Dear Volunteers,

Welcome to the first volunteer newsletter of 2025.

The days are becoming longer and colour is beginning to appear in gardens giving us a glimpse of Spring but we could all benefit from more sunshine and slightly warmer days, lets hope they aren't too far away!

Centenary celebrations are underway in some of our libraries and events are being planned throughout the year, we want our volunteers to join us and be part of our special year.

Take a look at our Centenary events page to see what's happening in a library near you.

We have volunteers in all our 36 libraries and the largest number of volunteer hours are given by our Community Library Support Volunteers who work with frontline library staff in our smallest libraries.

Since the start of 2025 our Community Library Volunteers have supported 170 sessions and given almost 1500 hours. Thank you volunteers!

We've received a couple of lovely compliments this month from customers.

“Dear Bognor Library, I would like to thank you and the digital volunteer who helped me get to grips with my mobile Senior phone yesterday. He also gave me useful computer advice. It’s a wonderful service for those of us who weren’t brought up in this electronic age." Digital customer Bognor

"The HLD service is a real god-send. My volunteer (Mary) is fantastic and I'm able to phone the library whenever I feel I would like a book and I always receive something I like." HLD customer Chichester 

Name

Hatem Bedda

Role

Digital Volunteer

Library you volunteer at and how often

Chichester and the Witterings, every Wednesday and Thursday.

How long have you been a volunteer?

Nearly 5 years

Why did you decide to become a volunteer with the Library Service?

When I opted for redundancy, I decided to take early retirement. One of the options I chose to fill my time was to volunteer. When I saw that the library was looking for digital volunteers (previously known as computer buddies), I thought it was the perfect fit as IT was the field I worked in.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

I enjoy helping people resolve issues that frustrated them and stopped them from doing what they needed to do for some time. I also enjoy teaching them new skills to help them make the most of their devices.

What would you say to someone considering a volunteer role with the library service?

I would say this a worthwhile service. Not only do you help people do things they are unable or anxious to do on their own but also both you and the customer will enjoy the rewards of bringing things to a resolution and the benefits of social interaction and building relationships.

Do you have any hobbies or interests?

I enjoy cycling, walking, travelling and baking.

Is there anything more about your role you’d like to share?

The role gives you the incentive to grow your knowledge as there is always something new to learn. It is also a vehicle for socialising with other volunteers and library staff, as well as the members of the public.

Volunteers' Week is coming and we'd love to collect photos of volunteers who are supporting us during our Centenary year.

Library staff from across the county posed for a ‘This is us at 100’ series of special photos to create a photographic record for our 100th birthday and we'd like to create the same for our volunteers.

If you have a Centenary frame in your library, a banner to use as a backdrop or a sunny day which shows your library at its best. It would be lovely if you could provide a photo of yourself or wider volunteer team in your library for us to create a record for our milestone anniversary.

You can contact me directly with any photos or ask library staff to send on your behalf.

Don't miss this opportunity to be part of WSCC libraries celebratory year!

Have you tried the Library of Possibilities and Wonder virtual reality experience yet?

Burgess Hill libraries were the first to deliver the experience to customers and during March Littlehampton, Rustington, Angmering, East Preston and Ferring libraries are showcasing the headsets. Spaces are available now to book for April at Crawley and Broadfield libraries.

If you've not yet had the opportunity to explore the Library of Possibilities and Wonder, here is a taster of what the VR headset experience looks like.

We hope you are excited to try the headsets when they come to your library!

Would you like to know more about how you can read eAudiobooks, eBooks, eMagazines and eNewspapers for free?

Come and join our eLibrary webinar on:

Wednesday 30 April 10.00am - 11.30am

Tuesday 13 May 2.00pm - 3.30pm

We’ll be running through some hints and tips from each of our eLibrary apps. Find out what BorrowBox, Libby, PressReader and uLibrary can offer you.

Click the button below to let us know which webinar you'd like to attend.

Have you ever wondered about the the history of your local library?

The Enquiries, Learning and Enterprise team have been busy looking through our archives and have added a photo and information about the history of each library to the Town and Village guides on the Library website.

Do you volunteer at the oldest library, the newest or the one near an erratic boulder!

The Re-arranged Life of Oona Lockhart by Margarita Montimore

Every birthday, she wakes up never knowing how old she'll be on the outside, or which decade she'll end up in. A club kid in the nineties. A married woman in the noughties. A punk in the eighties. If she's going to have any kind of a normal life, she's going to have to learn how to live in the moment. Even when she knows exactly what's going to happen.

An intriguing story of time travel romance and living in the moment.

Fiona Menzies, Community Library Support Volunteer Findon Valley

West Sussex Library Service have been shortlisted for Library of the Year by the British Book Awards (The Nibbies).

Libraries were invited to send nominations based on a project or campaign that promotes a love of reading and we put forward our Read On programme. We are absolutely delighted to be featured as a South East finalist and you can read more about it here. 

A huge well done and thank you to everyone who has supported and continues to support the scheme. An extra special mention must go to our wonderful Read On volunteers as without you we wouldn't have been able to deliver the scheme and offer such a life-changing opportunity to residents.