results from sampling from the human remains kept at the museum. The Institute is developing a data bank of the Mesolithic to Bronze Ages’ population of Britain using DNA evidence and radio carbon dating. The science is providing more accurate data about the sex and age of the people whose remains we hold, and where their historic genetic base came from. This sort of science can be overwhelming, but small nuggets can amaze us. Amongst the material from Carsington Pasture cave (one of the most significant caves in Britain) they have found evidence of the oldest remains (in Britain) of a child with what we call Downs Syndrome, who lived over 5,000 years ago.

Catherine Parker Heath  brought us nearer in time telling us about work she has been doing with volunteers at Errwood Hall. Now before going out to this stunning beautiful landscape, you can download the augmented reality app exploring Errwood Hall in the Goyt Valley and find out about the family who lived there. 

Meet the Experts will return next year, possibly with an update about the science on the bear remains…

For the latest news about Buxton Museum & Art Gallery be sure to visit their blog or visit the official website. 

(Image is of a reconstruction of Cheddar Man)

Digital Skills

Do you live in Derbyshire and need to update your digital skills? Derbyshire Adult Community Education Service (DACES) have options starting throughout the year from short taster courses to full digital skills qualifications.

Step into Digital Skills

Their step into digital skills course develops your digital skills and knowledge, whether you are new to computers or have a bit more confidence. 

The EDSQ course offers you the opportunity to gain skills on specific tasks such as accessing the internet or email to take a digital skills qualification at Beginners Entry-level or at Level 1. All qualifications are fully funded and FREE.

All learners are invited to a 'making choices - step into learning' session before starting to find out your level of ability and help you decide on the options available to you.

If you'd like to find out more, email making.choices@daces.derbyshire.gov.uk with the subject line' digital skills'. When you email, please give the details of what you would like to learn and whether you have done any ICT training before. Also give a contact number and whereabouts in Derbyshire you live so that your nearest centre can be located.

These options are all for learners aged 19 and over. For anyone under this age, please enquire and DACES can talk through options and check eligibility.

New Adult Fiction Books Coming in August

New Adult Fiction Books coming in August

We’ve highlighted three adult fiction titles published in August. Two historical and one crime for you to get immersed in. You can reserve them via our online catalogue:

Haven by Emma Donoghue

“In seventh-century Ireland, a scholar and priest called Artt has a dream telling him to leave the sinful world behind. Taking two monks - young Trian and old Cormac - he rows down the River Shannon in search of an isolated spot on which to found a monastery. Drifting out into the Atlantic, the three men find an impossibly steep, bare island, inhabited by tens of thousands of birds, and claim it for God. In such a place, what will survival mean?”

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

“Florence, the 1560s. Lucrezia, third daughter of Cosimo de' Medici, is free to wander the palazzo at will, wondering at it's treasures and observing it's clandestine workings. But when her older sister dies on the eve of marriage to Alfonso d'Este, heir to the Duke of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is made to take her place.”

My Other Husband by Dorothy Koomson

“Someone is trying to frame me for murder. They're hurting people in the ways I write about - and making sure I'm the prime suspect. I think I know why. But I can't tell the police or even use my rock-solid alibi. Because then I'd have to confess about my other husband. A series of terrifying murders. A set of complex lies. And a woman with no way to clear her name.”

Here are some other August highlights:

The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith

Dark Rooms by Lynda La Plante

The last party by Clare Mackintosh

Tick Tock by Simon Mayo

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

You can request any of these titles at your local library or place a hold yourself via our online catalogue

Multi-Use Titles

Every month we get a new selection of titles on our BorrowBox app of both eBooks and eAudiobooks that can be taken out by multiple users at one time. These stay multi-use for 60 days, so if you have a book club and you're looking for your next title then one of these could be your next choice! 

You can find these titles on the main BorrowBox page, identified as a collection with 'No Waiting!' or 'Available Now!'

Titles available from August are:

In eBook and eAudiobook format:

• The Glass Hotel – Emily St John Mandel
• The Young Team - Graeme Armstrong
• Annie Stanley, All at Sea – Sue Teddern
• Reputation – Lex Croucher

In eAudiobook format only:

• Kate on the Case – Hannah Peck (Children's fiction)
• Witches Steeped in Gold – Ciannon Smart (Young Adult)

In eBook format only:

• Luster – Raven Leilani

This Month We Recommend You Read...

One of our favourite things to do is recommend amazing books to you! This month, as the Summer Reading Challenge continues, we're recommending that you join the Gadgeteers and check out these titles!

Mega Robo Bros 4: Meltdown - Neill Cameron

The Mega Robo bros face their most dangerous threat yet: the evil robot Wolfram is trying to bring about the end of the world by melting all the ice in the Arctic. Only Alex and Freddy can stop him! The next exciting instalment of the graphic novel series for older Primary age kids.

Vi Spy: The Golden Gran - Maz Evans

Vi has tried to save the Earth before...and failed. Now, she faces an even bigger stress: her Gran is seriously ill. But Vi's not ready to give up just yet. She, Gran and the entire family blast off - together - on the rocket-ride of their lives. The third book in the fabulous and hilarious spy series, from one of the funniest children's author of modern times. 

How to Survive Anywhere: Staying Alive in the World's Most Extreme Places - Ben Lerwill

From the dense rainforests of the Amazon to the chill of the snowy Arctic, come on an intrepid adventure to the world's most extreme places, and find out just what it takes to survive there. Discover how to navigate the vast Australian outback, keep yourself alive in a sandstorm in the Arabian desert, avoid a bear attack in a North American forest, explore the dark depths of the Atlantic Ocean and even perform a spacewalk up in orbit! In this beautiful and bright fully illustrated hardback book, visit 12 incredible and diverse habitats - the Arctic Circle, a North American forest, the Amazon Rainforest, a Pacific desert island, the Alps, the Arabian desert, the African savannah, the Himalayas, the Australian outback, Antarctica, deep in the ocean and high up in space on the International Space Station.

Order you copies of these fantastic books on our online catalogue.

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