Burntwood Library
Burntwood Library

The dates when libraries in Lichfield and Burntwood will reopen have been confirmed.

Staffordshire County Council said a phased reopening after the coronavirus closure would take place in July.

Lichfield Library will not welcome people until 20th July, while Burntwood Library will see the doors unlocked on 27th July.

Cllr Gill Heath, Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet member responsible for libraries, said:

“This is not a return to normality, but a welcome step towards it as we begin to carefully reopen much-loved library buildings.

“Hand sanitising, hygiene and social distancing arrangements will all be in place and if Personal Protective Equipment is necessary it will be distributed to staff and volunteers where appropriate.

“We will be running an ‘order and collect’ service to start with – so no browsing – and there will be limited numbers of visitors allowed in at any one time.”

Cllr Gill Heath, Staffordshire County Council

Meeting rooms will remain closed and there will be no access to toilets, PCs, printers or photocopiers.

All libraries will initially open 10am to 4pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 1pm on Saturdays.

“We need to go about this carefully to ensure users, volunteers and staff are safe and people will need to use common sense and observe the spirit of social distancing when they visit.

“We are opening three larger libraries first to see how all the safety measures work in practise before incorporating any lessons into the gradual opening of the remainder.

“We have been communicating with the 27 Community Managed Libraries during closure and are sharing reopening plans so that all our libraries have the same procedures in place.”

“We are supporting them throughout the process and expect them to begin reopening from August onwards.”

Cllr Gill Heath, Staffordshire County Council

Founder of Lichfield Live and editor of the site.

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Derek
3 years ago

How will it be assured that books will not be ‘carrying’ Covid-19 ?