Latest libraries news and events
Performance Poetry at Formby Library.tmp "Liverpool's waterfront")
In response to an invitation from Formby Library, on 20th October the Formby
Youth Theatre kindly put on a Poetry Performance evening, bringing Merseyside
poets to life through their recitations of Brian Patten, Adrian Henri and Roger
McGough, and internet poets Morag Reid and Stephen Stirk in a free event for the
community. The young people of the Formby Youth Theatre surpassed
themselves and made it a very enjoyable and exuberant evening to a full
room.
The evening event was organised to promote the library to young people, and
to show them that there is more to Formby Library than ‘silence’ notices!
The event formed part of the October theme for National Year of Reading which
was Do Something Different In Libraries. We also hoped that this event
would encourage more young people in the area to take an active interest in
poetry, and enthusiastic cries of 'more' greeted the end . . . so watch
this space!
Southport on Film.tmp "Horse pulling sea shrimper")
For the remainder of November, Southport Library will be showing a series of
local films produced by the Southport Moviemakers and Channel 10
Productions. The films will be shown in Southport Library from 11.00am -
4.30pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays; 11.00am - 7.30pm Wednesdays and
Thursdays, and 11.00am - 12.30 (noon) on Saturdays.
Hollywood Superstars appearing at your local library!
As the winter evenings are approaching why not stay at home with a good
film, courtesy of your local library?
.tmp "Iron Man")
This November the National Year of Reading promotion celebrates the theme
of Screen Reads. Library reading groups will be comparing well known films
with the original books, such as No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy and
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory. Southport Library’s activities
will include a ‘Design Your Own Superhero’ competition to celebrate the release
of IRON MAN, starring Robert Downey Jnr, with prizes to be won.
Sefton Libraries offer a cross section of the most popular films, and the
majority of titles are available at the same time as you would find them in the
shops. Recent releases available from the libraries include Sex and the
City, The Incredible Hulk and The Spiderwick Chronicles. In November we
look forward to blockbusters such as Mamma Mia!, Hancock and Wall-E.
.tmp "Sex and the City")
DVDs are available to hire at every Sefton Library at the competitive price
of only £1.50 per week. Many bestselling films are adapted from books so
why not borrow the book, film – or both! Remember, it’s FREE to join
Sefton Libraries – over 11,000 people have already joined as members during this
National Year of Reading.
For further information visit
your local
library. Alternatively you can access our
online catalogue to
see which of your favourite films (and books!) are available.
Showing Racism the Red Card
As part of Black History Month celebrations, members of the Library Community
Cohesion Team joined forces with staff from Positive Futures at Litherland
Sports Park on Wednesday 29th October.
The occasion was a Kick Racism out of Football tournament arranged between
local schools, and library staff played their part by taking along a selection
of adult and children’s stock, the badge maker, and a selection of attractive
and informative posters tracing the history of black footballers in Britain from
the 19th Century to the present day. Despite their obvious enthusiasm
and competitiveness on a cold afternoon, the children thoroughly enjoyed the
added dimension to the day’s activities provided by the Library, as well as the
chance of a warm up.
Kevin Coleman, Grassroots Development Officer with the national Kick It Out
campaign, also attended the event. He is seen pictured with the Libraries’
Senior Development Manager for services to Children and Young People.
Malorie Blackman to visit Sefton..tmp "Malorie Blackman")
Malorie Blackman OBE, the award-winning children's author - whose romance
and race novel Noughts and Crosses was recently adapted for the stage - is to
visit Sefton in November.
The author, who is touring the country to promote her new novel Double
Cross, will talk to secondary school pupils from across the borough at a ticket
only event at Bootle Town Hall.
Malorie’s first novel, Not So Stupid! was published in November 1990 and
she has since written over 50 books, including Noughts & Crosses, Hacker,
Whizziwig and Pig-Heart Boy - which was nominated for the Carnegie Medal
in 1998 and has since been turned into a BAFTA winning series.
