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*** View latest Coronavirus information for libraries here ***
News, Events and Updates from Staffordshire Library Service
We are currently working to recover the Library offer but in the meantime our virtual offer and eLibrary are there for you
You can follow us on Facebook for a range of activities and events including Story Time, Baby Bounce & Rhyme and Craft Time. You can also join one of our Adult Book Chat, Creative Writing or Wellness groups. Simply visit Facebook/Staffordshire Libraries to take part.
Follow us on Twitter for updates and engaging posts.
Our online library is open 24 hours a day for FREE eBooks, eAudio, eMagazines, eComics and eNewspapers.
For more information about our services visit www.staffordshire.gov.uk/Libraries
Place a Reservation
Use our Order and Collect Service
Access our eLibrary
Access a range for FREE online resources
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 Our library staff were delighted to receive this thank you card from a Tamworth Library customer highlighting how the library service has been a ‘life saver' during lockdown.
Are you ready for World Book Day on 4th March?
World Book Day changes lives through a love of books and shared reading. The World Book Day mission is to promote reading for pleasure, offering every child and young person the opportunity to have a book of their own. Reading for pleasure is the single biggest indicator of a child’s future success – more than their family circumstances, their parents’ educational background or their income.
We all want to see more children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, with a life-long habit of reading for pleasure and the improved life chances this brings them.
Designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, World Book Day is marked in over 100 countries around the globe.
To help make World Book Day special – and to encourage reading for the rest of the year too – the World Book Day website has got a whole range of amazing resources including lesson plans, activity sheets, discussion guides and more.
Just visit the Nursery, Primary or Secondary resource areas to find what you need.
Libraries will also be giving away £1 Book tokens with every children’s ‘Grab & Go’, ‘Order & Collect’ and request pickup from one of our participating libraries while stocks last (Burton, Cannock, Leek, Lichfield, Perton, Stafford, Tamworth, and Newcastle).
Find out more about World Book Day
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My Pet Star
Staffordshire Libraries present a World Book Day read-along.
‘My Pet Star’ is a tale of friendship and learning to let go: a little girl finds a fallen star and playfully nurses it back to health. It’s the perfect selection for sparking discussions, encouraging laughter, and celebrating reading together, whether that’s at bedtime or otherwise. My Pet Star is written by Corrinne Averiss and illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw, and was a winner of the Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Awards in 2019.
Pick up a FREE copy of My Pet Star, from a participating library, and let's read-along together on World Book Day
On Thursday the 4th March, Staffordshire Libraries will be reading Corrinne Averiss', My Pet Star at 2:00 pm on our YouTube and Facebook Page.
We would love you to join us, so why not pick up a My Pet Star grab and go bag from one of our 8 participating libraries and read-along with us.
Grab nd Go bags are available to collect from Burton, Cannock, Leek, Lichfield, Perton, Stafford, Tamworth, and Newcastle Libraries - while stocks last.
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200 Million Minutes
The 200 Million Minutes Reading campaign also launches this year on World Book Day and runs until the end of March. It’s a great way for schools or Early Years settings to encourage children to read and to record that reading as part of a campaign to create a world record of 200 Million minutes of reading. Parents and carers can also sign up their children so they can support from home.
It is really quick and easy to sign up and it might be a great way to engage pupils, albeit remotely for all or part of March, with a goal everyone can get behind.
Check out the website for simple sign up here
To help, pupils can use the Library eLibrary to borrow from a range of eBooks, eAudio, eComics and eMagazines.
It’s free to become a library member and sign up details, as well as access to the eLibrary, are here
You might also like to visit our YouTube page with Storytime and other videos that younger children might like to enjoy watch and count the minutes towards their contribution to 200 Million Minutes.
Everyone who picks up a ‘Grab and Go’ bag or an ‘Order & Collect’ pack for a child between 4th March and 31st March at one of our open libraries will find a flyer about the 200 Million Minutes Reading Challenge telling you how your child can take part.
There will also be a bookmark or a door hanger as well as some of the other World Book Day activities and a free book for early years children ‘My Pet Star’ while stocks last!
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Great news! We are adding more Borrowbox campaign titles to our eLibrary on 1st March, available to borrow for a short time without queuing! There’s Sophie Kinsella, T.M. Logan, Meg Keneally, Jeffrey Archer and Ginny Bell.
There are a selection of eBooks and eAudio books -make sure you borrow before they are gone!
Please visit Borrowbox, either via the App on your smart phone or tablet, or at our eLibrary and start your next great read!
British Science Week
Calling all Staffordshire schools, parents & carers!
Get the kids involved with British Science Week this March!
British Science Week is a ten-day celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths that will take place between 5th and 14th March.
