A MINIATURE Hogwarts will be created in the bowels of York Library this weekend, with a special late-night Harry Potter event.

Harry Potter And The Ghosts Of The Midnight Library will take place tomorrow to coincide with the launch of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, the eagerly-awaited final book in the series from JK Rowling.

The event is aimed at eight to 16 year-olds and will run from 11.15pm to about 1am. Tickets have already been snapped up.

On arrival, children will each be given a card bearing the name of one of the four houses at Hogwarts, the school in the Harry Potter novels. There will be minimal lighting to give the library an eerie feel, and guests will be led up the spooky back staircase to the darkened reference library, where York-based storyteller Helen Sant will be dressed as Gothic Molly to tell a mixture of light-hearted and more scary ghost tales.

At 12.01am, when the embargo on the new Harry Potter book is lifted, children will gather in their houses to take part in fun Harry Potter activities, before borrowing the book.

A Dumbledore look-alike will read part of the first chapter, before the children head home - meaning the lucky ticket-holders will be among the first in the world to hear the beginning of the last ever Harry Potter book. Sue Matthews, schools liaison and children's librarian for the council, said: "We wanted to do something special to mark the release of the final Harry Potter book and this promises to be a really exciting event."

It seems it is not just librarians who are going Harry Potter mad. Bookshops around York will also be holding special events throughout the weekend to celebrate the release.

If you haven't managed to snap up a ticket for the library, another option is to head down to Borders, in Davygate, where organisers Kirsty Sinclair and Lorraine Newcombe said: "Anyone is welcome. From 4pm the shop will be transformed into Hogwarts School, magicians will perform at 9pm and there is also a chance to win first place in the queue."

If it is too much to stay awake through the night, more activities will be held on Saturday. A spokesman for W H Smith in York said: "We are getting into costume and teaching potential Quidditch players how to make their very own golden snitch."