USERS of Thurrock's libraries will have access to more books than ever before thanks to a new partnership.

Thurrock Libraries is to join The Libraries Consortium (TLC), the UK's largest library consortium made up of 18 other library authorities.

That means library users in the borough will have access to more than six million items of stock via the shared TLC library catalogue, including books, e-books, e-magazines and audio books. This will be in addition to the current 1.9 million titles already has available.

Joining the consortium will mean the introduction of a new book ordering system, which the consortium, says "provides an enriched, modern and interactive library customer experience such as access to the service 24/7 on any mobile device, and customer alerts and text messages.

"It will be a single digital platform, enabling customers to engage with other library users, post reviews, book events, follow their favourite authors, and make recommendations."

A spokesperson for the libraries service said: "This is a great opportunity for us and will mean library users will now have almost eight million books available to them. Our residents asked for more stock, this is what we are giving them. This, alongside our new Library Management System will offer our Library users an improved and even more flexible service."

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