You can now download FREE activity packs, full of activities on the theme of 'Innovation for the future' with versions for early years, primary & secondary students.
Check them out at this link and explore the fantastic website for other inspiring resources and ideas to engage your children with Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.
Check out our Facebook and Twitter pages during British Science Week, for videos and much more, or look for the hashtag #BSW21
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Explore British Science Week with Euro Tunnel!
British Science Week have also teamed up with Euro Tunnel this year to create some fantastic, fun, family science packs to get younger children excited about science.
The activities feature crosswords, colour by numbers sheets and an array of fascinating facts. There is also a design a dinosaur and colouring sheet.
We’ll be giving some of these away in Library ‘Grab and Go’ and ‘Order and Collect Packs’ for Children during British Science Week 5-14 March.
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Free Book Chat Online Author Events Coming Up in March
Since September 2020, when we started our regular online author chats through Staffordshire Libraries’ Book Chat Facebook Group, we have held eight events and attracted an audience of over 750. If you haven’t joined in yet we’d love you to take part in our upcoming chats!
On 3rd March at 7.30pm we’ll be welcoming Sunday Times bestselling author Beth Morrey to talk about her deftly written and uplifting debut novel, Saving Missy. Seventy-nine-year-old Missy Carmichael is prickly, stubborn and terribly lonely. A chance encounter with two very different women opens the door to a new life but is Missy brave enough to take a chance?
Join us for a Mother’s Day treat on Sunday 14th March at 2.30pm when we will have two guests: Staffordshire-born saga author Lynn Johnson and Suzanne Snow, author of wonderfully uplifting romantic fiction.
The Girl from the Workhouse is Lynn’s highly-acclaimed first novel, taking inspiration from her own family history in Stoke-on-Trent to re-create female experiences of poverty, loneliness and illiteracy during the Edwardian period. Suzanne Snow, author of the joyous The Cottage of New Beginnings, will be talking about her new novel released on 25th March, The Garden of Little Rose. At a hen party on the remote Scottish island of Alana, Flora is dared to ask a handsome stranger to be her plus-one for a wedding. When the gorgeous Mac accepts her invitation, she assumes he’s joking and thinks nothing more of it … until he turns up at the church on the wedding day!
As always, part of each event will be interview and part will be us putting your questions to the authors so do come along and get involved!
To access any of our online author events, please ask to join Staffordshire Libraries Book Chat Facebook Group where we post the MSTeams links to take part. MSTeams can be accessed free through your internet browser on a desktop PC or laptop or you can download the free app from Google Play for Android devices or the App Store for IOS devices. If you would like to access the events but need technical support to use MSTeams, please email our event coordinator.
Jigsaw Time
Have you tried one of our virtual jigsaws yet? Here are a couple more to try. We're sharing a jigsaw every Saturday and Sunday on our Facebook Page
Telephone box
Hats and Mittens
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Britannia Sky - a Zoom presentation performed by Andrew Lound, Talk Radio's Space Commentator, for British Science Week
Contrary to popular belief, Britain has played a vital role in spaceflight history. Scientists, engineers, industry, academia and learned societies have all led the way in their respective fields. The withered hand of successive governments has hampered an independent or more dynamic British space programme. In this remarkable presentation the history of Britain in space is examined in context, with due credit being paid to those who have tried to push Britain skyward.
The presentation takes us up to date with research on probes and Tim Peake’s flight. Accompanied by historic images, movie clips and music this will be a presentation to make one proud to be British and to wonder what it might actually be like when we sit under a Britannia Sky.
Thursday 11th March 7:00pm
Just £4 - Book your ticket on Eventbrite here
Look out for more talks coming soon from Andrew, including a special 60th anniversary talk commemorating Yuri Gagarin's spaceflight and a fabulous evening for World Book Night, looking at H.G. Wells' seminal novel 'The War of the Worlds' and its legacy.
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Celebrate Women's History Month with us.
March is Women's History Month, an annual declared month highlighting the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society,
The purpose of Women's History Month is to increase consciousness and knowledge of women's history: to take one month of the year to remember the contributions of notable and ordinary women, in hopes that it will be impossible to teach or learn history without remembering these contributions.
Throughout March we will be sharing inspirational stories on our Facebook and Twitter pages, highlighting the contributions of women like Ada Lovelace, Mary Seacole, Grace Darling, Elizabeth Fry, Rosa Parks and Emmeline Pankhurst.
We have also established a Women's History Month bookshelf in Borrowbox. Find it via the App or here at the eLibrary
Shakespeare Week
Shakespeare Week is an annul celebration of the life and works of William Shakespeare.
Shakespeare Week 2021, 15th - 21st March, will be a mainly online celebration.
