Battle, Hastings, Eastbourne, Newhaven and Crowborough libraries will re-open on 13 July. They will not offer a full library service so we’d still encourage people to continue to use our eLibrary where they can, so that we can manage customer numbers safely.

Library layouts have been changed for social distancing, meaning there will be fewer books available to borrow. However, a ‘Select + Collect’ service will let you choose up to 20 books online or by calling the library service, to pick up quickly and easily from one of the re-opened libraries. Anything borrowed can be kept until 30 September.

45-minute computer sessions will be available to book in advance but there will be no study space, access to reference material or customer toilets.   There's a Home Library Service for vulnerable people.

Please follow instructions from staff to keep everyone safe. They will limit numbers, ask you to use hand sanitizer at the entrance and follow signs. In line with Government guidance, we will ask you for your name and phone number at the time you go into the library. This information may be shared with the NHS Test and Trace programme if needed. We will increase cleaning, distance furniture and computers, and quarantine books between uses. 

We hope to open more libraries and increase the range of services on offer later in the summer and autumn.  We will keep you updated.  To find out more about how the new system will operate from 13 July, please visit our website.

Congratulations to David Ouimet for “I Go Quiet”, the winner of the 2020 East Sussex Children’s Book Award.

I Go Quiet takes us on a moving journey through the overwhelming world of an introverted young girl and her mouse motif. The loneliness of not feeling understood echoes, in ghostly whispers, around intimidating landscapes, weaves through crowds, across rooms and the expressions of masked and unmasked faces. Yet, through books and her imagination, the world begins to open up and she finds a way to connect. As inner strength and self-belief start to light the way through her dark world, she learns to accept her ‘quiet’ self, and also to believe in a future where her beautiful voice will be heard.

Visit our virtual Celebration Event to meet the authors and enjoy a performance by local artist and writer Ed Boxall.

IT for You at home is a project to support digitally excluded library customers and East Sussex residents who usually rely on our libraries for internet access.

We’ve now delivered Android tablets (with data SIM internet connection) to 18 isolated people in acute need.

These customers have never used a tablet before, so our team of 10 IT for You at home volunteers are providing telephone support to help get them online and get the most out of the device.

Many have now reconnected with family and friends, regained access to email and Universal Credit accounts, accessed health information, resumed job seeking, learnt to Skype, home-school their children and more. The project is as much about social inclusion as digital inclusion.

The Book Club choice this month is Yann Martel, Life of Pi.

One boy, one boat, one tiger . . . After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orang-utan - and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. 

“You might think I lost all hope at that point. I did. And as a result I perked up and felt much better.”

Martel's Life of Pi and 149 other titles are part of our Reads to Share eBook collection always available with no waits and no holds

Find out how you can borrow eBooks free of charge using your library card and read more about the Libby app.