Borrowing books for your school –
a new service provided by Kent Libraries and Archives

From September 2010, Libraries and Archives will be offering free loans to all Kent schools. You will have the opportunity to borrow up to 100 books at a time from any Kent library.
This new service will replace the subscription service that currently operates from the Kent School Library Advisory Team’s (KSLAT) base at Kings Hill.

Why is this service changing?
The existing charged for loans subscription service has been offered to all 900 schools in the Kent and Medway area for the past six years. But only 120 schools a year, on average, have chosen to buy into this service.

We want all schools to benefit from access to high quality library books, but we recognise that budget pressures, and lack of staff time to visit our current offices in Kings Hill, have made it difficult for many schools to make use of our service. So we have decided to move to a free service, offered locally through our more than 100 libraries.

The existing subscription based service will therefore cease in July 2010.
We always strive to improve access to our services, and I hope you will agree that a free service, provided more locally, will be an improvement.

What will happen to my subscription in April?

You have two options:

1. If you wish to continue your subscription until July 2010, you do not need to contact us.  Kent Services for Schools will roll your existing contract and take a one-off payment of £50 per 100 books via the direct debit system to cover the period April to July 2010, at which time the contract will cease.  Any books still on loan in July can be kept by your school.
2. If you wish to cancel your subscription, please contact Kent Services for Schools by 22nd March and we will cancel your subscription immediately.  Any books on loan will need to be returned to Kings Hill.

New schools are welcome to take out a subscription between April-July 2010 if they wish.