Our stock includes books, audio books, DVDs, CDs, e-books and e-audio and we aim to provide a comprehensive selection in both fiction and non-fiction.
For fiction we stock:
We stock a range of non-fiction including up to, but not necessarily including, undergraduate level. It includes:
Most stock is selected centrally but individual libraries aim to reflect the needs of their local community as closely as possible. If there’s an item on our library catalogue that’s not stocked in your local library you can reserve it.
We buy Large Print, audio books on CD and downloadable e-books and e-audio to give customers a wide choice of reading in accessible formats. The text on e-books can be resized making them more accessible to Visually Impaired People. We also signpost to RNIB Talking Books Library.
To comply with Equality Act 2010 we buy a range of stock that reflects and celebrates our diverse community in Essex, and promotes good relations across all equality areas including race, disability, gender, religion and sexual orientation.
We aim that the waiting list for fiction books is no more than four reservations to each copy that we have, and for non-fiction, no more than five holds to each copy. For some popular paperbacks we may buy more copies than this.
Customers can request items that we don’t stock.
You can do this via the library website, or by asking at any of our 74 libraries or two mobiles. Almost all fiction book requests are bought, if they’re in print and we’re able to source them from our usual suppliers.
We are not accepting any donations of stock until further notice.