Storyhouse Library is launching a special new free service to help readers who cannot get to the Hunter Street venue to enjoy a wide range of books in the comfort of their own home instead.
The Home Library Service, which will deliver printed and audio books directly to people’s doors, follows successful similar initiatives over the last few years run by teams at other Cheshire West and Chester libraries, including those at Northwich and Winsford.
It is specifically aimed at readers who are not able to visit library spaces in person because of mobility issues, caring commitments, social anxiety or for other health reasons.
The Storyhouse Library team or volunteers will recommend and choose books based on people’s preferences or reading history.
Volunteers will then deliver the volumes to readers’ homes and collect them again when they are finished.
Storyhouse Library is run by Cheshire West and Chester Libraries and is open from 8am to 11pm from Monday to Saturday, and 9.30am to 11pm on Sundays.
It has more than 30,000 volumes on shelves throughout the building, along with audio books and an online e-book service.
Caroline Dunseath, who coordinates Cheshire West and Chester Libraries’ Home Library Service, said:
It’s great that Storyhouse is launching a new branch of the Home Library Service. I know it’s something the team there has wanted to do for a long time.
The Home Library Service has been part of the wider Cheshire West and Chester offer for a number of years, and while not everyone does it, selected libraries around the county do run the service.
Along with offering the opportunity to read at home, it’s also about social contact – most of our volunteers visit the same client every few weeks and they can build a relationship, talk to them about what they’ve read and like, and can then choose other books for them from that.
It depends on what the individual client wants. Some are happy just to receive the books. But if they don’t have a lot of social contact, people quite enjoy having a chat with the volunteer. It can provide both books and a friendly face.
Find out more here.
For more information or interviews, contact:
Nancy Davies
Marketing and PR Manager
Storyhouse
07886 743531
About Storyhouse
Storyhouse is one of the UK’s foremost cultural centres incorporating a library, theatres and a cinema. It is one of the country’s most successful arts buildings, with more than one million customer visits each year.
The pioneering new library within Storyhouse, where members of the community work alongside city librarians, boasts the longest opening hours of any UK public library and is open every day until 11pm. It runs over 2,000 sessions a year for marginalised communities
The company also runs a highly successful theatre company and the country’s most successful regional open-air theatre, in the city’s Grosvenor Park and Moonlight Flicks open air cinema.
Storyhouse currently holds the official title as the UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre and was the overall national winner in the 2018 Guardian Public Service Awards