Those attending the event will be able to purchase signed copies of Malorie’s
books courtesy of Pritchard’s books shop.
The gift of a tree....tmp "Park Image")
To celebrate National Tree Week in November, every child who attends a
Sefton Library Story or Rhymetime session between the 26th November
and the 7th December will be gifted a tree.The small seedlings will
be given to children and their parents at the end of the popular weekly
sessions.
During National Tree Week the story and rhymetime sessions will take the
theme ‘nature’. As well as listening to stories with a woodland theme children
will be given the chance to make leaf pictures and create a Christmas tree
decorations out of pine cones.
First celebrated in 1975, National Tree Week is UK's largest tree
celebration annually launching the start of the winter tree planting
season.
Author event at Maghull Library.tmp "Carol Fenlon")
As part of Sefton Libraries' National Year of Reading programme, local author
Carol Fenlon will be appearing in Maghull Library at 3.00pm on Friday 31st
October. Carol will be reading from her debut novel 'Consider the
Lillies'.
The book is a haunting tale of a girl’s feral childhood in 1960s
Lancashire, and her friend Jack’s search for the disappeared ‘homeless’ adult
she becomes. Piecing together diaries, medical notes and media reports, Jack’s
quest ultimately leads him to re-examine his own history and abandoned identity.
'Consider the Lillies' offers a challenging view of homelessness, identity
and exclusion in modern society.
Admission is free but tickets must be booked in advance as spaces are
limited. Please contact
Maghull Library for
further details and to check ticket availability.
Summer Reading Challenge, Prize Winner..tmp "Summer Reading Challenge")
The Summer Reading Challenge, which took place in Sefton libraries during
the Summer, was a great success with over 3000 children reading 6 library books
to complete the challenge. The names of those children were entered into a prize
draw for a digital camera. The lucky winner was Emma (age 8) who attends
Valewood Primary School. Emma is pictured here with her sister Cerys (age 7)
after she received her prize at College Road Library
Pirates everywhere!
.tmp "Pirates")
As part of Children’s Book Week celebrations pirates have been
rampaging through Sefton libraries this week….
Cutlasses and eye patches were a must have accessory at Story
and Rhyme times, with children invited to attend the sessions in fancy dress. To
celebrate National Bookstart Day on Friday, all children who visited a Story or
Rhyme time session during the week have been gifted a Pirate Book, bookmark and
sticker.
Pirates were also involved in a poetry workshop at Birkdale Library.
To Celebrate National Poetry Day on Thursday well-known poet Jan Dean welcomed
three classes from Farnborough Road Primary. Jan recited poetry to the children
and involved them in designing their own poem about the sea.
The children and teachers enjoyed the session and were delighted to take
copies of their poem back to the classroom. The poems have also been
displayed in Birkdale children’s library as part of the celebrations.
Churchtown and Orrell libraries welcomed a storyteller from America, Roy
Lyons or ‘Baba’ as he is known when he performs, recited traditional tales to a
spellbound audience. The children were then taught a traditional Ghanaian chant,
accompanied by Roy and his son playing the drums.
To round off the celebrations in style the mobile library visited Melling
Primary School, where every child in the school was offered the chance to join
the library and borrow a book.
National Year of Reading goes ‘Free & Active’ in Sefton.tmp "Free and Active Olympian celebrations")
Beijing wasn’t the only location for Olympian activities this summer…
Reading group teams from Ainsdale and Bootle libraries joined in the Free &
Active Olympiad at Litherland Sports Park.
The event was devised by Sefton’s Leisure Services department and brought
together teams from libraries and leisure centres to celebrate Sefton’s Free
& Active summer programme for young people and the National Year of Reading
themes for August. ‘Read the Game’.
Teams participated in a mixture of activities, testing their athletic
skills, reading ability and sporting knowledge. The library service hosted
three events – Sporting Biographies, the Compass quiz and a Decathlon
relay.
