THURSDAY is crime day at the Centre for Local Studies in Darlington library.

Pop along anytime between 10am and 4pm to see books, photographs and ephemera relating to historic crime and policing in Darlington and County Durham. Anyone interested in family history can also discover more about how to research criminal ancestors.

Joining library staff will be representatives from the Head of Steam Museum with a display about crime on the railways, and the Durham County Record Office with information about the crime and punishment records stored in the archives. There will also be the opportunity to see historic theatre programmes and posters for crime productions held at Darlington Hippodrome over the years.

The crime day is part of National Libraries Week and part of the library’s own crime festival. On Tuesday at 7pm, there’s a crime writing workshop with Jackie Collins.

On Wednesday, Tracey Iceton holds a workshop about creating crime fiction characters at 10am and another on imagining crime scenes at 1pm.

On Wednesday at 7pm, there’s an evening with best-selling crime author Alex Gray, the creator of Detective Chief Inspector Lorimer.

The sessions are £5 each and need booking on 01325-349610; the local studies crime day is free, and for more info on it, call 01325-349630.