What's new

Get into eBooks and eAudiobooks!

Our collection offers hundreds of popular fiction and non-fiction titles to choose from, and the service is free with your library card.

You can browse, check out titles and download to PC, Mac®, and many mobile devices (though unfortunately not Kindles). To get started quickly go straight to 'My Help' and follow the step-by-step instructions. Titles can be enjoyed immediately or transferred to a variety of devices, including iPads®, Sony® Readers™, smartphones and many others. Titles will automatically expire at the end of the lending period. There are no fines!

Find out more about our eBook services.

Unreturned library items

We are anxious to ensure the return of our books and other stock so that they can be enjoyed by all of our customers. From the 1 January next year, we will be reintroducing a countywide stock recovery service. We are going to be working with a company called Unique Management Services (UMS), which is a specialist firm that has worked with more than 1,100 library authorities in the UK and abroad to recover unreturned books and other items, as well as unpaid fines.

We would like to remind our customers that they can renew their loans 24/7 online through www.kent.gov.uk/libs or by calling our contact centre on 08458 247200.

Changes to our fees and charges

We have recently reviewed our fees and charges. The following changes (PDF, 175k) to our reservation fees, DVD loan period and charge, and lost item policy will be effective from 1 December 2011.

County Central Library stock

All stock currently held at our County Central Library in Springfield is now non-reservable. The stock is inaccessible as preparations for the opening of the Kent History and Library Centre continue.

Kent is part of a library partnership (SELMS) which gives our customers the opportunity to reserve books from more than 200 libraries across the country, including libraries in Medway. More information about this partnership can be found in our SELMS FAQ.

Self-Service Kiosks

We will be rolling out self-service kiosks to 34 libraries across Kent during 2011-12.

Several of our libraries will be closed for short periods over the next few months as the self-service kiosks are being installed. To find out if your local library has been affected, check online or contact your library (see 'Find your library' in the 'Useful links' box) before you intend to visit.

Libraries Change Lives: Award success for Kent

We are pleased and proud to announce that Kent Libraries has been awarded the CILIP 2011 Libraries Change Lives award for our project ‘Making a Difference’.

‘Making a Difference’ makes library services more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Alongside reading groups, IT sessions, workshops and training and employment opportunities, our ‘Passport to the Library’ gives adults with learning disabilities the skills that they need to enjoy our services.

A big thank you to all of our customers, partners and staff who have made this possible. We are looking forward to building upon this success and working with our customers with learning disabilities to offer an even more innovative service in the future. Watch CILIP's film of our project.

Customer Service Excellence Success

It has been confirmed that Libraries and Archives have been awarded the Customer Services Excellence Award. We are delighted to say that we now have 7 criteria achieving Best Practice, an increase from 5 in 2010. The seven best practice criteria are for: Customer Service Excellence