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What's going on in Libraries in May

Staffordshire County Council sent this bulletin at 26-04-2022 07:15 PM BST

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May 2022

News from

Staffordshire Library & Arts Service

May is almost here and the bluebells are at their best. Rediscover Your Library this May and enjoy all we have to 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.

Staffordshire Day - The Great Outdoors

Staffordshire Day is the day we celebrate everything we love about Staffordshire.

Every year on May 1st, Staffordshire comes alive with events of all shapes and sizes across the county, and loads of competitions and special offers from our great attractions, restaurants, pubs, and hotels.

The theme for 2022 is The Great Outdoors, and whether you want to explore Staffordshire on foot or on two wheels, enjoy a picnic in your favourite beauty spot, or browse an award-winning artisan market, there will be something happening for you!

It is a very special day for us. May 1^st is the anniversary of our most famous son, Josiah Wedgwood, setting up his pottery company in 1759 and helping to transform Staffordshire into the centre of the world’s ceramics industry. Now that is something worth shouting about!

This year there will be a return to many more physical onsite events taking place across the County, but you can also take part on social media (search #StaffordshireDay ) and the Enjoy Staffordshire website.

There will be lots going on across libraries, including local history displays, maps for walking and discovering the countryside along with walk guides and other books about Staffordshire from history, folklore and ghosts to true crime are being made available. Many libraries will also be running their own activities and have displays in the run up to the celebration with information on local beauty spots, the Staffordshire countryside, history and places of interest.

There will also be an opportunity for children and young people to participate in a fabulous art project which could see their artwork on display at their local library and the Museum of Cannock Chase. Cannock Chase Cultural Education Partnership, and Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire Cultural Education Partnership have teamed up with Staffordshire screen print and collage master, Iain Perry. Iain has created a simple step-by-step guide for you to create your own Iain Perry inspired collages all about ‘the great outdoors’! This fun guide and template for Children and Young will be available to download from www.cannockchasecep.co.uk/resources on Staffordshire Day and libraries in the Cannock Chase and Newcastle area are ready to receive entries that they will display; a selection will ultimately go on display at the Museum of Cannock Chase in July.

In South Staffordshire you can join staff and volunteers for a healthy eight mile walk from Perton Library & discover the Great Outdoors on Staffordshire Day. 10am-2pm. Please contact Perton Library on 01902 506050 for further details or to book

There will also be specially created content going out on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages throughout the day!

The British Newspaper Archive comes to Staffordshire Libraries!

We have recently acquired a subscription to the British Newspaper Archive. The Archive is a partnership between the British Library and Findmypast to digitise the British Library's vast collection of newspapers.

Whether you’re a history buff, genealogist or sports fan, there are resources to cover all interests in the Archive.

The collection includes Staffordshire newspapers such as the Staffordshire Advertiser, Staffordshire Chronicle, Staffordshire Newsletter and Staffordshire Sentinel and so is of interest to local and family historians, schools and many others.

Access to the BNA can be found now in the ‘Resources only accessible at Your Library’ section of the Free Online Resources page on our website.

This resource is only available within our 43 Libraries on our public access PCs, where users will need to register and create their own accounts. Once your account has been created you will have FREE access to the entire archive. By registering, you will also gain access to the 'My Research area' which will enable you to keep track of your searches and bookmark your viewed items into folders.

There is a useful 'Getting Started' section and also a YouTube Channel with some helpful videos.

Staffordshire Day Quiz Time

How well do you know Staffordshire?

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.

Dying Matters Awareness Week

From 2 - 6 May 2022, communities across the country will come together to talk about death, dying and bereavement.

Starting conversations about dying is often not as hard as you might think.

Every year, people around the country use Dying Matters Awareness Week as a moment to encourage all communities to get talking in whatever way, shape or form works for them.

Dying Matters believes in an open culture that talks about death, and where people feel able to listen and support those who are planning for end of life, who are dying and who have been bereaved. The lack of openness in society has affected the quality and range of support and care services available to patients and families. It has also affected our ability to die where or how we would wish.

Dying Matters say "We want to break the stigma, challenge preconceptions and normalise public openness around death, dying and bereavement"

Sarah West, Hospice UK and Dying Matters Director of Campaigns and Communications said: “It is so important to talk to friends, relatives and loved ones about your and their wishes for end of life care, and Dying Matters Awareness Week is a great way for communities across the UK to get the conversation started.

“We know that right now people are dying without the emotional and practical support they need. The pandemic has seen many more people dying at home, and while we know that health and social care staff are doing their best in the hardest of circumstances, they’re often finding themselves without the specialist knowledge or capacity to look after dying patients and their families. This needs to change."

You can find bereavement support at your local library as part of the Reading Well, Books on Prescription collections. Libraries are also able to signpost you to support groups or organisations that can offer advice.

