Tell us about your library memories

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A group of four girls running towards a mobile library van outside Durrington Library in 1974

In 2025 West Sussex Library Service is 100 years old!

To celebrate, we’re planning a year filled with events and activities. As part of the celebrations, we’re asking you to share your special library memories.


Alternate formats and accessibility

If you require any of this information in an alternative format, then please contact us on 0330 222 8339 or via email at countylibraries@westsussex.gov.uk and we will do our best to assist you. If you are deaf or hard of hearing and have an NGT texting app installed on your computer, laptop or smartphone, you can contact us on 18001 0330 222 8339.

For more information about the accessibility of this website, please see our Accessibility tab (opens in new window) at the foot of the page.


Web browser compatibility

Please use one of the browsers below when sharing your memories to ensure it looks and works as it should. These are:

  • Microsoft Edge version 86 and above
  • Chrome version 86 and above
  • Firefox version 78 and above
  • Safari version 14 and above

In 2025 West Sussex Library Service is 100 years old!

To celebrate, we’re planning a year filled with events and activities. As part of the celebrations, we’re asking you to share your special library memories.


Alternate formats and accessibility

If you require any of this information in an alternative format, then please contact us on 0330 222 8339 or via email at countylibraries@westsussex.gov.uk and we will do our best to assist you. If you are deaf or hard of hearing and have an NGT texting app installed on your computer, laptop or smartphone, you can contact us on 18001 0330 222 8339.

For more information about the accessibility of this website, please see our Accessibility tab (opens in new window) at the foot of the page.


Web browser compatibility

Please use one of the browsers below when sharing your memories to ensure it looks and works as it should. These are:

  • Microsoft Edge version 86 and above
  • Chrome version 86 and above
  • Firefox version 78 and above
  • Safari version 14 and above

Share your library experience

Do you remember getting your first library card, finding a favourite spot in the library, or making new friends at a library activity? 

We want to hear your stories and what your library means to you.

You can share written, visual or video memories; if you're sharing images, please make sure you have the consent of everyone who is included.

You can share as many memories as you like - to submit pictures or videos, select the picture icon or video camera icon that appear when you click in the box.

Don't forget, once they are approved by our admin team, any stories you share will be publicly visible and may be used in internal or external newsletters, displayed in our libraries and shared on our social media accounts. 


Thank you for sharing your library memory with us. 

All fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required.

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  • Share The Library has played a huge part in my life. on Facebook Share The Library has played a huge part in my life. on Twitter Share The Library has played a huge part in my life. on Linkedin Email The Library has played a huge part in my life. link

    The Library has played a huge part in my life.

    by Nicki J-H, 9 days ago

    I always remember as a child of the 70s, getting my first library card and the joy it brought. As a family, we used to visit our Worthing Library on a Saturday, where we’d make a beeline for the children’s section, tucked up at the back. It was a comfy space with bean bags and seats for the grownups. My younger sister and I would seek out some books and sit and read with our parents. We would sometimes listen to audiobooks, which back then, were on cassette tape. We would always take books home and would relish feeling like... Continue reading

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  • Share First class honours degree on Facebook Share First class honours degree on Twitter Share First class honours degree on Linkedin Email First class honours degree link

    First class honours degree

    by Vic, 10 days ago
    My husband studied for his degree when he was already 40 years old and with the help of the librarian in Shoreham library during the 1990s he obtained a first class honours degree. He couldn’t afford to buy all the books required so the library was an enormous help.
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  • Share Ewell Village Library with Grandpa on Facebook Share Ewell Village Library with Grandpa on Twitter Share Ewell Village Library with Grandpa on Linkedin Email Ewell Village Library with Grandpa link

    Ewell Village Library with Grandpa

    by Christine L, about 1 month ago

    Grandpa lived with us and took me for my first visit to the library when I was four years old. It was love at first sight! Everywhere seemed to shine, brightly coloured reflections on the polished floor from stained glass doors, polished floors and oh, the towers of coloured book spines. I was introduced to the library assistant who showed us the children's section and gave me the wondrous news that I could choose any book and take it home! She wrote me out my own library card (it made me feel very important!). I can't remember the title of... Continue reading

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  • Share From my earliest memories to the present on Facebook Share From my earliest memories to the present on Twitter Share From my earliest memories to the present on Linkedin Email From my earliest memories to the present link

    From my earliest memories to the present

    by James W, about 1 month ago

    Some of my happiest, earliest memories are of the library. When I was little, we used to go to the one near Felbridge. I can remember it very clearly: the children’s area down a little slope at the back, the wooden counters and shelves, the friendly librarians. Sadly, it closed and was demolished. Block of flats there now.


