UK public libraries can offer a wide range of materials and resources.
* Find magazines, newspapers and journals - foreign language, regional, national and local newspapers
* Music collections - orchestral and vocal sets for performance and for loan; pop, jazz and world music as well as classical music on CD
* Great reads in paperback, in audio and other accessible formats for blind and partially sighted readers
* Online resources, many accessible remotely from home if you are a library member
* Events in libraries, many of them free
* Reading and Writing Groups
* Local studies collections - worth a visit if you are interested in researching your family history or findng out the history of your local area
* Rooms for hire
* Homework clubs and study space
* Storytime for the under fives
* Free access to the Internet
Library exchange facilities for university and higher education students.
UK Libraries Plus is a co-operative venture between higher education libraries, making it easier for students and staff to use libraries conveniently near to home or work – at no admission fee.
Well over half the UK’s higher education libraries are already participating in the scheme, so there’s bound to be a library to suit you.
Become a librarian!
Graduates who aspire to become librarians normally complete a little work experience in the field then undertake an accredited course, either a masters degree or a short course plus work-based learning. Public libraries and academic insitutions are the best -known employers, but librarians also work in health, government, finance and engineering — really wherever there’s a lot of bibliographical information to be handled.
Salaries for qualified librarians vary: a newly qualified employee at a public library could earn about £19,000 rising to about £27,000 for a chartered librarian with five years’ experience. The head of a legal library could expect to earn about £75,000.
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