Let's talk about Kent Libraries

We know how much people love our libraries. We love them too.

You may have noticed the range of services we deliver has continued to change and expand over recent years to meet the needs of Kent’s communities. The way we deliver many of these services has also changed to reflect the growth of technology and new ways of communicating.

You won’t be surprised to learn that the pace of this change quickened during the pandemic. We had to adapt fast to ensure that we continued to still be able to deliver a library service. This meant:

  • developing the digital services we provide (e-books, e-magazines and newspapers) and making it easier to join the library virtually
  • delivering events and activities online while still prioritising services to those most in need via our befriending telephone calls, home library service and postal loan service
  • developing our select and collect book offer which meant books could be selected and picked up at the library or mobile library front door.

We have now reopened all our 99 libraries and mobile libraries with measures in place to ensure we keep everyone as safe as possible. Find out more about the full range of services we provide.

We know that the library services we provide are hugely valued by local people. The Libraries, Registration and Archives Strategy helps us to steer the service in the right direction. This is even more important as we continue to recover from lockdown.

Our current strategy runs until the end of 2022, and whether you are a current library user or not, we need your help to develop a new one. Our early conversations with library users, residents and partners will be vital in helping to shape Kent library services for the future.

Update 26 January 2022

Over the last few months your feedback has been helping us to understand whether your use of library services has changed and how you feel about them.

From this we now need your help identifying what our priorities should be and have created a new survey to help capture your thoughts.

We encourage you to subscribe on this page (under 'Stay Informed') for further opportunities to help shape our new strategy.

How to get involved

There are currently three ways you can help:

  • take part in a second Survey, which explores in more detail some of the feedback you have provided so far
  • tell us what Kent Libraries mean to you by clicking on the Stories tab below
  • use our Ideas board to tell us what would encourage you to use our services more or for the first time. This could be your ideas for new services or improvements to our existing services.

You can take part in any or all of these activities - it's completely up to you!

We know how much people love our libraries. We love them too.

You may have noticed the range of services we deliver has continued to change and expand over recent years to meet the needs of Kent’s communities. The way we deliver many of these services has also changed to reflect the growth of technology and new ways of communicating.

You won’t be surprised to learn that the pace of this change quickened during the pandemic. We had to adapt fast to ensure that we continued to still be able to deliver a library service. This meant:

  • developing the digital services we provide (e-books, e-magazines and newspapers) and making it easier to join the library virtually
  • delivering events and activities online while still prioritising services to those most in need via our befriending telephone calls, home library service and postal loan service
  • developing our select and collect book offer which meant books could be selected and picked up at the library or mobile library front door.

We have now reopened all our 99 libraries and mobile libraries with measures in place to ensure we keep everyone as safe as possible. Find out more about the full range of services we provide.

We know that the library services we provide are hugely valued by local people. The Libraries, Registration and Archives Strategy helps us to steer the service in the right direction. This is even more important as we continue to recover from lockdown.

Our current strategy runs until the end of 2022, and whether you are a current library user or not, we need your help to develop a new one. Our early conversations with library users, residents and partners will be vital in helping to shape Kent library services for the future.

Update 26 January 2022

Over the last few months your feedback has been helping us to understand whether your use of library services has changed and how you feel about them.

From this we now need your help identifying what our priorities should be and have created a new survey to help capture your thoughts.

We encourage you to subscribe on this page (under 'Stay Informed') for further opportunities to help shape our new strategy.

How to get involved

There are currently three ways you can help:

  • take part in a second Survey, which explores in more detail some of the feedback you have provided so far
  • tell us what Kent Libraries mean to you by clicking on the Stories tab below
  • use our Ideas board to tell us what would encourage you to use our services more or for the first time. This could be your ideas for new services or improvements to our existing services.

You can take part in any or all of these activities - it's completely up to you!

What do Kent library services mean to you? Tell us your story here.

We are very proud of our library service and all of the staff who work to deliver positive outcomes for the residents of Kent. 

We'd love to hear what the Kent library service means to you and particularly the positive difference it makes to your life.

Hearing your stories of when the library service has made a real difference, particularly over the pandemic, will help us to understand where our services have the greatest impact and what we should be developing and focusing on in our new strategy. 

You can add text, photos and videos to your story. However, please ensure you have permission to share anything featured here and don't use full names when referring to people, only first names.

To get us started we have added a few stories from our staff and customers.

Thank you for sharing your story with us.

If you have any ideas for how we could encourage more people to enjoy our library services, please feel free to tell us on our Ideas board.

CLOSED: This discussion has concluded.

