Library Service Consultation

Derbyshire residents will shortly be able to have their say on proposals which will ensure library buildings in Derbyshire remain open, as well as creating a modern, agile, family-friendly and sustainable service across the county. These proposals form our new draft Derbyshire Public Library Service Strategy 'A Modern Library Service for Derbyshire'.

The proposals are aimed at meeting necessary budget savings and reflecting changing patterns of library use while ensuring the service remains as accessible, efficient and cost-effective as possible.

Following Cabinet's recent approval, a 12-week consultation will be launched in August on a date to be confirmed, giving everyone with an interest in the library service the chance to have their say on the draft strategy and its proposals.

Summer Reading Challenge

Derbyshire libraries would like to invite all children to take part in the 2024 Summer Reading Challenge, Marvellous Makers.

The challenge began on Saturday 6^th July and ends on Saturday 7^th September.

This year’s Summer Reading Challenge is all about being creative. Developed in partnership with Create, a leading charity bringing the creative arts to those who need it most, this year’s Challenge aims to fire up children’s imaginations and unleash storytelling and creativity through the power of reading.  

Derbyshire Libraries will be running many free activities to complement this year’s theme. Please ask at your local library or see Derbyshire Libraries’ social media for more information. You can also email ask.library@derbyshire.gov.uk

As ever we hope as many of you as possible will want to join the challenge and read 6 or more books during the Summer Holidays. You can join at your local library. Those completing the challenge will receive a medal and certificate.

Derbyshire Libraries wishes you all a very happy Summer and hope you have some Marvellous Making and brilliant reading.

Further information on the Summer Reading Challenge can be found here.

The Summer Reading Challenge is produced by The Reading Agency and delivered in partnership with libraries. Marvellous Makers illustrations by Natelle Quek and logo artwork by Lizzie Everard. All © The Reading Agency 2024.

August Activities for Families

We have a whole host of events to support the Summer Reading Challenge listed on our website. In addition to those listed at the above link, look out for the following:

• Saturday 3rd August - Family Craft Drop-In Session - Belper Library - 10am-3pm - Fun and simple crafts on this year's Summer Reading Challenge theme, Marvellous Makers! - 01629 533192 - free drop-in
• Tuesday 13th August - Meet and Make Children's Craft Session - Belper Library - 2-3.30pm - Join in with this fun and friendly craft session led by a professional artist from Fleet Arts. Suitable for age 5 and over - ring 01629 533192 for tickets
• Thursday 15th August - Summer Reading Challenge Storytime - Etwall Library - 3.30-4pm - A special storytime for age 4+ to support the Summer Reading Challenge - ring 01629 532633 - free drop-in

Adult Events in August

A variety of events and health information for adults in libraries.

• Tuesday 6th August - Tuesday Evening Book Group - Ashbourne Library - 5.30-6.30pm - Discussing the work of Joanna Cannon - ring 01629 533950 - free drop-in
• Tuesday 13th August - Live Life Better Derbyshire Body MOTs - Heanor Library - 10am-12pm - blood pressure checks and lifestyle information - ring 01629 533795 for tickets
• Thursday 15th August - Thursday Afternoon Book Group - Ashbourne Library - 2.30-3.30pm - Discussing the best books of this year so far - ring 01629 533950 - free drop-in
• Saturday 17th August - Timeswap - Ashbourne Library - 10am-12pm - Volunteering opportunities in Ashbourne - ring 01629 533950 - free drop-in
• Monday 19th August (until 27th September) - Neil Broady Art Exhibition - Hayfield Library - during opening hours - A collection of paintings from the late Neil Broady, a local resident of Hayfield, will be on display - ring 01629 533438 for more info
• Tuesday 27th August - Board Games Club - Belper Library - 3-7pm - Our board game club is fun and welcoming to all ages. We have a range of classic and modern board games for you to try, and support from our volunteer to get you started - ring 01629 533192 for more info - free drop-in

