New hours for Middleton Children's Library

Due to popular demand we have changed the opening hours for Middleton Children's Library!

The children’s library is now available the same hours as Middleton’s adult lending and reference & local studies libraries.

This is good news for parents and carers with young children who wish to visit earlier in the day and who can now gain access to a much wider collection of picture books than before, plus storypacks and storysacks.

It also means we have three more computers available in the mornings for everyone to use, which should mean less waiting at busy times.

Occasionally, if a nursery or school class is visiting, or if another special event is taking place, you may find the children’s library closed. We hope these rare times will not cause too much inconvenience for customers and that, generally, you will find our longer opening hours helpful.

For more information, please ask any member of staff.

Middleton Library Reading Group news

New members are always welcome to join us.
Contact Community Librarian, Maria, on 0161 643 5228 for more information.

Our next meeting is on Monday 15 March from 6 – 7 pm here at the library, when we will be discussing books on the theme of mothers and daughters.

At the February meeting of Middleton Reading Group, we discussed Danny Scheinmann’s “Random Acts of Heroic Love”.

• Where to find copies of “Random Acts of Heroic Love" in our libraries

At our January meeting we discussed books we received for Christmas.

The theme for the December meeting was epic journeys. It was also an opportunity for enjoying some seasonal refreshments and swapping our gift-wrapped “Secret Santa” books to take home, put under the tree and open on Christmas morning.

At the November meeting we discussed Brian McGilloway’s novel "Gallows Lane."

• Where to find copies of "Gallows Lane" in our libraries

At the October meeting of Middleton Reading Group we discussed books on the theme of black history.

‘Tell My Story’ Event’

Middleton Library held a ‘Tell My Story’ event on Tuesday 2nd June. We wanted to showcase some of our local studies materials, to encourage people to write down their memories and to have an enjoyable social morning.

• Local residents, Alice Mellalieu-Campbell and Albert Findlow came to talk about their autobiographies.
• We pulled out all the books from our collection which give first hand accounts of people’s lives in Middleton.
• We had representatives of the ‘Middleton Memories’ reminiscence magazine and a member of Langley Library writing group.

All those who attended had a good time and left positive comments.

We were disappointed that we didn’t attract more people. We would have liked to attract some younger people and some who were new to the local studies service. We suspect the theme of the event was a bit off putting (people seem to have thought they would have to contribute).

When we hold similar events in future we will use more publicity and direct it more toward younger people to see if we can encourage them to join in.

Tell Your Story

Do you have a story to tell?

Samuel Bamford was the first to publish his account of everyday life in Middleton. In his diaries published in the 1840’s, he describes the daily life of the local handloom weavers, the customs and celebrations which they enjoyed and their struggle for political reform.

In her biography, Alice Mellalieu-Campbell describes working in the Middleton Junction jam works in the 1930’s. Basil D’Oliveira wrote about the welcome he received from local folk when he joined Middleton Cricket Team in 1960. Helen Tse wrote “Sweet Mandarin” in order to tell the story of her grandmother, Lily Kwok, who opened the first Chinese restaurant in Middleton in the 1950’s. And not forgetting Alfred Howarth’s ‘Memories of a Middleton Moonraker’, his
recollections of life during the twenties and thirties.

All these books are available in the local studies section at Middleton library. We also have a wealth of unpublished accounts of local people’s lives.

Do you have memories of day to day life or significant events in Middleton history? If so we would like to invite you to a “Tell your Story” event at Middleton Library on Tuesday 2nd June from 10 – 12pm.

Come and view these first hand accounts of Middleton life.

• Alice Campbell will be there to tell people how she wrote her autobiography and had it published.
• The ‘Memories of Middleton’ Team will also be present. They can tell you how to write a short article for their magazine.
• Why not write a page or two and bring it with you. We will also have a member of a local writing group to tell you about the group she attends and maybe advise you on how to write your own life history.

Everyone is welcome to attend. Refreshments provided. Please phone Middleton library on 643 5228 to book your free place.

Reading group news

At the May meeting of Middleton Reading Group we discussed our favourite authors’ debut novels.

Our next meeting is on Monday 22nd June from 6 – 7 p.m. at Middleton Library and we will be discussing books by Elizabeth Gaskell.

New members are always welcome to join us.

Contact Community Librarian, Maria, on 0161 643 5228 for more information.

Life in Middleton

Joanne and Paula have written some promotional pieces telling people about Alkrington and Middleton libraries for the local free newspapers. The notes they put together when we asked them to tell us about their libraries gave them a useful starting point.

Alkrington Library appeared in the December issue of Alkrington Life. Middleton Library is due to appear in the February edition of Middleton Life. We've had positive feedback from customers about the Alkrington article and we hope this is repeated in February.