  • A Calm and Welcoming Place

    by SEB, over 4 years ago
    I am an avid reader who can't afford and doesn't have the space to buy the amount of books I read. The library means that I can always have a book on hand to take to work or read at home. I have discovered many different types of books from many different authors - over 300 so far. The library is my favourite place in town and where I have sent people who are visiting town so they can get knowledge of the town from those who know it best (tourist information is in the same building). A library is... Continue reading
    I am an avid reader who can't afford and doesn't have the space to buy the amount of books I read. The library means that I can always have a book on hand to take to work or read at home. I have discovered many different types of books from many different authors - over 300 so far. The library is my favourite place in town and where I have sent people who are visiting town so they can get knowledge of the town from those who know it best (tourist information is in the same building). A library is one of the only places in a town where you are allowed to just be and to spend time without having any expectation of having to spend money or being rushed out once you have spent money to make room for the next person. Whenever I visit the library it is always calm and welcoming. There is an instant sense of peace and it feels like you have all the time in the world even if I am just popping in. The staff are very knowledgeable and friendly and my step-children have taken part in different events including the summer reading challenge and different arts and crafts activities. Whenever I visit new towns I always try to visit their library - there are many great buildings with library's and museums combined. If I didn't have access to the library then I wouldn't be able to read nearly as many (if any) of the books that I have read, I wouldn't have the safety blanket of always having a book in my bag and I wouldn't have gained as much literately knowledge as I have. I hope to be able to continue to visit the library for many years to come.

  • Always there for me

    by lady hydrangea, over 4 years ago
    I first started using the library in the 1960's, and as a child I volunteered to work for an hour a week in the children's section.

    I came from a happy but noisy and crowded home where education was not of great importance. I wanted to study, but it was impossible in my home. The library provided a safe haven, somewhere to study, and I managed to pass my exams. I needed the qualifications to begin my career. I could argue that I owe my career to the library.



    I first started using the library in the 1960's, and as a child I volunteered to work for an hour a week in the children's section.

    I came from a happy but noisy and crowded home where education was not of great importance. I wanted to study, but it was impossible in my home. The library provided a safe haven, somewhere to study, and I managed to pass my exams. I needed the qualifications to begin my career. I could argue that I owe my career to the library.



  • Finding Libby

    by Ceedee, over 4 years ago
    I was always an avid reader from childhood and libraries have been very important to me wherever I have lived up and down England. I particularly remember finding a love for historical fiction once as a 10 year old when a librarian in Middlesbrough recommended a Henry Treece novel. However, with children and a busy restaurant to run, my book intake and library use had dwindled until very recently when a friend recommended Libby, the library app. I was a bit sceptical, especially when I couldn’t seem to find my local library on it. The library staff on the telephone... Continue reading
    I was always an avid reader from childhood and libraries have been very important to me wherever I have lived up and down England. I particularly remember finding a love for historical fiction once as a 10 year old when a librarian in Middlesbrough recommended a Henry Treece novel. However, with children and a busy restaurant to run, my book intake and library use had dwindled until very recently when a friend recommended Libby, the library app. I was a bit sceptical, especially when I couldn’t seem to find my local library on it. The library staff on the telephone and on the online chart sorted me out in record quick time ( I was inputting Ashford library instead of Kent County Council!) The help I received was brilliant and then I opened a treasure trove of online reading (I always used Kindle to read on my IPad anyway) and audio books - all for FREE. This has revolutionised my reading/ listening life! It works so brilliantly and easily. I have read and listened to books I would never have tried if I were spending hard earned cash and feel myself enriched by this. The audio books, in particular, are fantastic, well recorded and easily downloaded so I can listen while I jog or sew or garden. Libby has changed my life for the better and I am busy recommending this app to everyone I know.

  • Why libraries ?

    by Charlielouise23, over 4 years ago
    I am a mum of 2 very small children. I have used the library on and off since I was a young child myself.

    I use the library because I want my boys to have the same sense of joy from feeling, smelling and choosing books that I had. It is also one of the only places which are free and you can go when it rains!

    In this world of everything being instantly purchasable online, and everything being disposable; libraries are a vital part of encouraging us to treat items with respect and return items for someone else to... Continue reading

    I am a mum of 2 very small children. I have used the library on and off since I was a young child myself.

    I use the library because I want my boys to have the same sense of joy from feeling, smelling and choosing books that I had. It is also one of the only places which are free and you can go when it rains!

    In this world of everything being instantly purchasable online, and everything being disposable; libraries are a vital part of encouraging us to treat items with respect and return items for someone else to enjoy when we are done. libraries are a tiny piece of the puzzle towards helping climate change in that respect.

