Libraries News

posted 5 Mar 2011, 07:56 by Phil Handy   [ updated 18 Jun 2011, 07:35 ]
Jean’s First Click!  

Jean only knew a little bit about computers before she signed up for a First Click course at Kingswood Library. “I was listening to the radio and I heard about First Click when BBC Bristol was doing a broadcast from Kingswood Library. I thought I’d pop along and find out more.”

After 3 free lessons covering computer basics, the internet and email Jean is feeling a lot more confident about using her PC at home. She is going to use her new-found computer skills to help her stay in touch with her family and friends, some of whom live abroad. She is now a real convert to the benefits of email, adding that “email is a great way to stay in touch with people and you can even see photos of each other the same day they were taken”.

Jean’s husband is disabled. Using the internet to get their shopping delivered direct to the house will really help. The internet can also cut out all those trips to the bank. “Everything is so much more accessible on the internet”, Jean says. She also uses her computer for entertainment. “I love playing solitaire and some of the card games. I am thinking of using it for digital photography next.” It is never too late to learn something new. “I aim to have a practise at least once a week - it’s good for the brain!”

All South Gloucestershire libraries provide free internet access and anyone wanting to learn more about using the internet or developing IT skills can call into their local library. In partnership with South Gloucestershire Community Learning, Age UK and Filton College, libraries offer a range of IT courses for beginners.

IT Courses for over 50s are also available at the Brockeridge Centre.

Looking for an answer; not sure where to go?


Why don’t you give our Library Enquiry Centre a go? The centre has a wide range of resources to hand and the team has a wealth of expertise to handle even the more demanding research enquiries. Enquiries might range from straightforward facts relating to a homework task [though they definitely won’t complete the homework for you!] to quite complicated matters, which could help both councillors and local businesses with information to support their work. Staff will try to provide you with an answer immediately whenever possible or will quickly get back to you if more in-depth searching is required.

The Library Enquiry Centre is operational daily except for Sundays.

Monday – Friday: 9:00am – 6:00pm
Saturday: 9:00am – 4.30pm
Telephone: 01454 866 900
Text: 07919 540 830

Libraries launch new audiobook download service


Anyone with an MP3 player can now download hundreds of audiobooks for free from a new service available through South Gloucestershire libraries by visiting www.librarieswest.org.uk.

Members can choose from over 600 titles, which can be downloaded for 3 weeks to a PC, mobile phone or MP3 player. All titles are unabridged and available simultaneously so there are no waiting lists, and loans automatically expire after 3 weeks, unless they are renewed, so no late fees.

Titles include The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson, the late Swedish writer whose Millennium Trilogy has been turned into a series of acclaimed films, and the Man Booker prize-winning Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel and Twenties Girl by chick lit author Sophie Kinsella.

Classics like Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Jane Austen’s Emma are also available and more titles are added each month.

All that is needed is a library membership card and a computer, iPod or MP3 Player. This new service is easy to use, available 24/7 - and free!

Mobile Library Service


South Gloucestershire’s Mobile Library visits over 110 locations each fortnight in towns and villages across the area. For full details of our new time tables, please visit our web pages at Mobile library - South Gloucestershire Council, ring 01454 868006 or ask at your local library.

Libraries in Stitches - Knit a poem!

South Gloucestershire Library and Arts service launched our knit a poem project during National Family Week at Coronation Park in Cadbury Heath on 5 June last year.

The service commissioned a poem, suitable to be knitted, from local poet, Marcus Moore. Each library in South Gloucestershire knitted one line, letter by letter, by asking knitting, craft and hobby groups, and other users, to knit letters and stitch it together. Libraries had wool, needles and patterns available so that library users could also pick it up and do a bit whenever they visited the library. However, they had no idea how their letters fitted into the poem as it was a closely guarded secret! 

We finally unveiled the results of everyone’s hard work on National Poetry Day, 7 October, at Yate Library, when Marcus unveiled and read the poem, and talked about his life as a poet and the experience of writing what he described as his most unusual commission, a poem to be knitted!
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