THERE'S volumes more in our libraries than meets the eye!

The Cheshire service is marking its 150th anniversary this week with a first detailed guide to all its services.

The booklet illustrates just how much more libraries are now offering in addition to the original lending and reference facilities.

Now there are computers, minicom textphones for the hard of hearing, videocaption readers, books in braille and large print, talking books and speech synthesisers.

Videos, CDs, CD-Roms, computer games and DVDs are all available and the mobile librarys service visits 603 places every two weeks.

"Our Business Information Service, which involves the county council's economic development service, can help with almost any query," said community development chairman, Cllr Larry Toale.

"And the Cheshire Record Office, which is part of our organisation, contains a wealth of archives and other treasures of Cheshire's history," he added.

Cllr Toale revealed that almost 8,000 people visited the Record Office over a 12 month period and 20,000 visits were made to the website.

"It is not only used by people researching a family tree, but also for specific projects," he said.

Information points are based in 14 libraries where queries can be answered or staff can help people contact anyone within the county council or other public services.

Also available are leaflets on a range of subjects, sheet music and musical scores.

"We have have so much to offer - much of it free, although in some instances for a fee," said Cllr Toale.

Copies of the guide can be obtained at all libraries and it can also be viewed on the county's website at www.cheshire.gov.uk/library

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.