We hope this newsletter finds you well and that you have been enjoying the recent good weather.

We also hope that you've had an opportunity to catch up with all our news in the latest customer newsletter.

You may have seen information about Wellbeing Month, and details of our Regular Activities amongst other things. 

If you haven't yet had an opportunity to have a read, please do.

We want everyone to feel safe in our libraries and so we all commit to the following.

We will:

• not come into work if we have symptoms of Covid-19
• go straight home if we develop Covid-19 symptoms during our volunteer role
• sanitise and wash our hands well and regularly

• sneeze into our elbows and put used tissues in the bin straight away
• wear a face covering in circumstances where this feels appropriate such as small, crowded spaces or when working with vulnerable colleagues or customers
• adhere to local health and safety arrangements in our individual workplaces
• take all reasonable steps to keep a safe distance

• follow cleaning procedures in line with guidance

We want everyone to feel safe and comfortable in our libraries. If there is anything we’ve missed, please let staff at your local library know or email Jo Moeller, Principal Librarian - Volunteering

Has it been a while since you visited the library? We’d love to see you!

Have you still got items on loan? These can be returned to your local library and, if you can’t make it while we're open, many of them have large letterboxes available for returning your loans out of hours.

Have you had the books out for a long time? At the moment – due to the pandemic – we aren’t charging any late return fees. But our overdue, reservation and hire charges will be returning from 1 April so, if you can get the books back to us before the end of March, you don’t need to worry about owing us anything.

Even from April there are still many free services available to you. Reservations are free on in-stock children’s books, audio, DVDs and non-fiction books, with no daily charges on children’s items.

Have you got into eBooks over the past two years? These remain free to reserve and borrow with no overdue charges.

If you are worried about any future overdue charges you can sign up for pre-overdue notifications so you can renew your loans ahead of time. Don't forget that you can renew your loans online, or by using our West Sussex Libraries app (available from your app store).

So come and see us in the library soon!

As a full library member customers can borrow:

• up to 20 books for 3 weeks, free of charge
• digital versions of books, magazines and audiobooks, free of charge
• up to 8 media items (e.g. DVDs or CDs) for 1 week for a small fee
• audiobooks and Playaways (digital audiobooks) for 3 weeks for a small fee.

Customers can return items to any West Sussex library and if they need an item for longer they may be able to renew it.

To see what is available customers can search our library catalogue. 

Reservations

Customers can also reserve an item or request an item if we don't stock it. There is a small charge for this service. There are no reservation charges for:

• Adult Non-Fiction titles
• Audio-visual items
• Children's books reserved by children
• Any books requested by 14-17 year olds
• Large print books

• Items obtained from the County Stores 

Charges

We also make an additional charge for some of our other services such as photocopying or using a public computer. A full list of our charges can be found on the library website.