You can now visit Buckley, Broughton, Connah’s Quay, Flint, Holywell and Mold Libraries for select browsing, computer use, or to print and access the photocopier, as well as pick up Select and Collect orders.

It has been wonderful to see the community return to our library buildings, and the whole Aura Libraries team has really enjoying putting your Select and Collect orders together. The Select and Collect service has been a joy for us to provide, particularly because we have been able to get creative, adding in our own recommendations that we hope will be right up your street!

We are seeing lots of requests for old favourites coming through, as well as some more recent titles, and will continue doing our best to get hold of these for you.

Libraries Week

This week (October 5-10) we will be taking part in Libraries Week, an annual celebration of libraries and their importance within communities all over the UK. We love this year’s theme of ‘Discover a World of Reading’ as it centres upon the adventure that accompanies the discovery of a new book (or audiobook). We are always happy to have a chat about the different ways that you can access and discover old and new library resources, whether it is in branch or online via our social media pages.

In the run up to Libraries Week we were busy finding books and poems to share online that we think our members will enjoy. If you already follow us on social media, you may have noticed that this week we have been sharing a poem a day, daily reading recommendations from colleagues across the whole Aura team, as well as information about our library services.

We have also put together an extra special rhyme time session and story time session which will be shared on our social media and YouTube channel as part of the Libraries Week celebrations.

Reading Friends

On October 13, we will be hosting our very first online ‘Reading Friends’ Shared Reading session via Zoom and encourage all book lovers and book club fanatics to join in. Whilst we could not squeeze this event into Libraries Week, we are hopeful the session will encourage members of the local community to ‘Discover a World of Reading’ and try something a little different! If anyone is interested in joining our Shared Reading Zoom session, please email susannah.hill@aura.wales

• You can get involved with #LibrariesWeek on social media by sharing photos and reading recommendations with us via our Facebook (@LlyfrgelloeddAuraLibraries) and Twitter (@LibFlintshire) pages: help us encourage our local community to #DiscoverAWorldOfReading during Libraries Week, and all year round!

Digital library services

Whilst it has been lovely to see library members returning to visit us in person, it has also been wonderful to see so many members of the Flintshire community enjoy and engage with digital library services. Aura Library members can download e-books and audiobooks free of charge from Borrowbox and RBdigital to a PC, laptop or Mac. Alternatively, you can download the Borrowbox and RBdigital apps directly to a smartphone or tablet.

As we are currently unable to provide physical newspapers and magazines in our library branches, our top digital tip for this week is to explore the hundreds of e-magazines and publications available to download for free via RBdigital or Pressreader.

To access most online resources you will need to enter your library membership number and pin. If you do not have this then you can join up as a member online via the Aura website for instant access. All links and further details about our digital library resources can be found on our website: www.aura.wales/libraries

Summer Reading Challenge

Autumn is most certainly upon us which sadly draws this year’s Summer Reading Challenge to a close. However, we have been so pleased to see so many children from across Flintshire taking part in this year’s Summer Reading Challenge, organised by the Reading Agency. We were able to give out lots of reading packs which included an extra special medal for children to wear upon finishing the challenge. We hope that everyone who took part this year has been wearing their medals with pride and showing their teachers and friends in school! We would love to hear from those who took part: send us a photo on Facebook or Twitter or even a little message to let us know how you got on.

Library use

As a reminder, we are now open for select browsing from 9am-noon, and 2pm-5pm. Priority access will be given to vulnerable customers from 9am-10am, and for family groups from 4pm-5pm. Normal opening hours apply for Select and Collect service and returns.

To use a library computer you will need to make an appointment to visit so that we can make sure there is enough room to keep everyone safe. Please phone your local library to make an appointment.

Library contacts: Broughton 01244 533727 - Buckley 01244 549210 - Connah’s Quay 01352 703730 - Flint 01352 703737 - Holywell 01352 703850 - Mold 01352 754791.

From everyone here at Aura Libraries, stay safe and we hope to see you soon!

• Aura is a charitable, not-for-profit, organisation responsible for managing the majority of leisure, libraries and heritage services in Flintshire. Aura is owned by its employees and operates for the benefit of local communities.