April is here - Rediscover Your Library and get access to our fantastic offer?

Not already a member? Give us a try, it’s FREE and easy to join.

You can:

• Relax with a good book, borrowing as many as you would like
• Always on the go? Download to your tablet, e-reader, mobile phone from a range of eBooks, eAudio, the latest eMagazines, eComics and read online newspapers
• Don’t know what to read next and too little time to choose? Let us choose for you with our Order and Collect service based on favourite genres and authors
• Feel connected just by sitting and reading and having a chat
• Use the PCs and Wi-Fi and brush up on your digital skills – help is at hand if you need it
• Find a quiet spot and sit and study
• Print and photocopy those important documents
• Discover your story and use Ancestry and Find My Past
• Take part in activities and events and make new friends
• Find out about local groups, clubs, societies and volunteering opportunities

And much more…

Just pop in and see us, visit our website or find us on Facebook or Twitter and we’ll open your eyes to a world of possibilities.

World Book Night is coming!

On  the 23rd April libraries across the globe will be celebrating World Book Night which is organised by The Reading Agency. In 2022 we are celebrating 11 years of the annual event which simply encourages adults to read and love books. This may seem a simple message but research shows that reading for pleasure can promote better health and wellbeing, aids in building social connections and relationships with others and is associated with a range of factors that help increase the chances of social mobility

Here at Staffordshire Libraries we will be celebrating with a range of brilliant displays promoting customer and staff favourite reads, some of our fabulous book groups will be meeting in our libraries celebrating all things books and lookout on our social media pages to join in the celebrations.

This year from the 3rd March – 30th June you can sign up to free audiobook downloads with titles including Recovery by Russell Brand. To register simply visit this link and follow the guide to download your free audiobook. As well as audio books, every year on Word Book Night a selection of fabulous books are given away at selected locations across the country, and this year Staffordshire libraries are working with some of our partners, including Staffordshire Women’s Aid, The Alice Charity and Home Start to name a few, to gift the books which include titles by Paula Hawkins, Graham Norton and Kate Mosse.

To join in with the celebrations pop into Staffordshire Libraries for a fantastic range of adult fiction or online including eBooks and eAudio and chose a great book and then take some time out for you… put your phone on silent, grab a drink (and chocolate if you want to indulge) and curl up with a brilliant book and escape from it all.

Have a great World Book Night from us all at Staffordshire Libraries!

The deadline is fast approaching to be part of Staffordshire Day’s Big Outdoor Staffordshire Art Project!

To celebrate this year’s #StaffordshireDay on the 1st May, artists of all ages and abilities are invited to submit their art for the Big Outdoor Staffordshire Art Project.

This year’s theme is the great outdoors, where we will celebrate our amazing countryside and picturesque open spaces. Staffordshire County Council wants people to submit drawings and art of their favourite outdoor space in the county.

If your artwork is selected, it will be reprinted, enlarged and displayed on lampposts, bus stops and other advertising displays across the county.

The deadline for all submissions is 31st March 2022. Artwork can be handed in by either handing it in to your local library in the county, emailed to communications@staffordshire.gov.uk  or posted to Communications Department, Staffordshire County Council, Staffordshire Place, Tipping Street, Stafford ST16.

Get creative and have fun!

Families & children are having a wonderful time exploring stories in libraries with FrontlineDance. 

Mini Explorers is a multi-sensory, interactive story adventure where families can explore stories through movement & dance with lots of fun things to discover along the way. There are still places up for grabs at Rugeley & Perton Libraries. It is aimed at Early Years ages 3-5 & their families but there is no age restriction. The activity is FREE to attend, places are limited, so please book ahead!

Saturday 26th March 10.30am Rugeley Library Call: 01889 869063 Email: rugeley.library@staffordshire.gov.uk

Saturday 2 April 2pm Perton Library Call: 01902 506060

Email: perton.library@staffordshire.gov.uk

Cost: FREE     Duration: Approx 1 hour

*This adventure has been created to be relevant, inclusive, accessible and welcoming to children with disabilities & their families, including Early Years*

Image Credit: FRONTLINEDANCE and photographer Natalie Willatt. Dancers Katie, Dave and Charlotte.