Perton Library and Wombourne Library in South Staffordshire host regular Bereavement Hubs in partnership with Compton Care where people can access support in the safe, welcoming environment of their local library.

Find out more about Dying Matters Awareness Week

World Book Night Giveaway

We were excited to receive 500 copies of Graham Norton's fabulous book ‘The Swimmer’ from The Reading Agency as part of the World Book Night promotion.

The books will be shared with Staffordshire partners House of Bread, Staffordshire Women’s Aid, Home Start, The Lyme Trust and Alice Charity and with refuges in Tamworth & Lichfield.

Online Book Chat Authors this May

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.

Staffordshire History Day

The Staffordshire History Day is an annual event which brings together historians, researchers, local history societies and members of the public, together with our partners at Keele University and the Midlands History Centre at the University of Birmingham, to explore and discover the stories of the people and places of Staffordshire.

After a two year break Staffordshire Archives and Heritage Service are hosting the History Day online for the first time. We invite you to join us to celebrate the new Staffordshire History Centre project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Our speakers include Dr Simon Briercliffe of the Black Country Living Museum, Dr. John Grayson, Craft Maker and Senior Lecturer in Design at Staffordshire University, Dr. Andrew Sargent, Keele University and Dr Malcolm Dick, Birmingham University.

To see the full programme & to book your free place please visit our Eventbrite page

An excellent Easter for care leavers, thanks to you!

Staffordshire Libraries have been working in partnership with Staffordshire’s The Voice Project team to gift an Easter Egg to care leavers and we were overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone donating eggs at our libraries. Over 500 eggs were donated in total!

Thank you to everyone who donated an egg to make a difference this Easter.

Find out more about The Voice Project.

A Case for the Ordinary: Staffordshire's asylums and the patient experience touring exhibitions.

Staffordshire has a hugely important archive collection for all three of its County Asylums. What makes this remarkable collection so valuable is not famous characters and unusual treatments, but the records of the patients themselves. The records describe in detail the experiences and treatment of ordinary people from all over the County from 1818 right through to the early NHS.

A two-year research project funded by the Wellcome Trust has uncovered the stories of individuals who have remained hidden from view for so long. A new searchable database, the Asylums Patient Index has been created together with a project blog which looks in more detail at individual stories.

The culmination of the project is two exhibitions where visitors can find out more about the daily life inside the asylums, the treatments, staff and patients.

The smaller of these is currently touring Staffordshire’s Libraries and will be at Perton Library from 9 May until 6 June, before moving to Cannock Library from 7 June until 5 July.

The larger exhibition will be at Brampton Museum, Newcastle-under-Lyme from 21 May until 3 July.

Dementia Action Week

Dementia Action Week is the biggest and longest running awareness campaign. Each year, the Alzheimer’s Society work with individuals and organisations across the UK to encourage people to ‘act on dementia’. This year’s campaign will run from 16th - to 22nd May and the theme is 'diagnosis'.

Staffordshire Libraries will, through displays, information provision and signposting, help to spread the word about Dementia Action Week.

Our Reading Well collections provide books to support those living with dementia and those caring for loved ones living with dementia.

Find out more at the Dementia Action Week website

Jigsaw Time

This edition we are celebrating Staffordshire Day - here is a beautiful jigsaw of Tulips in front of Lichfield Cathedral.

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

Enjoy these brand new Borrowbox Campaign Titles, No Queue!

We have recently added this great selection of titles to Borrowbox, in eBook and eAudio, and they are all available without the need to queue!

Just download the Borrowbox App from your app store for your device or visit our eLibrary

Read all about Staffordshire this Staffordshire Day

Explore Staffordshire from the comfort of your own chair this Staffordshire day with a good book.

Our Libraries are packed with local history, countryside guides, maps and books by local authors.

Why not pop along and borrow a book or why not check out what we have on Borrowbox.

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:

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

Night Sky Guide for May

You can download the May edition of the Night Sky Guide, created by Doug, our Perton Library Astronomy Group member, here.

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. The first at Stafford, Newcastle, Cannock and Biddulph are due to launch very soon!

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

In other news...

Oxford English Dictionary Online

The OED Online has recently been updated with a new look and several new features. The core of the site is still the 600,000 definitions and uses of words, but the website now features word timelines, an historical thesaurus and pages on the OED's most-cited authors and texts - offering an insight into those who have shaped the English language.

View at the Library of free at home, using card number and PIN at our Online Resources link.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

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.

On the 1st May we are celebrating Staffordshire Day, which this year has the theme of 'The Great Outdoors'. Who better to focus on this month than Staffordshire born Izaak Walton, author of The Compleat Angler, someone who surely spent a lot of time outdoors in Staffordshire.

Start searching by following the ODNB link on our Online Resources page.