We provide a range of services for children and young people.  See below for full details.

Borrowing, computers and homework help

Reading challenges

Groups and events

Class visits

Volunteering opportunities for young people

Reading Well for Teens

Learning Resource packs

Lego Pic

Borrowing, Computers and Homework Help

  • We supply a huge range of books, magazines and information for children, parents and carers.  This includes fiction & non-fiction, ebooks, graphic novels and more.  We do not provide a schools library service to loan books to schools to use in the curriculum, but can provide information on other places to access this if you need it.
  • All members get free use of public access computers for 2 hours per day, which can be for homework
  • Support with homework and how to search for information, both on computers and in books, and other printed materials.
  • Your students can use our online reference resources in their private study. Our subscriptions include Oxford English Dictionary, Ancestry and more.

All of the above is offered free.

Reading Challenges

  • We offer the Summer Reading Challenge, using resources produced by The Reading Agency, where we challenge children to read and tell us about 6 books over the summer holidays so that we can help to prevent the summer literacy dip.
  • The Bloodaxe Reading Challenge, delivered jointly with the Jorvik Viking Centre November to February, where we challenge children to read 4 books and tell us about them to continue encouraging children’s reading.

Groups and Events

  • We run a host of weekly and holiday events for children including Story and Rhyme Times, crafts, Lego and other reading and learning activities.
  • You can also find digital recordings for children on our YouTube Channel
  • Check your local library for regular events there and our what’s on page for a link to booking other activities.

Class Visits

All school classes are welcome to visit any of our libraries to learn about how libraries and archives work, and to encourage children to read for pleasure.  If you want to arrange to visit a library please contact the library you wish to visit.

 If you can’t visit us we have a recorded class visit that you can use.

Volunteering opportunities for young people

We offer volunteering opportunities for young people for the Duke of Edinburgh scheme and for work experience programmes.  Volunteers can work on general library activities like shelving, help at children’s clubs, or support our reading challenges.

Reading Well for Teens

Reading Well for Teens is a national scheme which supports the mental health and wellbeing of teens , providing information, advice and support to better understand their feelings, handle difficult experiences and boost confidence. 

The booklist is targeted at teenagers (13-18) and includes self-help techniques, personal stories, graphic books, fiction and a selection of supporting digital resources.  The list includes a range of topics including managing feelings, neurodiversity, body image, bereavement, social anxiety, learning about life, boosting confidence, surviving online, and sexuality, gender identity and mental health. 

Reading Well for Children

Reading Well for children provides quality-assured information, stories and advice to support children’s mental health and wellbeing. Books have been chosen and recommended by leading health professionals and co-produced with children and families.

The booklist is targeted at children in Key Stage 2 (aged 7-11), but includes titles aimed at a wide range of reading levels to support less confident readers, and can be read together with their siblings and carers for younger children.

The books are available to borrow. Selected titles are also available to borrow as e-books and audiobooks.

Find out more about how we can support teachers and home educators

For general information on activities and other queries, please contact Lyndsay Glover our lead for Children and Young People and Schools

For information about Archives and Local History Contact our archives service