A big hello to our many wonderful library volunteers. My name is Vicki and from 3 July I stepped into the Principal Librarian Volunteers and Communities role which was previously held by Jo Moeller.

I have worked for WSCC libraries for over 30 years and have spent the last eight years as library manager for the Littlehampton cluster where we have several volunteers, so I will have met some of you already. I am very excited to step up as your co-ordinator and to have the opportunity to develop our successful volunteer programme further - with a little help from you along the way!

I will be visiting all libraries across the next couple of months and introducing myself. It will be great to have a chat with the volunteers I meet on my visits, to hear about your experiences and what you enjoy about your role.

See you soon!

eMagazines are now available on BorrowBox, with top titles including Radio Times, Hello, Who Do You Think You Are? and New Scientist. If all copies of the latest issue have already been loaned on BorrowBox, please signpost customers to Libby or PressReader. We’re trialling eMagazines on BorrowBox to compare and hopefully increase usage on all platforms.

In more exciting news, we’ll soon be adding more free eAudiobooks to our eLibrary offer, through a new app and website, uLibrary (from Ulverscroft, the large print book publishers). Offering different titles, with no waiting lists, uLibrary is ideal for reading groups to try.

The official uLibrary launch will be in the September customer newsletter, but please feel free to try it now. You can download the app to your personal device or library tablet, or have a look at the uLibrary West Sussex website

Babies, toddlers and children of all ages have always been welcome in West Sussex Libraries. Every week, each library holds at least one event for under fives, such as Baby Rhyme Time, Toddler Time, Story Time and Story Magic sessions.

Each summer we participate in the national Summer Reading Challenge which encourages primary age children to continue reading during the summer holidays. Over 10,000 children enrol in the challenge each year across the county and they are supported by a team of several hundred volunteers, many of whom are under 25.

Throughout the rest of the year our Families and Wellbeing Team co-ordinate holiday activities and work in and out of the library. They work with schools, pre-schools, family centres, children with additional needs and other groups to promote and develop the library service to children in West Sussex.

Bookstart, a national book gifting scheme, is also promoted through libraries; any family not receiving a pack from their health visitor can ask at the library and we will obtain one for them.

All libraries have a range of stock for all ages:

• Board books for babies and toddlers
• Picture books for sharing, mainly with under fives
• Picture books for older readers, including comics and graphic novels for children up to 12 years old
• Beginner reads to support learning to read
• Story books for a wide range of tastes and abilities
• Teenage fiction
• Audio books – for younger and older children and sometimes with a book alongside
• Giant print and multi-sensory stories
• eBooks and eComics
• Non-fiction

Some libraries also have toy libraries where customers can borrow a range of different toys.

Access is available to all of the books in the county via the request system – requests are free for children requesting children’s books on a child’s ticket. Children’s books returned late do not have any fines. The largest libraries have additional material such as Braille, large print children’s books and books in other languages. They also have collections of books to help in special situations such as bereavement, family changes etc.

The Families and Wellbeing Team are able to help with this type of enquiry as they have a wide stock knowledge; enquiries are passed on to the local Families and Wellbeing librarian. They will also deal with enquiries from pre-schools, schools or any other groups (such as Brownies).

Please ask a member of staff at your local library if you would like to find our more information about the services provided to families in libraries.