Ilkeston Library 120th Anniversary Celebrations

We are delighted that Ilkeston Library is celebrating it's 120th birthday in August! There's a whole host of events happening throughout the month for adults, which we've listed below. To book tickets for any of these events please ring 01629 533275

• Monday 12th August - Paul Dexter Poetry - 10.30-11.45am - Join Paul for readings and a chat
• Monday 12th August - History of English Language, Accents & Dialects talk - 1.30-2pm - Come and listen to John Titford, co-author of 'Ey Up Mi Duck' talk about language and dialects 
• Wednesday 14th August - Writing for Wellbeing with Trish Kerrison - 2.30-3.30pm - Come and listen to Trish talk about writing for wellbeing
• Friday 16th August - Greatest Cake with local author Kerry Dilks - 10.30-11.30am - Meet local author Kerry and create you own greatest cake
• Saturday 17th August - CPR How to Save a Life - 11am-12.15pm & 1.15-2.30pm - Come along and learn how to save a lift including demonstration
• Monday 20th August - Anniversary Crafts for Adults - 10.30am-12pm - Special craft morning to celebrate our 120th anniversary, with crafts provided
• Tuesday 21st August - Greatest Cake with local author Kerry Dilks - 11-11.30am - Meet local author Kerry and create you own greatest cake
• Thursday 23rd August - Heritage Day - Help us celebrate our 120th anniversary with local historians, explore resources held, find out about your local history and family history, do a back-room tour, took taster sessions for Ancestry with tea and cake, and much more

We Are All Derbyshire

Derbyshire libraries are hosting an artist who wants to find local heroes to immortalise in 20 portraits, for a project called We Are All Derbyshire. Portrait artist Melissa Speed is asking Derbyshire residents to propose people who they feel deserve to have their portrait painted, in nomination sessions at seven of Derbyshire County Council’s libraries.

The community nomination sessions will be held in the mornings from 10.30am to 11.30am:

• Matlock Library, Tuesday 6 August
• Heanor Library, Friday, 9 August
• Swadlincote Library, Tuesday 13 August
• Buxton Library, Thursday 15 August
• Bolsover Library, Friday 16 August
• Glossop Library, Monday 19 August
• Ashbourne Library, Wednesday 21 August.

For more information click here.

Buxton Museum and Art Gallery 

Peak Buildings, which houses Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, has been closed for the past year to carry out assessments on the building after dry rot was discovered. Unfortunately, the condition of the building means that the museum now needs to move out altogether and look for a new home.

While we’re looking for new premises, we’ll be delivering an interim service which will involve displays, events and activities in other venues within Buxton and further afield. We’re starting this summer with some exciting Family Fun activities in Buxton, including ‘Mermaids and Fabulous Creatures at Buxton Library on 22 August 10:30am-3:30pm, where you can drop in and make a world of underwater wonders.  Keep an eye on our social media to find out more!

Derbyshire Record Office

Royal Carriage Makers

We were delighted a while ago to be able to take in the archive of Holmes & Co of Derby, 19^th century carriage makers who even built carriages for Queen Victoria. The collection includes fabulous designs and photographs. As cars arrived the company adapted to making motor car bodies and the archive also includes many photographs of early cars. You can read more about the company and see some of the designs on our blog.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook.

(One of the carriage designs)

Derbyshire Adult Community Education Service (DACES)

Change your future -  Change your life - Change other lives

DACES have courses at local adult education centres across Derbyshire.

DACES can help you get confidence, get skills, get qualifications and get new opportunities.

Lots of low cost or free smaller classes to help you get the support you need. If you’ve tried learning before, this time could be different:

• Adult Care
• Plastering
• Bricklaying
• Counselling
• Teaching assistant
• Maths
• Suicide awareness
• Volunteer passport
• English
• Drugs and alcohol awareness
• Digital skills
• Childcare

Tel: 01629 531241

Email: adult.education@derbyshire.gov.uk

Visit DACES website to book

Multi Use titles 

Every month we get a new selection of titles on our FREE 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 & Eaudio:

• Bad Men - Julie Mae Cohen
• The Kind Worth Saving - Peter Swanson
• The Wonder Brothers - Frank Cottrell-Boyce

In eBook only:

• Fair Rosaline - Natasha Solomons

In eAudiobook only: 

• The Lie Maker - Lindwood Barclay
• All Of Us Are Broken - Fiona Cummins

New Adult Books

We’ve chosen to highlight three books published recently for you to enjoy. You can reserve them via our online catalogue.

