Derbyshire Libraries Events and Info

Derbyshire Libraries e newsletter, Derbyshire County Council

Welcome to the Derbyshire Libraries eNewsletter

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This September - take part in our Libraries Customer Satisfaction Survey, borrow a shortlisted title, and call into your local library for Read a Book Day!

Libraries Customer Satisfaction Survey

We want your views on the services we offer

We are running a Derbyshire libraries customer satisfaction survey in September – you can complete it online by visiting here

It should only take a couple of minutes of your time to fill it in and the results will be published later in the year. There are also paper-based versions in libraries if you prefer. Thank you for taking part!

The Booker Prize

This year’s #BookerPrize2023 longlist features writers from seven countries, across four continents. Travel the globe with these titles and find your next favourite read. The shortlist of six books will be announced on September 21.

For the list of titles and more information click here.

Why not request a title from our online catalogue?

The Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize

‘AN ADVENTURE FOR EVERYONE’ These exceptional novels reflect the diversity and ingenuity of the adventure genre, keeping readers on the edge of their seats with every turn of the page. The overall winner will be announced on 18th October 2023.

Request all the books on the shortlist from our online catalogue.

National Reading Group Day

14 September

Have you ever thought about joining a reading group or book club? On 14 September it's National Reading Group Day, run by national charity The Reading Agency.

Look here for more information, including the chance for your Reading Group to take part in the Big Book Club Quiz, apply for the Read and Review publisher offer, or to find ideas of books to read.

Don't forget the unlimited access titles for ebooks/eaudiobooks on Borrowbox every month, that could be just what your group are looking for! Just check here.

Derbyshire Record Office

Locking letters at Belper Library

We’ll be taking part in the 2^nd Georgian Derbyshire Festival this Autumn by bringing our ‘Locking Letters’ workshop to Belper Library. This is your chance to read specially chosen letters from the late Georgian and Victorian period, along with the opportunity to have a go at writing a letter using a quill, folding it (known as locking) and sealing it with wax. The letters on display will include those from William Porden to his daughter Eleanor Ann Porden, who would later marry arctic explorer Sir John Franklin. One of the letters, dated 1800, is beautifully written by William in very clear text so the then 5 year old Eleanor would be able read it.

This free event is on Friday 6th October, 2pm-4pm, at Belper Library and is suitable for adults; book your place on Eventbrite.

For more information on the Georgian Derbyshire Festival, including details of lots of other events, click here.

Voices From The Peak - Live! with poet Mark Gwynne Jones

Whitwell Library - Saturday 30 September, 11.30am.

Free, but places are limited and must be booked via Whitwell Library 01629 533988

A journey through the Peak District in word, film and sound. Mark delivers a funny and absorbing in-person presentation of his popular series, Voices from the Peak.

For a taster, visit here to listen to extracts of the audio chapters Burning Drake, Snow! and Kinder Scout.

Mark is touring the Voices from the Peak – Live! show this autumn:

Tuesday 3 October, show 7pm, Dubrek Studios, Derby, DE1 3LB. Tickets £6.50, performance and open mic event, to book click here.
Saturday 14 October, show 7.30pm, Medway Centre, Bakewell, DE45 1DY. Tickets £12, 01629 813638, enquiries@medwaycentre.co.uk to book.
Sunday 15 October, show 2.30pm, Repton School, Repton Festival. Tickets £12, To book click here.
Friday 1 December, show 7.30pm, Taddington village hall, Taddington, SK17 9TU. Tickets £12, from 07929 151 688 or 01298 85384.

For more dates, visit here.

To enquire about bringing the show to your community, please contact alison.riley@peakdistrict.gov.uk.

Voices from the Peak is funded by Arts Council England and supported by the Peak District National Park Authority and Derbyshire County Council.

Work Continues at Buxton Museum and Art Gallery During Temporary Closure

Peak Buildings, which house Buxton Museum and Art gallery, has been temporarily closed for building structure investigations by Derbyshire County Council’s Property Services. Museum staff are currently removing 1,500 artefacts from display so the investigations can begin. Many of these items have been in Derbyshire for hundreds or thousands or even millions of years so every care is being taken to ensure they get packed and moved safely.

At the moment, it is difficult to estimate how long the building will need to be closed for, but regretfully investigations and remedial work are likely to take some time to complete.

In the meantime, BMAG continues to run events elsewhere in Buxton. As part of this year’s Buxton Festival Fringe, three Meet the Expert lunchtime talks found an alternative venue at Buxton Methodist Church, with subjects as diverse as Derbyshire treasure hoards, new research on finds from local caves and restoring the chapel window at Haddon Hall. The museum staff were thrilled to receive an award nomination for the best Spoken Word event from the Fringe.