  • Mocketts Journal 1836

    by Denis the Menace, over 4 years ago
    Mocketts Journal of 1836 and the Memoirs of Thomas Pointer 1912 in Broadstairs Library (plus many other works of reference) started a long period of research into the history of Broadstairs and St Peters, particularly the lost hamlet of Upton that was situated midway between the two. Important research has resulted from this from which I have submitted articles for the Broadstairs Society, the Isle of Thanet Archaeological Society and the Kent Archaeological Society. I have also used Margate Reference Library and the Kent History and Library Centre at Maidstone but at 82 years of age I prefer to stay... Continue reading
    Mocketts Journal of 1836 and the Memoirs of Thomas Pointer 1912 in Broadstairs Library (plus many other works of reference) started a long period of research into the history of Broadstairs and St Peters, particularly the lost hamlet of Upton that was situated midway between the two. Important research has resulted from this from which I have submitted articles for the Broadstairs Society, the Isle of Thanet Archaeological Society and the Kent Archaeological Society. I have also used Margate Reference Library and the Kent History and Library Centre at Maidstone but at 82 years of age I prefer to stay local now.

  • Hythe Books for Change

    by LauraT, over 4 years ago
    A group of us fundraised and applied for local council grants in order to purchase a range of diverse and inclusive children’s books which we then donated to our local library- 135 books in total. This broadened the range of stock available, made a wider choice of books available to local children, parents, carers and teachers . The library staff were delighted - they processed the books, put them on display and publicised our donation for us. Perhaps other local voluntary groups might also like to fundraise, apply for grants etc and do the same for their local branches? A... Continue reading
    A group of us fundraised and applied for local council grants in order to purchase a range of diverse and inclusive children’s books which we then donated to our local library- 135 books in total. This broadened the range of stock available, made a wider choice of books available to local children, parents, carers and teachers . The library staff were delighted - they processed the books, put them on display and publicised our donation for us. Perhaps other local voluntary groups might also like to fundraise, apply for grants etc and do the same for their local branches? A Friends of The Library group perhaps?

  • Book Group

    by LauraT, over 4 years ago
    We have been supported brilliantly as a keen group of readers by the service. Throughout the pandemic we continued to reserve, borrow and collect multiple copies ( at times up to 15 copies) of a book from Hythe Library. We met via Zoom each month. Fir many of us the library service was a life line and a way for us to link with each other and read a wide range of books. We continue to meet now in a local pub in the evening and borrow sets of books every month
    We have been supported brilliantly as a keen group of readers by the service. Throughout the pandemic we continued to reserve, borrow and collect multiple copies ( at times up to 15 copies) of a book from Hythe Library. We met via Zoom each month. Fir many of us the library service was a life line and a way for us to link with each other and read a wide range of books. We continue to meet now in a local pub in the evening and borrow sets of books every month

  • Just because I don't use the library now...

    by AutPax, over 4 years ago
    I've got out of the library habit - I am in my sixties - no young children around and if I want to buy a book it's always an option and I have a range of computers and other devices and printers at home - and in that I am very fortunate ...BUT libraries were so important to me for many years and when my son was growing up and although the usage will have changed I am very keen to see them develop and supported and pay towards that support.


    I've got out of the library habit - I am in my sixties - no young children around and if I want to buy a book it's always an option and I have a range of computers and other devices and printers at home - and in that I am very fortunate ...BUT libraries were so important to me for many years and when my son was growing up and although the usage will have changed I am very keen to see them develop and supported and pay towards that support.


  • Maps

    by RWJM, over 4 years ago
    I use the service to borrow Ordnance Survey maps, if the local branch does not have to area I want, it is obtained from another library.
    I use the service to borrow Ordnance Survey maps, if the local branch does not have to area I want, it is obtained from another library.

  • Moving to a new area

    by Roni, over 4 years ago
    I have been a member of a local library since I was a young child. Coming from a poor ( but loving and supportive ) family I used my library to borrow an ecliptic range of books over my school years, passing 11 plus and gaining a good job in a national bank on leaving school. Eventually retiring at manger level, after a lifetime of using libraries to keep up my knowledge, and enjoying so many diverse genre's.

    After moving to a new area to enjoy retirement by the sea, I found it difficult to make new friends, so volunteered... Continue reading

    I have been a member of a local library since I was a young child. Coming from a poor ( but loving and supportive ) family I used my library to borrow an ecliptic range of books over my school years, passing 11 plus and gaining a good job in a national bank on leaving school. Eventually retiring at manger level, after a lifetime of using libraries to keep up my knowledge, and enjoying so many diverse genre's.

    After moving to a new area to enjoy retirement by the sea, I found it difficult to make new friends, so volunteered at our local library. I became a part of their Housebound Delivery team, and take great pleasure in delivering books to those who are u able to visit in person. The enjoyment I gain in their excitement at each new delivery, the chats over favourite authors, exchange of ideas and recommendations issued worth while.

    I also set up a local book club, using the library to borrow the books we use, making a fantastically strong group of friends. We still managed to keep going, all through lockdown, using Zoom, and ebooks. As soon as the library reopened, the librarians were allowed to restart all of our services, and their help and contact during a difficult time e made all the difference.

    I truly feel the libraries I have used over 70 plus years have helped me focus my life in a positive and efficient way, and hope they continue way into the future.