Perton Library Science Fair a huge success!

Our first major library event in Staffordshire Libraries since the Covid pandemic began was a huge success on Saturday 19th March. 

We had an amazing day at the Perton Library Science Fair, with over 950 visitors! It was wonderful to welcome the community back to the library.

Thanks also to all our great exhibitors who kept families entertained and educated with all kinds of STEM activities throughout the day from health checks, exotic creatures and pond dipping to astronomy, fingerprinting and we even had a piece of the Arizona Meteorite that people could handle!

We had some great feedback from our visitors, including the above feedback board and the comment below:

Please pass on our thanks to the staff at Perton library and all of the facilitators who delivered an excellent stem event today! Our two girls loved the animal and space workshops as well as finding out about fingerprinting, medicine and recycling amongst other things. A brilliant hands-on way to learn about science, discover career areas and feel positive about themselves. A great experience, thank you

The fair was funded by a grant from the Millennium Point Trust and was planned and delivered in partnership with our great friends from Wild About Perton and the Friends of Perton Library.

World Autism Acceptance Day

Sat 2nd April

World Autism Acceptance Day is one of the UN’s seven official health awareness days.

In the 1960s, autistic children were often described as ineducable and many parents were told to put them in institutions. A group of brave parents refused to believe this. In 1962 they formed what is now the National Autistic Society to fight for autistic people’s rights. In fact, it’s the 60th Anniversary year for the Autism Society, if this is news to you why not help raise awareness and increase acceptance and understanding by joining in with the week of celebrations starting 28th March.

This year’s theme is Inclusion in the Workplace - The Chris Packham Workplace Awareness poster is available to download to help raise awareness of Autism in the workplace.

Let’s support the brave, support World Autism Acceptance Week.

Why not checkout the Autism Society link for more ways to get involved World Autism Acceptance Week 2022

Quiz Time

How well do you know your puppets?

Pit your wits against the quiz master and find out!

Try the Quiz here.

Look out for weekly quizzes every Saturday evening on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Harry Potter Still as Popular as Ever!

Newcastle Library was host to a fabulous free Harry Potter Book Night event to celebrate 25 years of Harry Potter. Keele University’s Harry Potter Society were keen to celebrate all things Potter and kicked off the event with a dramatic reading, the iconic Sorting Hat scene, (Please not Slytherin!) from the first book. Remembralls, wand decorating and Hogwarts letters were all part of the fun. It seems the appeal of J K Rowling’s magical series has not waned, the library could have booked out the event 3 times over! Families came from as far a field as Talke, Kidsgrove and Madeley and adults were left wondering when they could have an event for them too. (If truth be told, Library staff were just as excited to be involved creating fabulous displays, printing off things left right and centre and couldn’t wait to set up Treasure Hunts for the night). The winner of the Treasure Hunt and Word search were treated to a free cinema ticket, courtesy of the Vue Cinema in Newcastle.

Library Development Officer, Michelle Jackson said - Families and staff really enjoyed our first big event, smiles all round, its starting to feel like a library again! Our thanks go to all involved.

Start-Up Hubs

Are you ready for an exciting opportunity to start working for yourself?

Staffordshire Libraries and Arts Service have received Arts Council England funding to work with Business Enterprise Support (BES) to set up Start-up Hubs in all libraries across Staffordshire.

This is an information awareness service available to anybody who is interested in working for themselves.

Libraries will offer information on self-employment and a dedicated space allocated for start-up promotional materials, leaflets, business related reading books, podcasts and information fact sheets.

Hubs will be coming online throughout 2022 and 2023 across our Library network.

You can find your nearest library here

Interested in becoming a volunteer at one of our hubs?

Are you ready for an exciting opportunity to help direct people, who are interested in working for themselves, guiding them to information, training, resources and to other services that will help them!?

To enquire about this volunteering opportunity please contact your local library or visit our volunteering page and register your interest.