Every participant received a free book courtesy of Pritchard’s Booksellers
and certificates were awarded by his worshipful the Mayor of Sefton, Cllr. Paul
Tweed. It made for a fantastic day, as you can see from the pictures
…
New children's library cards.tmp "Children's library cards")
The new look library cards - for children and young people up
to the age of 16 - will be available from 4th October, the start of
Children’s Book Week.
Anyone new to the library will receive one and the first 100
young people wanting to exchange their current card to a new one will be able to
do so for free at each library. They will be £1.20 to exchange thereafter.
During April and May young people in Sefton were given the
opportunity to design these images.
The winners were:
- Connor from Maghull
- Rosie from Bootle
- Sophie From Formby
- Sally from Southport
All the winners have received a £25 book token
and have had press photographs taken with A2 copies of their cards.
.tmp "Henshaws visit to Birkdale Library")
Click With IT At Sefton Libraries
People with visual impairments can take advantage of free computer training
at libraries in Sefton. Sefton Library Services has teamed up with Henshaws
Society for Blind People to offer the IT training sessions in Southport,
Birkdale and Formby libraries.
The team from Henshaws will run the sessions using new mobile broadband
technology. All their computers have the latest access software on them, using
speech and magnification, and have high contrast keyboards and tactile markings
to make using the keyboard easier.
The training will help visually impaired people with the basics of
computer use, right through to a qualification in Word Processing. They will
also be able to learn how to use the Internet, send emails, shop online and even
put music on their mp3 players.
To mark the start of this new initiative a launch event was held at
Birkdale library on 5th September 2008. The event was attended by
staff from the Library Service and Henshaws together with people who had
attended the first IT sessions in early September.
If you are interested in taking part in these IT sessions please contact
one of the above branches to book a place.
New Maghull Library and Leisure Centre
Groundworks have begun on the new Maghull Library and Leisure Centre. This
new building is due to be completed in November 2009. Plans
are now available to consult.
Men's Health Promotion at Bootle Library
Specialist staff from Sefton PCT' visited Bootle Library
recently with their latest health promotion initiative, “Working our way to
Men’s Health”. Run by the Men’s Health Team, the aim is to encourage men to
become more health aware and to access health and leisure services. The target
group is men over the age of 35 in the Bootle, Netherton and Seaforth areas. The
lifestyle programme provides health information, including advice on diet,
smoking, alcohol and stress management. Screening for cholesterol, and blood
pressure and sugar level checks are also available.
Kelly Paes, Men’s Health Project Officer says “We want to
provide health information to men to empower them to make healthier lifestyle
choices, improving their quality of life and increasing their chances of life
expectancy.” Val Holt, Manager of Bootle Library, said “We were pleased to
be able to work in partnership with the health specialists, and for the library
to play its part in helping to raise awareness of these important local issues.
The health workers were impressed with the comprehensive medical stock at the
library, which includes a range of health DVDs.”
Children's Laureate Michael Rosen to visit Sefton
.tmp "Michael Rosen")
In December the current Children’s Laureate will visit Sefton. Michael
Rosen will be at the Southport Arts Centre on Wednesday 10th December
to talk to school groups about poetry, literature and his first year as
Children’s Laureate.
Michael’s first book of poems was published in 1974, and he has been
writing ever since. The author and poet is best known for books such as ‘We're
Going On A Bear Hunt’ and ‘Don't Put Mustard In The Custard’.
On June 11th 2007 Michael was appointed as the fifth Children’s
Laureate. On receiving the news the 61-year-old said: "I see my job as
Children's Laureate being an ambassador for fun with books.
For more details about Michael’s visit or to book ticket for your school
group please contact:
Southport Arts Centre box office: 01704 540011
Polish storytellers at Southport Library
The Polish community in Southport were invited to attend a family
event at Southport library recently. Two Polish storytellers came to the
library to entertain young and old with traditional Polish tales and songs. The
audience, from young children to grandparents, were kept enthralled. The event
had been sponsored by Polish Books, who had co-ordinated the storytelling tour
nationally.
