Derbyshire County Libraries Set To Open By End Of The Month

All but one of Derbyshire County Council’s libraries will be open and operating their normal opening hours by the end of the month.

A total of 44 of the county’s 45 libraries will be open and welcoming customers to browse the shelves and choose books by 28 September.

Only Wingerworth Library will remain closed for the time being. The building is owned by the parish council and a phased re-opening is planned, with other rooms opening for use first. The library will re-open when it is certain it can be used safely by customers and staff and that social distancing can be adhered to.

The county council had to temporarily close all its libraries and stop its mobile library service in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, but started to roll out a phased re-opening at the beginning of July, starting with the larger branches.

Over the course of September, the remaining libraries will start to re-open, with details of the phased re-opening available on the council’s website at www.derbyshire.gov.uk/libraries

While customers can now browse the shelves at re-opened libraries, use of computers must still be booked by contacting the library direct by phone.

Derbyshire County Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Strategic Leadership, Culture and Tourism Councillor Barry Lewis said: “To be in a position where all but one of our libraries will shortly be re-opened is fantastic news and I’m sure our library users across the county will really welcome this.

“We have opened the libraries in this phased way to ensure customer and staff safety, which is always our priority.

“We have looked at what has worked well and made sure this has been passed on as more libraries start to re-open, and this has made it a smooth, safe process, and with each library opening it’s felt like another step towards getting the service back to normal.”

Libraries set to re-open this week (7 September) are; Bakewell, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Clay Cross, Eckington, Newbold and Wirksworth.

Customers are asked to check on the website to see when their local library will re-open its doors if it hasn’t already. Five more will open on 14 September, seven will open on 21 September and the remaining 12 will open on 28 September.

People are being asked to return books they have borrowed on their next visit to their library, and the three week loan period will shortly be re-introduced. For the latest information on returns, people should go to www.derbyshire.gov.uk/libraries

Customers using Whaley Bridge Library will have to book an appointment to visit due to the layout of the building, as numbers need to be limited at any one time to ensure people can adhere to social distancing guidelines. Plans are currently being worked on to re-start the mobile library service, and details on this will be announced shortly.