Information on Loughborough

A FEAST of family fun in Leicestershire Libraries

Posted on 07/09/2009

Leicestershire Councty Council Community Services

7 September 2009

A FEAST of family fun in Leicestershire Libraries

Children and their parents are invited to take part in a Wriggly Feast at Syston Library as part of this year’s Family Learning Festival 2009. Children under 5 years and their adults can drop in to Syston Library on Saturday 17th October 2pm – 2.30pm or Monday 19th October 10am – 10.30am and join in with these special food themed Wriggly Reader sessions.

Families will also have the chance to win a Nintendo Wii Fit by creating a favourite family recipe and entering the countywide competition.

The Family Learning Festival provides a range of exciting opportunities for families to learn together in an informal setting. Families can discover new skills, develop new interests and expand their knowledge in ways that may whet their appetite for further learning in the future.

A full programme of Feast events and details of the family recipe competition will be available from Leicestershire libraries and on the website www.leics.gov.uk/flf from September 16th.

Background notes for editors

Libraries across Leicestershire are seeing an increase in visitors as the UK finds itself in a recession. Traditionally, people turn to public libraries during hard economic times - for cheaper entertainment, to help with employment, for free access to computers and to help them save money and be ‘greener’ by borrowing free books rather than buying.

Leicestershire Libraries have seen vast improvements recently as part of the £8 million transformation programme and staff are inviting the public to step into their local library to discover all the up to date services and facilities available for no or little cost.

Visitors will be supported by libraries over the coming months in their health, wellbeing, career prospects, lifestyle and general enjoyment by:

  • Stepping up to savings and improving finances – a free internet service where all the consumer price comparison and information websites are available, there are free books to borrow and you can have a cheap night in with a DVD that you can keep for a week
  • Stepping Up to success and improving job prospects – with free newspapers, free internet facilities and a large choice of titles for all sorts of learning and development
  • Stepping Out - alone or with friends and family to free events
  • Stepping Into the library’s welcoming surroundings where you can read all the latest best sellers for free and get up to date DVDs and audiobooks.
  • Stepping Up to a challenge - train your brain with crosswords, Sudoku and general knowledge quizzes.

Details of library developments can be found on www.leics.gov.uk/libraries

Details of events can be found on www.leics.gov.uk/events

Facts and figures about Leicestershire Libraries for 2008 – 2009

  • 55 libraries
  • 92,378 hours open
  • 3,853,867 visitors
  • 6 Mobile libraries
  • 412 PCs
  • 22,205 DVDs to rent
  • 728,628 books to borrow