Trafford Council has announced the date for the re-opening of three libraries which were closed due to the Coronavirus epidemic.
The local authority is to open Altrincham, Sale and Urmston libraries from July 6, 2020, as a result of lockdown measures being relaxed.
The libraries, which have all been thoroughly cleaned, will initially open from 10am–4pm Monday to Saturday.
All of Trafford’s libraries closed on Monday 23 March as a result of the Covid19 pandemic and all staff were deployed, wherever possible, to support other services, including phoning over 6,000 residents who were shielding to see if they needed help.
The libraries will be offering slightly different services in the first phase of re-opening to maintain the current guidelines around social distancing and for the safety of staff and customers. People will be able to return the library books they borrowed before the libraries closed, borrow more books by using the new ‘Order and Collect’ service and also pre-book to use the public computers if they don’t have access to computers at home.
Library customers will be asked to queue outside and will be allowed to enter on a ‘one in, one out basis.’ Once inside, they will be asked to put their returned books on trolleys that will be in the entrance and/or pick up their new books from a table, also in the entrance. Customers who have pre-booked to use the computers will follow a one way system to ensure social distancing. All returned books will be placed in quarantine for 72 hours as recommended by Public Health England before they will be made available for other customers.
Cllr Liz Patel, Trafford Council’s Executive Member for Leisure and Culture, said:
I am delighted that Trafford’s three largest libraries will be re-opening early next month. Libraries are of huge importance to Trafford Council and we are really pleased that we can resume some of our services again. Thank you for all the online support from customers and well done to our fantastic staff who have been redeployed in other positions. This isn’t quite business as usual yet, we ask that people please follow the social distancing rules when using the libraries to protect staff and other users.”
More details can be found on the library webpages via the libraries Facebook and Twitter accounts or by phoning 912 3189
Posted on Wednesday 24th June 2020