The event was also attended by Andrew Billingsley, a Southport based
policeman, who works closely with the Polish community. He chatted to the
members of the audience and brought relevant information to distribute.
The event helped to raise the profile of Southport Library with the Polish
community. Library staff made the audience aware of the Polish books that are
available for loan in Southport Library, and gifted Bookstart dual language
English/Polish books to the children.
Adult Learners' Week General Knowledge Quiz
There were many entries but only one winner. The prize was awarded to Mrs
Mary Higgins a Formby reader. Jean Williams, Senior Development Manager
Information Services, said the response to the quiz was gratifying.
Deaf Awareness Week 2008.tmp "Deaf awareness week")
Deaf Awareness Week, May 5th-11th, was highlighted in
libraries across Sefton, drawing attention to what is sometimes described as the
‘invisible disability’. This year’s theme was ‘Look at me’, and all libraries
were provided with a deafness information pack. This comprised details of local
and national organisations and facilities for deaf and hard of hearing library
users in Sefton. Also included were quick facts about deafness, sign language
information, posters, and a list of suggestions for group activities with
children.
Most libraries had displays of relevant stock, while some incorporated
basic signing and lip reading into regular children’s events such as Storytime
and Chatterbooks groups. Most moving perhaps was when young children were asked
to draw pictures of things that they would most miss hearing – family, friends
and birdsong were prominent. At the other end of the spectrum, Carmel Langford,
a tutor with the Sefton Adult & Community Learning Service, came to Bootle
and Orrell Libraries during the week to engage members of the public with one to
one sign language taster sessions.
Very noticeable, among library staff and public
alike, was an obviously genuine interest in, and desire to know more about what
might be done to alleviate the isolation that so often accompanies
deafness.
New library publication.tmp "Cover of Sand and Sea - Sefton's Coastal Heritage")
looks at Sefton's coastal heritage
Sefton Libraries' latest publication, "Sand and Sea", was
launched recently at Formby Luncheon Club. The book brings together
material on the archaeology, history and environment of the Sefton coast.
Originally delivered at a highly successful conference on Sefton's rich coastal
heritage, the papers have been specially updated for this book. It
will appeal both to the general reader and to those who have a specialist
interest in the locality.
Copies of the book, priced at £15, are available for sale at any Sefton
library and some local bookshops. It can also be ordered by post or
online at a price of £18 to include postage and packing - see details at Libraries - sale of books
and other publications or ring Crosby Library Local History Unit on
0151-257-6401.
.tmp "Health dvd's on shelf")
Health promotions
Three complete sets of health DVDs, comprising 47 titles, have been purchased
for Sefton Libraries. They have been allocated to Bootle, Crosby and Southport
libraries, and are completely free to borrow.
Laurence Atter, Senior Development Manager, Social Inclusion, says: "The idea
is that these are envisaged as self-help books in an alternative, user-friendly
format, covering a wide range of health topics. The ultimate aim is to provide a
selection of the more popular DVD's at all libraries in the Borough".
The original intention was that they would be filed in with the books in the
library medical sections, although some branches have chosen to feature
them as a separate display. At Bootle Library (pictured), for example, they
are presented with publicity material and books from the Active Reading and
the Sefton Cancer Information
Project, thus highlighting a range of health promotion and partnership
working in Sefton Libraries.
.tmp "Member of library staff welcoming the public")
Join us!
Our staff in Sefton's libraries are embarking on a massive programme of
updating user records. We are, therefore, re-registering our many thousands
of members. The information we need is similar to what you would find on
any simple application form. This is one part of our ongoing effort to
help improve your service and make it more accessible for all.
The programme will be rolled out over many weeks and you may
find that queues develop at busy times. We apologise for any
inconvenience.
New - as part of this project, we shall ask our users of the
People's
Network to join the library. Your ticket number will become
your logon, and your library PIN will be your password. We're also
installing a new People's Network booking system which will improve
access to the booking process for you and our staff. So if you use the
People's Network, but you're not already a library member
join now - it's
free.
Last Updated on 17/11/2008