Public libraries are elective services — people don't have to use them if they don't want — so it's important that we keep a high positive profile via as many different communication channels as possible. We need to make sure that we're reminding people that we do lots of nice stuff, and a good deal of it very well. Like many other library services, we're not particularly good at blowing our own trumpet. It's a habit we do need to learn if we're to catch and keep the interest of all our potential customer bases. And we are learning: we're getting a significantly larger number of pieces in the local press about events and activities in our libraries than we did even a year ago.

Middleton Library

Middleton Library is an historic building dating from 1889 situated in a pleasant Victorian park (opposite The Old Boar’s Head pub) within the town’s conservation area.

Access to the ground floor Adult Lending Library & Reading Room is via a steep cobbled ramp plus several steps. The Reference/Local Studies & Children’s Libraries are situated on the first floor, accessed via a staircase. Our friendly, helpful staff, recognising the difficulties presented by the library’s layout do all they can to assist those with limited mobility. If you require help, don’t hesitate to ask.

Limited free parking is available immediately next to the building.

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Adult Readers
In addition to the wide range of constantly replenished fiction & non-fiction stock that you would expect from a central library we also offer for example, books in large print, books on tape, graphic novels, audio “learn a language” packs, a selection of local & national daily newspapers & materials for those wishing to improve their literacy & numeracy skills.

Looking for something new? - check out our Author Of The Month display.

No time to browse? - try our Quick Choice selection.

No need to buy the latest bestseller - we have multiple copies available free of charge.

Book Sale – a varied selection of ex-library stock is always available at very reasonable prices. Pop in & pick up a bargain.

Free Reservation service – Any item on the library catalogue can be reserved free of charge from this website, in person or over the phone.

Please ask any member of staff for details about services for housebound customers & those with special needs. For example, our Talking Book Club, offering unabridged popular titles in cassette form for the visually impaired & those who have difficulties with other formats (visits every 3 weeks.)

Middleton Reading Group – meets in the library once a month on Monday evenings 6-7.00pm to discuss a chosen book.

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Children & Young People
We have a very well stocked & self-contained Children’s Library offering something for all ages from babies to teenagers. A study area provides a quiet space for homework, whilst our information & reference sections cover the full range of National Curriculum subjects. Story packs, offering a picture book & accompanying audio tape can be borrowed free of charge.

An under 5s’ storytime, which includes a simple craft activity, takes place every Thursday at 2.00pm during school term times. All young children & their parents & carers are welcome.

Young library members wishing to use our free, filtered Internet access for fun, homework, word processing & e-mails, can join the Young Surfers Club. Please ask staff for an application form.

Look out for free fun events throughout the school holidays, including the Summer Reading Game.

Local schools, nurseries & playgroups are very welcome to visit by prior arrangement.

A collection of new & classic picture books, pop-up books & simple non-fiction for pre-schoolers is available for loan to nurseries, playgroups & registered childminders. Please ask for further details.

During school term times the Children’s Library opens at 2.00pm. However a selection of picture books is available downstairs in the reading room for those with young children who prefer to visit in the morning.

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Reference & Local Studies
We have a well-stocked reference collection including encyclopaedias, business directories, phone books, advice guides & maps. A coin-operated photocopier is available & we also offer a fax service.

Local History resources for the Middleton area include an extensive collection of photographs featuring Middleton streets, buildings, town centre, etc; books & pamphlets on the history of Middleton; local maps; historical register of electors. The Middleton Guardian newspaper since earliest dates is available on microfilm. For family historians we have the Middleton parish registers & census records on microfilm. Please ring to book a reader. We offer free access to Ancestry.com via our public access computers.

A member of the Manchester & Lancashire Family History Society holds a drop-in advice session on Monday afternoons between 2-4.00pm.

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Computers
Computers (some with scanner), offering free access to the Internet, e-mail, word processing etc. are available & can be pre-booked. Colour printing costs just 10p per copy. You don’t even need to be a library member!

Need some help setting up an e-mail account or just need someone on hand to boost your confidence if you’re new to the net? Why not try one of our popular “Free ‘n’ Easy” sessions which are held every 2 weeks on Tuesday mornings from 10-12.00pm. No need to book – just drop in. Our friendly, knowledgeable staff will prove to you that computers don’t bite! Please ask for details of the next session.

From time to time, we also host special “Silver Surfer” events and taster sessions for beginning your family history on the web.

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All the staff at Middleton Library will make you feel most welcome, so come & visit us soon & we promise you won’t be disappointed!

World Music in our libraries

We've just expanded our World Music Collection with a new range of CDs covering a wide range of music from Irish folk to Congolese Soukous; Brazilian hip-hop to Bollywood; yodelling to salsa.

The extended collection also includes The Rough Guide To The Music Of... series and Rough Guides to different styles of World Music. If you want to get a flavour of some of this music we have a selection loaded onto a listening post in the Wheatsheaf Library.

World Music Collection CDs are available in Castleton, Middleton, Norden and the Wheatsheaf libraries. When Heywood Library reopens next year it, too, will have CDs from this collection.

They are available for loan to anybody over the age of 14, costing 50p for a three-week loan (25p for Passport To Leisure card holders).