About Embsay-with-Eastby Community Library

Although there had been a library in Embsay for many years before, Embsay-with-Eastby Community Library opened in its current guise in July 2012.

The former library was wholly funded and staffed by North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC), but when the opening ribbon was cut by Rev Louise Taylor Kenyon, the vicar of St.Mary's Church, Embsay, the new community library became staffed entirely by volunteers and financed by volunteer-raised funds and various grants.

NYCC have not left the library entirely on its own, however, as the library is run in partnership with the County Council. The Library Service advises the library's steering group, provides training to the volunteers and supplies the books and other loanable resources.

For more details of the opening of Embsay-with-Eastby Community Library, see the news article on the Craven Herald and Pioneer's website.

Aside from having sufficient volunteers to staff the library on a day-to-day basis, the key challenge of keeping the library open is fundraising to cover the various running costs of the library. Such costs include the rental of the library's room in the village hall and paying electricity, phone and Internet access bills.

The library holds fundraising various events throughout the year help cover these costs. These include coffee mornings, book sales and talks.

For more details of these events, as well as our regular 'Knit and Natter' group, see our What's on page.

Books

As you might expect, most of the library's collection is books: lots of them! We have many different sorts of books, including:

• fiction/story books;
• board and picture books for our younger readers;
• non-fiction/information books for adults and children, including maps;
• biographies (adults and children);
• quick-reads - short stories that you can read very quickly;
• a wide selection of large print titles.

Other Resources and Media

Books, however, are only part of the story! We also have:

• DVDs (normally for a charge);
• audio books, usually on CD, including fiction, junior, non-fiction and biography;
• two electricity meters that you can borrow to check your energy consumption;
• two computers you can use, with printing and copying facilities - we can usually help you get started using these;
• a large reference section including local government information, local history (the history of Embsay-with-Eastby, compiled by the local Women's Institute is of particular note), maps and dictionaries;

Perhaps most importantly, though, are several Teddies who love to be cuddled by our younger readers!