29/4/2020

At present Wokingham Borough Council has taken the difficult decision to temporarily close all of its libraries.

A large number of online library services are still available, including ebooks, enewspapers and audiobooks. While the libraries are closed we have suspended the fines so there is no need to renew or return your books. Please look after the books, until such time as the libraries reopen, then you will be able to return them

New Digital Services

• Sign up for free library membership by visiting the Spydus website to join our libraries online.
• Freegal Music – Access 15 million songs from thousands of artists. You can download 3 songs per week, and listen to streamed content for up to 3 hours per day. Login to Freegal Music with your barcode and PIN, or download the Freegal Music app from the App Store or Google Play Store, then select your library and log in with your barcode and PIN. Please note: Some of the titles may contain content of a more adult nature. As with all library usage we recommend parents and carers give their child support in choosing appropriate items to match their needs.
• Ancestry Online website – is a family history website with access to census records, births, marriages and deaths records, and much more. Available at Wokingham, Woodley and Lower Earley libraries. Access to this resource has been temporarily expanded to library cardholders working remotely, courtesy of ProQuest and its partner Ancestry. To log in from home, visit the Spydus website

VE Day Celebrations

Join us for our virtual Library VE Day celebrations to mark this important anniversary. Check out our libraries blog at https://wokinghamboroughlibraries.wordpress.com/ for VE Day activities which will include:

• A look at how Wokingham celebrated VE Day with an article put together by our local history volunteer Jim Bell
• Recommended books from our  digital library about WW2 and how it ended
• A play list of contemporaneous music available on our free music streaming service Freegal
• A “Bake along” with wartime recipes. One of our members of staff will be baking the cakes and posting pictures of the results on our blog
• Amazing Animal Adventures with book ideas and activities about animal heroes during the wars.
• Links to virtual activities taking place nationally

We will also be running the following on our Facebook page and keep checking as we start more activities over the coming weeks – https://www.facebook.com/wokinghamboroughlibraries/ 

• Online Origami Club
• Online storytime every Tuesday on our Facebook Page
• Rhymetime – a rhyme a week will be coming out on Friday on our Facebook page –
• Online Writing Club
• Lego Club weekly challenge

Reading Well and Mental Health 

Check out the NHS Every Mind Matters website. It has some useful tips for mental wellbeing while staying at home. There’s a host of advice, support and tools to use. Just visit: http://ow.ly/4dBb30qsCNl

Reading Well Schemes – https://www.wokingham.gov.uk/libraries/reading-schemes-for-children-and-adults/reading-well-schemes-to-improve-health/Some of the titles are available on eBooks for you to listen to but check out https://reading-well.org.uk/resources/mental-health for more resources.

E-Services – Did you know you can borrow a range of e-books, e-audio, e-comics newspapers and magazines completely free of charge if you are a library member? Just go to https://www.wokingham.gov.uk/libraries/library-services/e-books/ or download the RB Digital app and use your library card number to create a free account with a username and password.

E-books 

• Read books on your home computer, smartphone or tablet
• Borrow 6 books at a time for up to 21 days
• Choose from over 2000 books, with new titles added every month

E-audio

• Listen to audio books on your phone, MP3 player, iPod or computer
• Choose from over 1000 books, with new titles added every month
• No limit on the number of titles you can borrow

E-Comics

• Read graphic novels on your home computer, smartphone or tablet
• Choose from over 1000 titles, including Marvel Comic titles, which can be borrowed for 30 days

Press Reader –E-newspapers and magazines are available via the Press Reader App, please visit: https://www.wokingham.gov.uk/libraries/library-services/e-magazines/ for more information.

The service allows you to:

• Read and download newspapers and magazines on your computer, smartphone or tablet
• Read the current copy of most daily and Sunday newspapers, many local newspapers and a wide selection of magazines
• Access a selection of newspapers and magazines from all over the world

Why not search our online catalogue from the comfort of your own home to see what’s on offer:  http://www.wokingham.gov.uk/libraries   

You can find more about events in libraries via our email newsletter. You can sign up for this at: http://www.wokingham.gov.uk/contact-us/sign-up-manage-text-and-email-alerts/. Or alternatively download this publication at:  http://www.wokingham.gov.uk/libraries/find-and-join-a-library/