Microgaming, through its PlayItForward community initiative, is supporting the Family Library’s mobile unit for the next three years.

Operating from their base on Westmoreland Road in Douglas, the Mobile unit of the Family Library travels all around the island, bringing a wide selection of books, audio CDs and other interactive material to people who are otherwise unable to get to a library. The vehicle is kitted out with over 2,600 books, covering a range of genres, and it also serves as an opportunity for people to meet, form friendships, and to exchange information.

Claire Coleman, Head of Microgaming PlayItForward, said: “The Mobile Library is a wonderful facility, but keeping the vehicles on the road is costly. We wanted to make a long-term commitment to the Family Library to ensure that people keep benefiting from the service. The team at the Mobile Library do a fantastic job, one that makes a real difference to the island’s residents, so we’re delighted to offer our support.”

For those people who are unable to visit the Mobile Library, a smaller vehicle makes home visits where staff take the time to get to know people and what kind of books they like, before taking a selection of reading material directly to their doors. The Home Library service particularly benefits those who are confined to their homes or without access to transport, such as the elderly, including those living in residential homes or far from public transport.

A mobile school service also supplies teachers with support material to help boost classroom creativity. Kids can browse the books and other resources onboard the Mobile Library, and there are regular follow-up activities such as craft workshops and a successful summer reading scheme, based at Westmoreland Road.

Sandra Henderson, Librarian in Charge of the Mobile Library, added: “The Mobile Library keeps hundreds of people regularly stocked with exciting reading material and we also hold social sessions where they can get together to chat about books, poems and other artifacts supplied by the library. This donation from Microgaming will help us enormously with the cost of running and servicing the vehicles for the next three years, so that our other funding can be used to buy essential new stock.”

Microgaming PlayItForward serves as an outlet for social good on the island. The company has committed an annual ?10,000 to the running of the Mobile Library for the next three years.

Photo - Microgaming’s Claire Coleman with Sandra Henderson and a number of the regular visitors to the Mobile Library, parked up in Ballagarey, Glen Vine.