Thousands watch Wiltshire libraries online content during lockdown
Online hits for activities like Reading Friends tea and chat sessions help them reach over 200,000 views
In the first lockdown, Wiltshire Council libraries moved many of their activities online.
The content on their Facebook pages and the YouTube channel has now received over 200,000 views.
Teams had to find other ways of delivering creative content in lockdown as the pandemic meant libraries had to close or be open with limited services.
Since libraries reopened staff have continued to provide online rhyme times, story times, tea and chat sessions, book reviews, author talks and ‘how to’ guides.
The live Facebook rhyme times have proved to be particularly popular, with the first rhyme time broadcast on Friday 27th March 2020 receiving 265 live views. It has since been viewed 4,500 times.
Meanwhile, fortnightly Reading Friends tea and chat sessions have helped to tackle loneliness and encourage mindfulness through shared reading. One regular viewer commented: “I have my cuppa and you have helped calm my very busy mind…Loved listening today. It’s the highlight of my Tuesday.”
Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling, Cabinet Member for Libraries, said: “It’s a great achievement for our library teams to see just how popular their online content has been and continues to be, reaching this milestone of 200,000 views.
“This valuable online content has been helping to support people to overcome loneliness and improve their mental health by giving them a sense of community and involvement during the pandemic. I would like to say a huge thank you to our library staff for their dedication and commitment to overcome these barriers and for continuing to support customers to access these sessions and providing such a variety of resources throughout the pandemic.”
Over the summer, Wiltshire libraries are providing Facebook live rhyme times twice a week at 11am and fortnightly Reading Friends tea and chat sessions on Tuesdays at 3pm.
Library teams are also delivering the Summer Reading Challenge in libraries until Saturday 4 September. Children aged 4 to 11 years old can sign up to the challenge to read six or more books during the holidays and receive rewards along the way.
There is limited availability so families are urged to join up while stocks last.
Rhyme times, tea and chat sessions, guides for getting started with library online resources, bedtime stories, author talks and craft activities can be found on the Wiltshire Libraries YouTube channel.
Most Wiltshire Council libraries are now open and information about visiting them can be found here.