2025 marks a new age for libraries across the borough with a number of digital upgrades to its library services.
Published: Wednesday, 19th February 2025
All 11 libraries will now take card payments and the Council’s online library collection has recently been improved. Residents will now find it easier to browse and borrow the 1.2 million eBook and audiobook collection. The improved online platform also boasts seven million books from across London, which residents can reserve and borrow.
Along with an enhanced online offer, digital touch-screens have also been installed at Feltham and Hounslow libraries - enabling residents to search for free services and events that could benefit them through Hounslow Connect.
Hounslow libraries already offer their members free, digital newspapers and magazines from the UK and around the world. They help learner drivers with Theory Test Pro, a free, realistic online simulation of the UK's driving theory test. Members can also search for long lost relatives using a free service installed on computers within libraries along with access to job searching and Universal Credit.
Hounslow’s Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Public Spaces, Councillor Salman Shaheen, said:
“We know books play such a pivotal role in our residents’ live we want to make sure our residents utilise our vast online collection and make the most out of our library services. If you already have a library card there is so much on offer for our residents.
“Such changes reflect our broader changes to Council services: making it easier and quicker for residents to access the services they need.”
Plans are currently underway to transform all 11 libraries into community hubs, offering residents an array of support services under one roof. In addition to the full library services they already enjoy.
Recent ONS data showed people in Hounslow are more likely to have a nearby library than almost anywhere in England and Wales. Sixty-three percent of people in Hounslow live 15minute’s walk from their local library and 98 percent are within half an hour.
To access the online catalogue click here.
To learn more about the Council’s libraries, click here.
