Library activities in Lockdown

Storytime goes online. Central West Libraries’ own on-staff storyteller Fiona Hawk is now doing a virtual story time which are available on the library’s YouTube channel.

With the world currently confined behind doors, people all over are looking for ways to keep entertained, thankfully our public libraries have been making content freely accessible online for years.

All seven Central West Libraries may be closed, but did you know your membership allows you access to a whole range of free services?

“We have a whole lot of things that we can offer people and we are currently working on ramping all of those up for the duration - however long this lasts,” said Central West Libraries manager Jan Richards.

You may not be able to get physical books at the moment, but through the library’s website you can access ebooks and audiobooks suitable for all the family.

“And all you need for all of these is to be a library member and have a library card, but if you haven't already got one we've made it easier for people to go to our website and get one without having to come in,” said Jan.

Your library card also gets you access to online magazines and newspapers and other information databases.

And even movies! Kanopy is an online streaming platform allows you to watch over 30,000 classics, independent movies and documentaries for free.

“So with your library card you can go into Kanopy and you can watch movies and documentaries… and there's lots of great stuff for kids,” said Jan.

Storybox library is another popular service — free for library members — that features well-known actors reading Australian children’s books.

“Storybox library is fabulous because it is all Australian books and Australian actors — we all love it,” said Jan.

“Every week, when the new one comes out, the staff all enjoy watching to see what the book is and who is reading it.”

And the library has also been filming stories read by their very own on-staff storyteller Fiona Hawk, which are available on their YouTube channel.

For those interested in history and heritage, you can also help transcribe some of our local oral histories online or help correct digitised newspaper transcripts on Trove.

“And all of these things you can access through our website, but we are using our social media to heavily promote all of this — that's our Facebook Account and our Instagram,” said Jan.

 “And above all of that, we are providing lots of competitions through our social media and conversations for people to be involved in.”