Susannah Hill
Lead Librarian
Susannah has worked as a librarian in public libraries across Cheshire and Flintshire in a variety of roles since 2001. Her first permanent role was as a library assistant on the ELS Book Bus in 1998 before completing her post graduate qualification in Information and Library Management. To be now able to lead the service is a dream come true! She is passionate about the difference books and reading can make to children of all ages and loves to explore new ways to make stories come alive, inspiring teachers and pupils around libraries and learning.
Susannah loves to read many of the amazing titles we have here. She particularly loves historical novels and fantasy fiction. Her favourite authors are Sharon Penman, Diana Gabaldon, Peter Brett, M C Scott, Susan Cooper, Alan Garner and Ursula Le Guin.
Sarah Merison
Senior Librarian
Sarah job shares with Janet and they are jointly responsible for our service to primary schools in Cheshire West and Chester. Sarah has worked as a children’s librarian since 1992, initially in public libraries and for over a decade at Cheshire ELS. She enjoys working with schools to help improve their libraries and book corners, as well as helping teachers find resources which will enhance and support their curriculum. Sarah loves buying primary fiction for us here at ELS, and of course reading as many of the amazing books by contemporary children’s authors as she can! Outside of work, Sarah has been a school governor for many years and helps with the school library and eco-council at a local primary school.
Janet Mason
Senior Librarian
Janet is responsible, along with her job-share partner Sarah, for providing a service to Cheshire West and Chester schools. As a new member of staff, she is looking forward to visiting schools and helping them with their school libraries. She brings extensive experience as a secondary school librarian supporting literacy and promoting reading for pleasure. She loves fantasy books and is currently reading the Michael Scott series The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel.
Alex Bamford
Senior Librarian
Alex is responsible for overseeing the provision of service to the Cheshire East and Stockport primary schools. She particularly enjoys visiting schools and helping them with their school libraries. When not out and about at schools, she looks after the ELS website and Library Management System. She is also an enthusiastic member of the North West Youth Libraries Group Committee. As a child she loved reading anything by Enid Blyton. More recently she has enjoyed reading No Ballet Shoes in Syria by Catherine Bruton and The Star Outside my Window by Onjali Q. Rauf.
Samantha Lockett
Librarian
Samantha is responsible for overseeing provision of the service to primary schools in Warrington. She is also responsible for purchasing, maintaining and promoting books within the secondary and adult fiction collections. Alongside editing the ELS blog and contributing to the Twitter and Facebook accounts, she helps to organise the Cheshire Schools' Book Award. She is particularly interested in devising and promoting reading for pleasure activities across primary and secondary school age groups, and can regularly be found compiling ‘What to read next?’ lists. She is a keen reader of children’s books and Young Adult fiction and has named every pet she has ever had after a literary character. Her favourite books invariably contain talking animals (ideally cats), grouchy spinsters with hidden hearts of gold, and magical adventures. Lately she has been enjoying the works of Lucy Strange, Michelle Harrison and Ross Montgomery.
Sarah Kaye
Librarian
Sarah is responsible for overseeing provision of the service to primary schools in Halton, as well as providing the service for special schools in Cheshire. Sarah also helps to manage the ELS Instagram account, as well as helping to promote events listed in the yearly Literacy Calendar. She has a particular love for poetry, especially works by contemporary poets such as Kae Tempest. She is a big fan of fantasy novels series, such as The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien and The Wolves of Mercy Falls by Maggie Stiefvater, as well as stories such as The Midnight Library by Matt Haig and The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes.
Bev Kirwan
ELS Supervisor
Bev's main responsibilities at ELS are budget control, orders, invoices, all building maintenance issues and staffing. Bev also processes the fiction book requests alongside other staff members. Her favourite children’s book is Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae.
Aimee
Library Assistant
Aimee is responsible for the object and story sack collections at ELS. This includes sourcing new stock, adding new items on the catalogue and ensuring that items are returned in one piece. She enjoys reading young adult fantasy books and her favourite author is Sarah J Maas.
Stella
Library Assistant
Stella's main role is to look after the secondary stock. This includes issuing and returning books and adding all of the lovely new stock on to the catalogue. She also ensures that all the requests from secondary schools are fulfilled. Her favourite book is Elmer by David McKee and her favourite picture book character is Percy the Park Keeper. Growing up, she loved The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. She also enjoyed the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling.
Chelsea
Library Assistant
Chelsea is responsible for running the ELS Book Bus. This involves visiting schools, managing the schedule, and ensuring the Book Bus is stocked up for each visit. Chelsea also completes general library assistant duties at ELS, including returning books, shelving, and processing new stock. Her favourite author is Sarah J Maas.
Gina
Library Assistant
Gina's role includes reception duties and issuing and returning books. She also helps with all the fiction requests. She enjoys organising craft sessions and story times for class visits. Gina's favourite children’s book is Tidy by Emily Gravett as she likes the witty way the book is written about protecting the environment.
Lesley
Library Assistant
Lesley enjoys going out to schools on the book bus, greeting children and helping them choose books for themselves and their classmates. She loves to see the children gain the confidence to try authors or genres that they hadn’t considered before.
Rosie
Library Assistant
As well as shelving, adding stock, and fulfilling fiction requests, Rosie visits schools on the Book Bus to help children choose books for themselves and their classmates. She enjoys reading the books on the bus so she can recommend ones she liked, and her favourite series as a child was Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart.
Kate
Apprentice Library Assistant
Kate’s main role at ELS is to issue and return project boxes for schools. As an apprentice she also spends a portion of her time studying for a Library, Information and Archive Service qualification. Her favourite books as a child included Charlotte’s Web, anything by Roald Dahl and the Amelia Jane series by Enid Blyton. Her favourite book series as an adult is A Court of Thorns and Roses.
Malcolm
Delivery Driver
Howard
Delivery Driver