Find out more about the role here

Find out more about Business Enterprise Support: www.enterprisesupport.org 

Upcoming Online Book Chat Authors

We have some more great authors appearing online for Book Chat in April and May so get these dates in your diary!

On 5^th April at 7.30pm Lindsey Davis will be back with us to talk about her new book Desperate Undertaking, the latest in the series featuring Falco’s adopted daughter, Flavia Albia. Old friends of Albia’s parents are in town – while they are away. A maniac with a theatrical bent is planning gruesome murders, with helpers who leave victims to be discovered in ghastly situations, defiling some of Rome’s iconic monuments! Like the Falco novels, these stories are told in the first person, with the often caustic Albia giving us her refreshing new perspective on the traditional Roman world from the viewpoint of a woman and an outsider. Not to be missed!

On 25^th April, also at 7.30pm, we will be chatting with Will Dean about his life in a boggy elk forest in Sweden in a house he built himself after leaving the rat-race of London and his simply brilliant and insanely twisty standalone thriller, First Born.

Bestselling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep and Three Things About Elsie , Joanna Cannon, will be with us on 4^th May at 7.30pm.

Joanna left school at fifteen with one O-level and worked her way through many different jobs before returning to school in her thirties and qualifying as a doctor in her forties. Her work as a psychiatrist and interest in people on the fringes of society continue to inspire her writing.

Her new novel, A Tidy Ending, explores the sinister side of suburbia and the theme of living life on the periphery. This is hugely autobiographical for Jo and is something that has fine-tuned the observation skills that have earned her a raft of fans. We’re going to have lots to chat about!

Incredibly, it is 40 years since Sara Paretsky’s much-loved protagonist V I Warshawski was introduced in Sara’s debut Indemnity Only. The doyen of American crime and winner of the Crime Writer’s Association Diamon Dagger, Sara will be chatting about her prolific career as an author and her new Chicago-set V.I. novel Overboard which showcases that her writing is as urgent and politically engaged as ever. Warm, funny and outspoken in her views, this is going to be a lively Book Chat! Join us on 11th May at 7:30pm.

If you would like to find out more about the event and to take part online, please join the free Book Chat Facebook Group where the link to the event will be shared on the day. You can also message us through the group to ask any questions that you might have about taking part.

Jigsaw Time

This month's jigsaw is an endless field of Sunflowers  jigsaw puzzle. 

Check out our Facebook page for a new jigsaw each Sunday at 7pm

Have you heard?

You can now get fully-funded marketing and financial help to start your business

Thinking of starting a business in Staffordshire? Or is your business less than two years old? Need professional advice and practical help to get the basics in place? The Get Started scheme is offering fully-funded professional help to launch or growth your new business

• Marketing support - branding packages, logo design, website design and build to help market your product or service
• Accountancy support – financial advice, preparation of cash flow, profit forecast and balance sheet which can be used to secure commercial borrowing and funding.

Now’s the time to Get Started Email: getstarted@staffordshire.gov.uk  Phone: 01785 277375

Baby Play and Learn – are you a parent or carer of a child aged 0 – 15 months?

Thanks to funding from Staffordshire Adult and Community Learning, a free 6-week child development course for adults is coming to four libraries across Staffordshire.

Baby Play and Learn is for parents and carers with a child aged 0 to 15 months. The course aims to help parents and carers give their child the best start in life through practical activities and ideas to develop early speech and language and social and emotional growth.

There will be a fun weekly activity session for parent/carer and child at the library plus online resources to support learning at home.

The courses will run as follows:

Codsall Library 10.30am – 11.30am on Fridays starting 29^th April 

Stafford Library 1.15pm – 2.15pm on Wednesdays starting 11^th May

Biddulph Library 1.15pm – 2.15pm on Tuesdays starting 10^th May

Leek Library 10.30am – 11.30am on Tuesdays starting 10^th May

Please contact the relevant library to book your place.  

If you have any questions about the course please email tutor Liz Gardner liz.gardner@staffordshire.gov.uk