Storm Child by Michael Robotham

Some memories are buried for a reason... The most painful of Evie Cormac's memories have been locked away, ever since she was held prisoner as a child - a child whose rescue captured hearts and headlines.

The Midnight Hour by Eve Chase

With her little brother in tow, desperate to find her mother, Maggie is drawn into a labyrinthine world of antiques and shadowy figures, far from the grand stucco terraces. There she befriends another young person living on their wits. But can he help solve the mystery of her mother's disappearance?
Twenty-one years later, in a Parisian apartment, Maggie's phone rings and her hard-won grown-up life shatters. While in London, the new owner of the Parker's old Notting Hill house is excavating a basement, unaware of what might lie beneath, and the clock starts ticking on buried secrets.
Sweeping from bustling London streets, the boulevards of Paris to an old English country house, The Midnight Hour is a thrilling, richly woven story about a golden family with a hidden past - and a woman trying to turn back the hands of time before it's too late.

Riding Route 66 by Henry Cole 

'Riding Route 66' follows Henry Cole as he travels along Route 66, on a journey of self-discovery.
Route 66, or the 'Mother Road', is one of the most famous roads in the USA. Crossing the width of the country, it is an immensely challenging road to travel. Henry has ridden it four times. This book is about the freedom that only the road and a motorcycle can give you, and the importance of embracing the highs and lows of life equally.

Children's Book Recommendations

One of our favourite things to do is recommend amazing children's books to you! This month we recommend you check out these titles:

Impossible Creatures - Katherine Rundell

A boy called Christopher is visiting his reclusive grandfather when he witnesses an avalanche of mythical creatures come tearing down the hill. This is how Christopher learns that his grandfather is the guardian of one of the ways between the non-magical world and a place called the Archipelago, a cluster of magical islands where all the creatures we tell of in myth live and breed and thrive alongside humans. They have been protected from being discovered for thousands of years; now, terrifyingly, the protection has worn thin, and creatures are breaking through.

Then a girl, Mal, appears in Christopher's world. She is in possession of a flying coat, is being pursued by a killer and is herself in pursuit of a baby griffin. Mal, Christopher and the griffin embark on an urgent quest across the wild splendour of the Archipelago, where sphinxes hold secrets and centaurs do murder, to find the truth - with unimaginable consequences for both their worlds. Together the two must face the problem of power, and of knowledge, and of what love demands of us.

The Grandest Game - Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Welcome to the Grandest Game, a life-changing competition run by billionaire Avery Grambs and the four infamous Hawthorne brothers. LYRA tells herself she's only playing for the money - not for answers about her father's death and certainly not to confront the infuriating, enigmatic GRAYSON Hawthorne. Facing off against Lyra are GIGI, Grayson's half-sister, who is determined to prove herself, and ROHAN, who has few morals, a dangerous skill set, and no future - unless he wins the game.
As sparks fly and the challenges push the players to their limits, it becomes clear that everyone has secrets, ad the past won't stay buried forever.

Epic Cities - Sam Sedgman (Author) & Daniel Long (Illustrator)

Sam Sedgman's Epic Cities is a colourful, diverse and eye-opening tour of the world's most impressive and complex cities, and the unique pieces of infrastructure that keep them running. Readers will journey through 24 cities, each one known for a unique piece of infrastructure that ingeniously solves the challenges of urban living. Every destination has something to tell us about the clever, hidden ways in which our world works.

A celebration of human ingenuity, the marvellous structures of beautiful cities, and a grand tour of the planet's most fascinating cultures, Epic Cities is perfect for readers who enjoy travel, learning secret and surprising facts about the world, and how everything fits together.

You can reserve them via our online catalogue.