CREEPY crawleys and furry friends are not usually what you would find when you visit your local library, but this week young visitors to Okehampton Library were able to get up close and personal to a variety of creatures.

As part of a tour of several libraries in Devon, Steven from Exmoor Zoo brought a number of interesting species’ to meet around 30 eager youngsters.

The children involved were able to touch a snake, stick insects, cockroaches, a tarantula, a tawny owl and even a meerkat named Seemples.

Steven explained about the creatures he was showing and told the children all about the record breaking animals from around the world. Seemples the meerkat is currently trying to set his own world record of visiting as many libraries in Devon as he can.

Steven said: ‘It is fantastic to see so many kids reading and getting involved.

‘Reading can take you to so many different places. It is an important service that Devon Libraries provides and with so many closing, the attendance for this session just shows how much libraries are still used.’