As a nation we have over 288 million visits to libraries every year – which is 9 times more than the number of people who visit football matches which is approx 33 million.
In Derbyshire there were more than 3.4 million visits to our libraries in 2007/8 and around 300,000 virtual visits to our webpages.
Despite the huge growth of broadband nationally, Derbyshire has the lowest number of households with broadband access in the East Midlands. However, Libraries can help – every static public library in Derbyshire has free broadband internet access and so do our largest mobile libraries.
Derbyshire Libraries are spending £2million this year on books and last year we bought almost 150,000 new books.
Libraries are one of the most accessible DCC services with a presence in every Derbyshire community. We have 45 libraries and 12 mobile libraries. Your library card can be used in any Derbyshire Library and books can be returned to any library as well.
There are many services which can be accessed 24 hours a day through the Derbyshire website. Users can search the library catalogue, renew and request books online.
There is also free access to several reference databases such as; Who’s who, Oxford dictionaries, Groves Art and music dictionaries and access to Infrotrac, a website which provides access to 10 national newspapers from 1985 to date and 50 journals and periodicals covering subjects from astronomy and computing right through to geography and science. There is also The Times digital archive from 1785-1985 and a fascinating collection of 19th century British newspapers. It includes the Derby Mercury, the county’s most important newspaper for the period.
The library service also has a dedicated team of librarians who can help answer any difficult enquiries. The library information service is trained to answer a wide range of enquiries from finding the answer to a tricky crossword clue or helping with an in depth business research which you can easily ring or email. For more information on these online services please email asklibrary@derbyshire.gov.uk or phone 01246 275143.
The library service has a free home library service for people who cannot leave their home. This is a service where we deliver books on a monthly basis to people in their own homes. The library service also has collections of books and reading groups in care homes and sheltered housing units to ensure that people can always access books wherever they are.
There is also a specialist resources unit at Chesterfield Library which has books in braille and moon, voice transcription, British Sign Language resources and closed caption videos and DVDs. Every library has special computer facilities for blind users and those with limited use of their hands.
The library service works hard to engage with children and young people to encourage them to read and use libraries. The libraries work in partnership with Bookstart and each child can pick up a Bookstart pack at any library or mobile. Each child is entitled to 3 bags:
Each pack contains books and activities for the children and information for the parents/guardians about reading to your children and how books can help them. There is a lot of evidence to show that babies who have access to books at a young age do better when they start school.
Each library and mobile also runs the National Summer Reading Challenge in throughout the 6 weeks of the summer holiday. The aim of the challenge is to keep children and YP reading during the long summer break. Over 5000 children took part this year!
Each library has some local studies collections and even if your family is not from this area there will be some information to help you make a start. There is allsorts of information available including census returns, civil registration indexes, old local newspaper files, trade directories, records of gravestone inscriptions and many other resources in print. If you are researching you family history you maybe interested to know that you can now access the Ancestory website free of charge at any Derbyshire library.