Further information can be found here, or follow the blog, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

eAudiobooks on Libby

Have you met Libby? Libby is one of our eAudiobook platforms full to bursting with downloadable books to listen and enjoy. No matter what you like to listen to, we guarantee Libby can help. If you need any help accessing Libby, email the Library Information Service on ask.library@derbyshire.gov.uk and we can arrange a 1-2-1 session to talk you through the process.

For more info on our eLending platforms click here, ring 01629 533444, or contact ask.library@derbyshire.gov.uk.

Discover DACES: Your Path to Counselling Excellence!

Join the level 2 Counselling Skills Certificate with Derbyshire Adult Community Education Service (DACES).

Step into counselling with our comprehensive level 2 Certificate. Gain skills to assist voluntarily or professionally.

Enhance your job prospects: Ideal for childcare, support, community, and learning roles.

Empower and enhance wellbeing: Equip yourself to uplift others and make a positive impact.

Flexible Learning: Year-round courses at county venues and online.

Prerequisite: Level 2 English qualification required.

Email dacesemployability@derbyshire.gov.uk for costs and dates.

Elevate lives with DACES - Enrol Today!

Book your course here.

Multi Use titles

Every month we get a new selection of titles on our BorrowBox app of both eBooks and eAudiobooks that can be taken out by multiple users at one time. These stay multi-use for 60 days, so if you have a book club and you're looking for your next title then one of these could be your next choice!

You can find these titles on the main BorrowBox page, identified as a collection with 'No Waiting!' or 'Available Now!'

Titles available from September are:

In eBook & eAudiobook:

The Night Ship by Jess Kidd
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Nights of Plague by Orhan Pamuk

In eBook only:

The Love of My Life by Rosie Walsh

in eAudiobook only:

A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz
The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell

New Adult Books Coming in September

We’ve chosen to highlight three books published in September for you to enjoy. You can reserve them via our online catalogue.

The Armour of Light by Ken Follett

1792. A tyrannical government is determined to make England a mighty commercial empire. In France, Napoleon Bonaparte begins his rise to power, and with dissent rife, France's neighbours are on high alert. Unprecedented industrial change sweeps the land, making the lives of the workers in Kingsbridge's prosperous cloth mills a misery. Rampant modernization and dangerous new machinery are rendering jobs obsolete and tearing families apart. Now, as international conflict nears, a story of a small group of Kingsbridge people - including spinner Sal Clitheroe, weaver David Shoveller and Kit, Sal's inventive and headstrong son - will come to define the struggle of a generation as they seek enlightenment and fight for a future free from oppression.

Holly by Stephen King

When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl's desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down. Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harbouring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie's disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.

The Six - the untold story of America's First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush

When NASA sent astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s the agency excluded women from the corps, arguing that only military test pilots - a group then made up exclusively of men - had the right stuff. It was an era in which women were steered away from jobs in science and deemed too fragile for space flight. Eventually, though, NASA relented and opened the application process to everyone, regardless of race or gender. From a 1977 candidate pool of 8,000 six elite women were selected - Sally Ride, Judy Resnik, Anna Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, and Rhea Seddon. In 'The Six', acclaimed journalist Loren Grush shows these brilliant and courageous women enduring claustrophobic - and sometimes deeply sexist - media attention, undergoing rigorous survival training, and preparing for years to take multi-million-dollar payloads into orbit.

This Month We Recommend You Read...

One of our favourite things to do is recommend amazing children's books to you! This month we recommend you check out these titles:

The Littlest Yak: Home is where the herd is by Lu Fraser (author) & Kate Hindley (Illustrator)

When the ice starts melting, it's time for the yaks to move on and find a new mountain. Gertie's mum tells her that home is about more than the things that you pack, but Gertie's not so sure. She tries to squash and squeeze everything they own onto her sledge. But, oh no! It seems she's left behind the most important thing of all - her baby sister, Dotty! Perhaps home isn't about the things you have after all.

Mermedusa by Thomas Taylor

It is midwinter once again, and the hosts of a paranormal podcast have descended on Eerie-on-Sea eager for a sighting of the legendary malamander. Herbert Lemon, Lost-and-Founder at the Grand Nautilus Hotel, is feeling uneasy - and not just because of the visitors. He's being plagued by unsettling dreams, and the head-splitting 'Eerie Hum' that is reverberating through the town. Something is dreadfully wrong, and it seems to be coming from Eerie's very core. Herbie and his friend Violet Parma will need all their courage as they head deep below the town to seek answers. Perhaps here, finally, they - and the malamander too - will discover the Deepest Secret of Eerie-on-Sea.

Build you own Dinosaurs! mighty moving models by Rob Ives

Build your own moving models, from a bending Brachiosaurus to a pair of racing Pachycephalosaurs, this book is full of engaging prehistoric projects that combine science and technology with hands-on model making. Perfect for budding engineers and dinosaur fans alike!

Order your copies of these fantastic books on our online catalogue.