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.

  • Books

    by M/L/P, about 3 years ago
    My daughter has always been an avid reader since I introduced her to the library when she was around 2 years old. She has accumulated hundreds of books in her own library but continues to use the public libraries in Kent and elsewhere (for specialist collections).


    When she was 16, she got a job as a Saturday assistant at a Kent library. Every Saturday she would come home with an armful of books. She would browse the shelves during her morning tea break and start reading during the lunch hour.


    She applied to art school and was accepted by both... Continue reading

  • Escaping through the magic of literature - a card received at Kent History and Library Centre

    about 3 years ago

    Thank you to all the library staff who have kept the library service open during this pandemic and thank you to the staff who created all the online possibilities: books, audiobooks, magazines. Thanks to you I have been able to escape through the magic of literature, I have travelled via stories and “Lonely Planet”, I have made sense of what was happening through classic literature and philosophy texts at my fingertips! Library services have helped to keep me sane! May they continue to open worlds.

  • Select and Collect provides welcome relief during Covid - feedback from a member of staff at Borough Green Library

    about 3 years ago

    A customer had filled out one of our select and collect forms. I called her to let her know the books were ready for collection and she said she would be down in 15mins to collect them and was so happy. When the customer arrived to collect her books, she was on the verge of tears, she said 'I have been bereft without you'. She continued to explain she works in the NHS and has been helping with the vaccination etc and that she was getting to breaking point until she noticed that Borough Green Library was now open for... Continue reading

  • Encouraging a love of reading - feedback from a mum at Tonbridge Library

    about 3 years ago

    My daughter is now on reading level 7, and she’s only 4! It’s all down to the library; she wouldn’t be at the level she is now if I couldn’t get all these books for her for free. She tells me she loves reading as well which is wonderful.

  • Talk Time story from a member of staff at Hartley Library

    about 3 years ago

    A customer who attends Talk Time has said that initially when she moved to the area she did not know anyone and felt very isolated, especially moving from a large town. She initially called into the library to pick up a bus timetable and was made aware of the groups that meet up in the library. She decided to attend our Talk Time session the following week and says she has not looked back. She says that through attending this group she has built up new friendships and been able to get involved in other community groups which has made... Continue reading