Library services direct to you
We have now opened a number of our libraries for socially distanced browsing and our Select and Collect service.
Find out more about our libraries and the services available during COVID-19.
If you are an existing home library service member, we will be contacting you directly to offer our voluntary befriending service. This would involve the opportunity of a call on a weekly or two weekly basis to chat to a member of our friendly volunteering team and staff.
There are many ways our library services can come to you if you can’t get to your local library, or don't have time to visit.
If you live or study full-time in Kent and are blind or partially sighted you can apply for audiobooks by post.
We can provide audiobooks on CD or cassette - just tell us your favourite authors and the subjects you like.
Audiobooks are delivered and returned by post in red plastic wallets free of charge, using Royal Mail's Articles for the Blind service.
Once you return your books we will send you more.
Call 03000 41 19 66 or email openaccess@kent.gov.uk for more information.
Our mobile libraries visit many places in Kent.
Use our search facility to find out where and when our mobile libraries stop or call 03000 41 31 31 for more information.
We can deliver library items to you if you cannot visit a library.
After visiting you to discuss your tastes and needs, staff will select suitable material for you. A volunteer will deliver your books, DVDs or other items and collect ones you are finished with.
Touch a New World Scheme
If you or someone you know needs help using the internet, we can help.
Our Touch a New World scheme offers you the chance to:
- borrow an iPad for up to 8 weeks
- have 8 x 1 hour weekly guided sessions with a dedicated volunteer.
Your volunteer can cover topics such as how to search the internet, send and receive emails and photos, use the online library services and downloading eBooks.
Speak to your local library for more information.
Doris’s story
Doris, 95, received a flier about Touch a New World and thought she would have a go. After being shown how to set up and use emails, Doris found that this was what she enjoyed most.
“It is great keeping in touch with family and friends. I can’t get out much so I don’t feel so isolated. You can email photos – so lovely to keep in touch with my great grandchildren. Using emails is so quick and has given me my independence.
Now that I am 95 I can’t do what I did. I used to love travelling and with the iPad I can explore the world from my armchair. You can’t be bored with an iPad. I feel of value again. Try it."
You can download free eBooks, eAudiobooks, eMagazines and eNewspapers from wherever you are if you are a Kent library member.
You can borrow up to 10 eBooks and eAudiobooks at a time.
Find out more about downloading items from our online library service.
We can deliver collections of items to residential homes, nursing homes, sheltered housing, hospices, day centres and hospitals. The scheme is called Open Access.
We will work with you to build up a profile of what you need and will deliver items 3 times a year. You get to keep each collection of items for 4 months.
We will then email you to let you know when we will be coming to change the items. You will need to store the boxes that the items arrive in.
What you can receive
- Large print books - includes a wide range of fiction including family sagas, thrillers, romances and westerns and non-fiction such as biographies and travel
- Standard print books - whole range of fiction and non-fiction including craft, cookery and gardening
- Audiobooks (CD and cassette)
- CDs
- DVDs
- Ethnic minority language books
- Reminiscence boxes and Pictures to share books for people with dementia
- Quick reads
- Reminiscence boxes - 15 to 20 items selected from books, CDs, multisensory items and objects linked to a theme. Examples include 1950s, World War II and childhood.
Support we will offer
- Providing stimulating, attractive books
- Advice on how to display your books
- Help with finding particular titles
Contact us
Email openaccess@kent.gov.uk or call 03000 41 19 66. We will discuss any charges with you.
Listen to more than 1.5 million tracks. Select by genre - classical, jazz, blues, world music, pop/rock - or composer. Support materials for GCSE or A-level courses are in the study area. Also includes some spoken word under the genre tab. Remember to log out after each session.
Naxos music library mobile app is available for download to Android and iOS devices. Log in with your Kent library card number and follow the instructions under the mobile app tab.
Visit the Naxos Music Library website.
Naxos music library - jazz
Listen to almost 40,000 jazz tracks (7,000 discs) covering both jazz legends and contemporary jazz - search by genre or label, or by artist via the advanced search. Remember to log out after each session.