    The new library was very exciting. It had an upstairs! Toilets! I would do my homework there sometimes, must have been 1984/85. Twenty years ago, I brought my children to the library: the reading challenge, the computers - so new - and... Continue reading

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  • Share Books on a bus on Facebook Share Books on a bus on Twitter Share Books on a bus on Linkedin Email Books on a bus link

    Books on a bus

    by Charlie Rosse, about 2 months ago

    I have been a voracious reader since I was about 3 years old and first learned. Books were an escape for me and a comfort and I would tear through them when I was a child, at a rate of almost one a day. Which was always encouraged by my parents but also a tiny bit of a problem as we weren't that well off. So the library became an essential part of my life when I was growing up.


    During the summer holidays visiting the library bus was the highlight of my week. It was always on a Wednesday... Continue reading

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  • Share Never old enough on Facebook Share Never old enough on Twitter Share Never old enough on Linkedin Email Never old enough link

    Never old enough

    by Heather, 3 months ago

    My father introduced me to the excitement of adventure books about cowboys and explorers and my favourite was Jock of the Bushveldt.

    The library in our Junior classroom was a tall wooden cupboard, locked until Friday afternoon when we were allowed to choose one book. The shelves were segregated into books for boys and books for girls. Each week gentle bespeckled Mr Harding was disconcerted when I refused any of the girls books. "They were sissy" and we had a standoff as he tried to stop me choosing a 'boy's book.' I had read all the Biggles books by the... Continue reading

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  • Share A life in libraries on Facebook Share A life in libraries on Twitter Share A life in libraries on Linkedin Email A life in libraries link

    A life in libraries

    by Bluebelle16, 4 months ago

    I became a member of Worthing (where I grew up) library at the earliest age allowed as my parents couldn't keep up with my incessant demand for new books to read. I remember the children's library as being a sunny, warm and joyful space for a little girl who was happiedt with her nose in a book. The Saturday morning visits continued through my school days and browsing the initially rather forbidding tall wooden stacks of the adult library lead to many serendipitous 'finds', even if they were rather too advanced for a 14 year-old! The library became the meeting... Continue reading

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  • Share Saturdays at Loughborough library on Facebook Share Saturdays at Loughborough library on Twitter Share Saturdays at Loughborough library on Linkedin Email Saturdays at Loughborough library link

    Saturdays at Loughborough library

    by Jackie Harrison, 5 months ago

    When I was a teenager in the 1980s, I loved going to the library on a Saturday. I borrowed books, music on tape and spent countless hours learning languages by writing sentences in a note book. Where ever I live, one of the first things I do is join the local library. The library was, and is today, a place of knowledge, relaxation and pleasure.

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  • Share Billingshurst's Old Library on Facebook Share Billingshurst's Old Library on Twitter Share Billingshurst's Old Library on Linkedin Email Billingshurst's Old Library link

    Billingshurst's Old Library

    by Lucy56, 6 months ago
    I remember going to the old library in Billingshurst as a child. It was on the corner of West Street, in what is now the hall/ meeting room of the Trinity United Reformed Church. The chapel was attached, as it is now.


    I remember it being quite a dark place, with wooden floorboards; queueing up at the desk to get my book (s) stamped; the mysterious card system that magically enabled the librarian to locate the correct card/book/borrower!

    Strangely, I don't remember the transition to the 'new', existing library. However, I still frequent the library and am so grateful for... Continue reading

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  • Share Findon Valley Library on Facebook Share Findon Valley Library on Twitter Share Findon Valley Library on Linkedin Email Findon Valley Library link

    Findon Valley Library

    by Pattie Shaw , 7 months ago
    When the Findon Valley library was built and opened (date unknown, 1960s?), I was a teenager and I used to go there frequently and sit reading or browsing for hours. It was peaceful, the staff were always welcoming, friendly and helpful. I felt so happy to be there and I loved books and still do.
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Page last updated: 03 Dec 2025, 08:53 AM