Staffordshire’s 43 libraries will begin a phased reopening from Monday, 6^th July.

Burton, Newcastle and Stafford libraries will open on the 6^th, with the other 13 managed directly by the county council following two and three weeks later.

Community Managed Libraries are being fully supported by the county council and are being encouraged to reopen at their own pace.

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.”

Meeting rooms will remain closed and there will be no access to toilets, PCs, printers, photocopiers, or bus pass renewals in person. Although there will be no physical events or activities in the buildings, the service’s online service and highly successful social media engagement will continue.

Cannock, Leek, Lichfield, Perton and Tamworth libraries will open on Monday 20^th July, with Biddulph, Burntwood, Codsall, Kidsgrove, Rugeley, Stone, Uttoxeter and Wombourne scheduled for Monday, 27^th July.

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

Gill Heath said: “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.”

Staffordshire libraries already have a ‘home delivery’ service for those unable to visit and that is being extended to include those who are currently isolating and prefer physical books to the council’s online service ‘Borrowbox’. If anyone wants to make use of it they should contact us here.

You can access contact details for your local library here and can contact them directly once open.

In the meantime our online service is still available. If you are not a member of Staffordshire Libraries it is a great time to join! We offer access to lots of FREE online resources, newspapers & an eLibrary with a wealth of eBooks, eAudio, eMagazines and eComics, FREE access to Ancestry & much more. Visit the eLibrary at www.staffordshire.gov.uk/eLibrary

Order and Collect

We know that many of you are eager to get your hands on a library book again and we are looking forward to this too! We will be offering an Order and Collect Service from 6^th July.*

You will be able to pre-order books for collection over the telephone, online or in person using a form available from open libraries.

We are launching an online page to ‘Order and Collect’. Just complete the online form to pre-order your books

If you would like to telephone Your Library please contact the County Council Call Centre on 0300 111 8000 and ask to be put through.

Our friendly staff will be on hand when you arrive at the library to guide you to your books and ensure you have a safe and pleasant visit.

*Please note – books can only be requested from one of the libraries that are open during our phased reopening.