Aura's home delivery service

We may be a little biased, but here at Aura Libraries, we know just how important a good book can be to lift your spirit and brighten your week, especially during difficult and overwhelming times such as these.

Whilst we have been delighted to see so many people from our local community return to our libraries for select browsing, computer use, and to pick up Select and Collect orders, we understand not everyone is able to venture out right now, or might be feeling apprehensive about leaving their homes. We feel passionately that everyone should be able to access and enjoy library services, whether it is in person or from the comfort of their own home. That is why we would like to remind our library users, and the community, that our home delivery service is here to help you enjoy library resources without having to leave your house.

We offer a direct library delivery service that can bring library resources straight to the doors of residents across Flintshire who are unable to access their local library. If you phone the library on 01352 704400 or send us an email (libraries@aura.wales), we can put together a collection of books we think you will enjoy based upon your personal preferences and favourite genres. We will then pop your order into a bag ready to be delivered, free of charge.

We received some lovely feedback about our home delivery service from Doreen Gardiner (pictured below), from Mold, who has been using the service for the past four months.

The Leader:

She said: "This is a wonderful service and I appreciate it so much. I wish I had known about it years ago."

If you would like any further information about our home delivery service, don't hesitate to get in touch. Phone 01352 704400, email libraries@aura.wales or sending us a message on Facebook or Twitter. We would love to hear from you!

Launch of Reading Well scheme

This week sees the launch of the latest Reading Well scheme, created by The Reading Agency. The Welsh Government support The Reading Agency to deliver Reading Well books on prescription in all 22 library authorities in Wales.

Reading Well for Children is the third Reading Well scheme to be delivered in Wales following on from Reading Well for Dementia in 2018 and Reading Well for Mental Health in 2019.

The Reading Well book titles can be recommended by health professionals to patients, and the public can self-refer and borrow them free of charge as they would with any other book from a library. All Reading Well titles are available to borrow from your local Aura library and the majority of the titles have been translated into Welsh.

The Leader:

The Reading Well books on prescription for children provide helpful reading to support children's mental health and wellbeing. The books provide quality-assured information, stories and advice. Books have been chosen and recommended by leading health professionals and co-produced with children and families.

Similarly, the Reading Well books on prescription for mental health provide helpful information and support for managing common mental health conditions, or dealing with difficult feelings and experiences. Some books also include personal stories from people who are living with or caring for someone with mental health needs.

The Reading Well books on prescription for dementia provide information and advice for people living with dementia, support for living well, advice for relatives and carers, as well as fiction, memoir and photographic books used in reminiscence therapy.

We encourage all our library members to discover more about the Reading Well scheme by getting in touch with us, or by visiting the Reading Well website: https://reading-well.org.uk/books/books-on-prescription

Your local library contact is:

• Broughton 01244 533727

• Buckley 01244 549210

• Connah's Quay 01352 703730

• Flint 01352 703737

• Holywell 01352 703850

• Mold 01352 754791

Connect with us online

Visit us on social media to view our weekly rhyme time or story time sessions, as well as lots of book and audiobook recommendations, plus handy information about our services. We can be found on Facebook at @LlyfrgelloeddAuraLibraries and Twitter at @LibFlintshire.

This week we will be hosting our very first online 'Reading Friends' Shared Reading session via Zoom which will become a monthly event on every second Tuesday of the month between 11am-noon. We encourage all book lovers and book club fanatics to join in! If anyone is interested in taking part in our Shared Reading Zoom sessions, please email susannah.hill@aura.wales

As a reminder, Aura library members can access e-books and audiobooks for free from Borrowbox and RBDigital. Due to public demand we will soon be adding access to more e-book sites for you to select from: watch this space. All links and further details about our digital library resources can be found at www.aura.wales/libraries

• From everyone here at Aura Libraries, stay safe and we hope to hear from you or see you soon. Whilst we may be facing difficult times, remember: we are always united by reading!

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.