“Buy none, get 20 free” – not the kind of offer to turn down in these belt-tightening days. In this case, the 20 free items refers to the number of books a library member can borrow from any of Somerset’s 34 libraries and 6 mobile libraries.
Your local library will have plenty to choose from to suit all tastes in their collections of books, talking books and DVDs, as well as access to newspapers, periodicals, maps and much more.
Did you know that libraries offer :
• free membership to all
• free access to online information resources and “office” programmes, with some charges applied for longer use of open Internet searching. For family history fans, free access to the online “Ancestry” package is available in libraries
• access to about two million books and other items in the SouthWest and many more nationally
• an enquiry service which will attempt to answer any information question you care to ask – just phone 01823 336370; for 24 hour access to the “Enquire” service go to www.somerset.gov.uk/libraries
• information about clubs and voluntary services at www.somerset.go.uk/gateway
• extra activities to help children develop a love of reading, such as storytimes and the Summer Reading Challenge – and free requests for children’s books
• specialist collections of local history, sheet music and playscripts
• support for reading groups
• courses on using computers and access to other learning opportunities
• services to people who are housebound and unable to get to the library – we can arrange for a volunteer or a Mobile Library Driver to bring you books – just ask at your local library or phone 0845 3459177
• mobile library visits to over 1,100 stops across Somerset. Full details of these visits are on the website at www.somerset.gov.uk/mobilelibrarytimetables Most vehicles visit every three weeks and some communities schedule an informal coffee morning / afternoon tea session to have a chat about books and a ‘catchup’ before the mobile library arrives. Each vehicle has wheelchair access and is equipped to carry about 2,000 books, with access to many more
Nearly 100,000 Somerset residents borrowed from libraries last year. Whether you were one of those or not, we’d love to see you this year. Also, if you join before 30th April, your name can be entered into a prize draw.
