NHFT virtual book club meeting #32 - Remarkably Bright Creatures

After our visit to Pine Cove, California in our Christmas book The Stupidest Angel, we are embarking on a rather different read, Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel, Remarkably Bright Creatures.

After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night cleaner shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium. Ever since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat over thirty years ago keeping busy has helped her cope. 

One night she meets Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium who sees everything but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors – until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late...

'Humans. For the most part, you are dull and blundering. But occasionally, you can be remarkably bright creatures.'

‘Filled with a quirky unconventional charm, I’ll be smiling every time I think of this story. A story that embraces the idea of love and connection across borders in every sense, and a story of family lost and found.’ Goodreads Reviewer

We'll be meeting on Thursday 22nd of February via MS Teams where we will be discussing the novel. You can find the link via the Events Calendar on the Staff Room.

Hope to see you there...

Integrated Care System staff - help us to help you.

As part of an NHS England funded project we are looking at the possibility of extending access to NHS library services in the county to all staff who work within the Northamptonshire Integrated Care System. This would include staff in:

• Primary care
• Integrated care board
• Social care
• Care homes
• Third / voluntary sector care staff

NHS libraries can support you by:

• Searching the evidence for you
• Training you in information skills
• Providing access to books and journals, in print and online, databases and other online resources
• Offering a place to work or study with 24/7 access
• And much more...

To understand what the problems are staff in the county are facing with finding information, and what you already have access to, we have created a short survey that we are asking anyone who works in the integrated care system (not NHFT, NGH or KGH staff) to complete. 

It should only take a few minutes and would help us to collect evidence to support a business case to the Integrated Care Board.

You can find the survey here: https://forms.office.com/e/uSaZf91h60

Many thanks for your help.

Christmas opening

Christmas opening at the libraries

Berrywood and Richmond Library, NGH are both open up to Dec 22nd. Isebrook Library is currently closed because of staff shortages and we will post again when it re-opens.

Over Christmas and New Year:

Richmond Library, NGH is unstaffed on Dec. 25th - 26th and Jan 1st but library members have 24/7 access and can swipe in at any time.

Berrywood Library will be closed on the Bank Holidays but open Dec. 27th - 29th, and from Jan. 2nd on.

Isebrook Library will be closed between Christmas and the New Year and re-open on Jan 2nd.

We wish you a happy and peaceful Christmas and look forward to seeing you in 2024.
 

Isebrook Library closed

Isebrook Library will still be closed today and tomorrow (Mon/Tues 18th/19th Dec). We apologise for any inconvenience. Please contact us on 01604 545929 / richmondlibrary@nhft.nhs.uk if you need any help. 

Isebrook Library will be closed today (Friday 15th December) due to staff shortages. We apologise if you have made the trip there and found it closed. You can contact us on 01604 545929 / richmondlibrary@nhft.nhs.uk if you need any help

NHFT virtual book club meeting #31 - The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas terror

After our heart stopping last read, the creepy No Good Deed, we are moving on to a California-set festive read in Christopher Moore's comic fantasy, The Stupidest Angel. However, this is no Christmas Carol...

T’was the night (okay, more like the week) before Christmas and little Joshua Barker is in desperate need of a Christmas miracle. No, he's not on his deathbed; no, his dog hasn't run away from home. But Josh is sure that he saw Santa take a shovel to the head, and now the seven-year-old has only one prayer: Please, Santa, come back from the dead.

But coming to Earth, seeking a small child whose wish needs granting, is none other than Archangel Raziel. Unfortunately, he's not sporting the brightest halo in the bunch and before you can say 'Kris Kringle,' he's botched his sacred mission and sent the residents of Pine Cove headlong into Christmas chaos, culminating in the most hilarious and horrifying holiday party the town has ever seen.

‘Pacy and engaging, this is a comic fantasy crammed with sharp and funny one-liners’ The Guardian

‘If you're buying this book as a gift for your grandma or a kid, you should be aware that it contains cuss words as well as tasteful descriptions of cannibalism... Don't blame me. I told you.’ The author

We'll be meeting on Thursday 18th of January via MS Teams where we will be discussing the novel. You can find the link via the Events Calendar on the Staff Room.

Hope to see you there... 

NHFT virtual book club meeting #30 - No Good Deed

After our visit to the Ashokan Reservoir, in upstate New York, with John Langan's delightfully scary The Fisherman, we are returning to more familiar territory for our 30th book club read, David Jackson's UK set thriller, One Good Deed.

Elliott has never thought of himself as a hero. Until one dark night he meets Rebecca, a scared and vulnerable young woman who needs his help. There's a man harassing her, following her; would he mind pretending to be her boyfriend, just while she walks home, to put him off?

And that is that - just a favour for a stranger - until there is a knock at Elliott's door. It's the man who was following Rebecca. He claims he's her ex-boyfriend, but it's clear that he's been stalking her. He's obsessed, dangerously so. He wants Rebecca, and he will do anything to have her.

When Elliott eventually tries to tell him the truth, the man doesn't believe him. The only way to save himself is to get Rebecca to explain. There's just one problem: Rebecca is nowhere to be found. And now it looks like one good deed will cost Elliott everything...