We will be sharing lots of videos across our Facebook and Twitter pages and we will also be offering activity packs for children aged 4-11 in our 'Grab & Go' and 'Order & Collect' service during Shakespeare Week.
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust have an exciting programme of FREE daily broadcasts that you can tune into. Broadcasts will take place daily at 10am and 2pm on the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust's Facebook page and YouTube channel and once released will be available to view permanently on the Shakespeare Week website. You will find them in the Resources section of the Shakespeare Week website under the category BROADCASTS, with new broadcasts being added daily during Shakespeare Week.
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'The Crowd and the Cosmos' with Chris Lintott
Our friends at Wolverhampton Astronomical Society have organised a fantastic FREE talk for British Science Week.
Monday 8th March 7:30pm
Chris Lintott, co-presenter of BBC's The Sky at Night will be talking about 'The Crowd and the Cosmos - the story of the Zooniverse project'
To watch this FREE talk on YouTube go to this link
Explore the cosmos yourself with the March Guide to the Night Sky, prepared by Perton Library's Astronomy Group volunteer, Doug.
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British Science Wek Poster Competition
For all those budding young artists out there – British Science Week are running a poster competition. Young people can create a poster about whatever version of this year’s theme ‘Innovating for the future’ they would like.
Teachers, parents, carers – please check out the entry guidelines at this link. The closing date is 30th April.
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Staffordshire Libraries, in partnership with Community Learning, launch an IT Telephone support service
Are you struggling with IT in lockdown, unable to get your e-mail setup, want to try online shopping or has social media got you all confused? Do you want to know more about how to get started with eBooks or eMagazines or find out about online courses to brush up your skills?
Maybe our new telephone support service can help.
Complete an online form here or contact our Call Centre on 0300 111 8000 or your local library to register for a call back.
A friendly member of our Library team or a Community Learning tutor will give you a call and talk through your problem and help you work through it.
If we can’t find an immediate solution we’ll make sure we direct you to someone who can, to a suitable course or other kinds of help.
It’s a totally free service so give us a try, we’re happy to help.
Reading Friends
Staffordshire Library & Arts Service relaunched our Telephone Reading Friends programme again in November.
In libraries we appreciate what a difficult year it has been for many people but we’ve also seen the value attached to working with our communities to help people feel connected. Telephone Reading Friends is available to support customers who are interested in books and reading but, for whatever reason, are finding it difficult to visit their local library at this moment in time.
Customers are matched with a member of library staff or a volunteer and telephone book chats take place once a week for a 4 week period.
The chats are entirely flexible in their content but will have books and reading at their core.
If you are interested in this service please visit the webpage or email: reading.friends@staffordshire.gov.uk
Please pass on the word about this offer for anyone you think might benefit!
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Quiz Time
Why not try our anagram quiz?
We'll reveal the answers in our next eNewsletter.
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Every Mind Matters
People experiencing anxiety can get help with their mental health from #EveryMindMatters
Helpful hints include:
• breathing exercises
• learning to challenge anxious thoughts
• keeping track of mood changes
If you've been struggling with your mood, stress, anxiety or sleep take the #EveryMindMatters mind plan quiz to get your personalised mental wellbeing action plan at the Every Mind Matters Website
Have you visited the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography yet? It's FREE to access from home with your Library card number.
ODNB contains over 60,000 biographies, 72 million words, 11,000 portraits of significant, influential or notorious figures who shaped British history.
Each day we share a famous person from British history on our Facebook and Twitter page, look out for them, follow the link and learn more!
As March is Women's history Month here is fossil collector Mary Anning - you can find out more about her at ODNB.
Start searching by following the ODNB link on our Online Resources page.
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Smashing Stereotypes for British Science Week
British Science Week and 3M have teamed up as part of a special campaign to smash the stereotypes about what an #EverydayScientist is like!
What do you envisage when asked what a scientist looks like? Are you picturing lab coats, goggles and conical flasks? How about the person? Are they a white man with grey hair, who resembles someone like Albert Einstein?
If that’s who you pictured – you aren’t alone. But it’s something that we want to change!
The science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) sectors are so much more diverse than this stereotype suggests. There are people working in labs, at universities, in innovation centres, in businesses and out on construction sites, who come from so many different backgrounds, and who have taken lots of different routes into their career. Not only that, but the jobs people do and the ways that they work as a scientist are so broad and diverse, we could never list them all!
Check out this section of the British Science Week website and start smashing stereotypes!
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 About Staffordshire Library Service
From books to local history resources, Your Library has a host of fabulous services and exciting events for you.
Why not try out our eBooks service, join a reading group or If you're looking for something in particular, you can also search the online catalogue or view a list of frequently asked questions.
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