‘One Good Deed is an addictive, fast-paced and suspenseful thriller. If you like your thrillers action-packed and nail-bitingly tense and/or you love a cat-loving antihero to root for, One Good Deed should be at the top of your shopping list.’ Kelly Van Damme (Goodreads)

We'll be meeting on Thursday 14th of December via MS Teams where we will be discussing the novel. You can find the link via the Events Calendar on the Staff Room.

Hope to see you there... 

Isebrook Library opening hours: 3rd November 2023

Isebrook Library will not open until 11.30 am on Friday 3rd November.

We are sorry for any inconvenience this causes.

NHFT virtual book club meeting #29 - The Fisherman

Following on from our visit to Japan and the world of the gig economy in Kikuko Tsumara's There's no such thing as an easy job, things are taking a darker turn in our creepy Halloween read (and Bram Stoker award winner), The Fisherman by John Langan.

In upstate New York, within the woods, Dutchman’s Creek flows out of the Ashokan Reservoir. Steep-banked and fast-moving, it offers the promise of fine fishing, and of something more, a possibility too fantastic to be true.

When Abe and Dan, two widowers who have found solace in each other’s company and a shared passion for fishing, hear rumours of the Creek and what might be found there, the remedy to both their losses, they dismiss them. Soon, though, the men find themselves drawn into a tale as deep and old as the Reservoir.

It’s a tale of dark pacts, of long-buried secrets, and of a mysterious figure known as Der Fisher: the Fisherman. It will bring Abe and Dan face to face with all that they have lost, and with the price they must pay to regain it.

‘What starts as a slow, melancholy tale gains momentum and drops you headfirst into a churning nightmare from which you might escape, but you’ll never forget” - Richard Kadrey (author)

‘The Fisherman is a treasure, the kind of book you just want to snuggle up and shiver through. I can’t say enough good things about the confidence, the patience, the satisfying cumulative power of this book. It was a pleasure to read from the first page to the last’ - Victor LaValle (author)

We'll be meeting on Thursday 16th of November  via MS Teams where we will be discussing the novel. You can find the link via the Events Calendar on the Staff Room.

Hope to see you there... 

We are recruiting - could you be our next Library Services Manager?

Due to the retirement of the current post holder, we are looking to recruit a librarian to manage the library service for Northamptonshire Healthcare and Northampton General Hospital.

This is a great opportunity to shape services for community, mental health, and acute staff, across the county, ensuring knowledge and evidence are available and accessible to support clinical practice, management, education, research, continuing professional development and all decision making across the organisations we serve.

The service has a well-established team of experienced professional and para-professional staff across three sites, and you would be working for an outstanding trust that understands the value of what the library service offers, within a supportive management structure.

We are looking for a professionally qualified librarian with extensive experience in health to lead on the library service across both trusts. You will be proactive, adaptable and able to identify opportunities for further embedding service provision into the organisations we serve.

For more information about the role, contact details and to apply, please see the vacancies section of the Trust web site.

NHFT virtual book club meeting #28 - There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job

Following on from our absinthe soaked visit to fog-shrouded San Francisco in Jonathan Moore's twisty psychological thriller, The Poison Artist, we are moving across the Pacific to Japan in the shape of award winning author Kikuko Tsumura's surreal comic novel, There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job.

A young woman walks into an employment agency and requests a job that has the following traits: it is close to her home, and it requires no reading, no writing – and ideally, very little thinking.

She is sent to a nondescript office building where she is tasked with watching the hidden-camera feed of an author suspected of storing contraband goods. But observing someone for hours on end can be so inconvenient and tiresome. How will she stay awake? When can she take delivery of her favourite brand of tea? And, perhaps more importantly – how did she find herself in this situation in the first place?

As she moves from job to job, writing bus adverts for shops that mysteriously disappear, and composing advice for rice cracker wrappers that generate thousands of devoted followers, it becomes increasingly apparent that she's not searching for the easiest job at all, but something altogether more meaningful...

"An irreverent but thoughtful voice, with light echoes of Haruki Murakami... the book is uncannily timely... a novel as smart as is quietly funny" - Financial Times

'Quietly hilarious and deeply attuned to the uncanny rhythms and deadpan absurdity of the daily grind' - Sharlene Teo

The next meeting will be Thursday the 5th of October at 7pm via MS Teams where we will be discussing the novel. You can find the link via the Events Calendar on the Staff Room.

Hope to see you there...

Library catalogue and system out of action Tuesday 29th of August

Our library management system, Koha, along with our online catalogue and our self-issue machines, will be out of action from 7:00 am on Tuesday the 29th of August. This is for a system upgrade.

We expect the the upgrade will be completed and the system up and running again by lunch time, although it may be longer, depending on how the process goes.

During this time users will not be able to search our catalogue or renew their books.

Apologies for any inconvenience.

August bank holiday closure

 All the Libraries will be unstaffed on Monday the 28th of August for the bank holiday.

24 hour access will be available as usual to registered members via our swipe card system at the Richmond Library.

The Berrywood and Isebrook Libraries will be closed over the bank holiday.

We reopen as normal on Tuesday the 29th at all of our sites.