When and how will public libraries reopen in England?

England – Listed by alphabetical order of council name

Boris Johnson announced on 22 February, that public libraries in England can reopen “no earlier than 12 April”.

In the meantime, the lockdown guidance published on Monday 4 January says that “Libraries can also remain open to provide access to IT and digital services – for example for people who do not have it at home – and for click-and-collect services”. Decisions on what to actually deliver are made locally – in line with local circumstances, views and resources – so each of the 150 library services work out within this maximum what is best for it to do. Therefore, one library service may offer click and collect and another, even a neighbouring one, may not.

Please always check the library service’s own website and social media before planning a journey as things are subject to change and, while this page is the most comprehensive and up to date list publicly available, it is not infallible and may be considerably later in updating than the services themselves.

If nothing is mentioned in the list then the situation was not clear when the service webpage and social media were checked. Please note that the list shows what is available in at least one library. It is likely that many libraries in each service will be entirely closed, especially the smaller ones.

• Click and collect – any form of requesting books / genre titles from a library remotely for picking up at a branch.
• PCs – these are for essential use only.
• Home library service – A delivery service to the door of those who cannot get to the library.

There is also a useful list by Libraries Hacked here.

• Barking and Dagenham – click and collect.
• Barnet – click and collect
• Barnsley – click and collect, PCs, home library service
• Bath and North East Somerset – browsing in several libraries from 12 April.
• Bedford – click and collect
• Bexley – closed
• Birmingham – click and collect
• Blackburn with Darwen – click and collect
• Blackpool – click and collect, PCs
• Bolton – browsing, bookable PCs.
• Bournemouth Christchurch Poole – click and collect suspended due to Covid rate, home library service, visa service
• Bracknell Forest – PCs.
• Bradford – click and collect, home library service
• Brent – closed, pending review. Barham volunteer library reopens 12 April.
• Brighton and Hove – click and collect, home library service
• Bristol – closed, pending review
• Bromley – closed
• Buckinghamshire – closed
• Bury – click and collect, PCs.
• Calderdale – click and collect, PCs
• Cambridgeshire – click and collect, PCs, home library service
• Camden – click and collect, PCs
• Central Bedfordshire – click and collect
• Cheshire East – click and collect
• Cheshire West and Chester – click and collect. Selected libraries open for browsing from 12 April.
• City of London – click and collect, PC usage under review. home library service.
• Cornwall – click and collect, PCs
• Coventry – click and collect
• Croydon – closed
• Cumbria – click and collect, PCs
• Darlington – click and collect
• Derby – click and collect
• Derbyshire – click and collect, home library service
• Devon – closed
• Doncaster – click and collect
• Dorset – click and collect.
• Dudley – click and collect in all branches, apart from Brierley Hill.
• Durham – click and collect
• Ealing – home library service
• Enfield – click and collect, PCs, home library service, visa service.
• East Riding of Yorkshire – click and collect, home library service.
• East Sussex – click and collect, PCs
• Essex – closed apart from PCs
• Gateshead – click and collect. Updated 25 March.
• Gloucestershire – click and collect, PCs

• Greenwich – Closed until further notice
• Hackney – click and collect, PCs
• Halton – click and collect
• Hammersmith and Fulham – closed.
• Hampshire –  click and collect, reservations and home library service only. PC use temporarily suspended.
• Haringey– click and collect, PCs, home library service
• Harrow – click and collect
• Hartlepool – click and collect, PCs.
• Havering – closed.
• Herefordshire – click and collect
• Hertfordshire – click and collect
• Hillingdon – click and collect, PCs.
• Hounslow– closed
• Isle of Wight – Browsing from 12 April. 
• Isles of Scilly– click and collect.
• Islington – closed
• Kensington and Chelsea – click and collect, PCs
• Kent – click and collect (inc. mobiles), home library service. PCs from 15 March. 
• Kingston on Hull – click and collect in one library, PCs, visas
• Kingston upon Thames –  reviewing service provision (10.1.21)
• Kirklees  – home library service
• Knowsley – click and collect, PCs
• Lambeth– PCs, home library service. Click and collect. 
• Lancashire – click and collect, PCs
• Leeds – click and collect, PCs
• Leicester – click and collect
• Leicestershire – click and collect, PCs
• Lewisham – click and collect, PCs, home library service. Corbett Community Library : Click & Collect, PCs.
• Lincolnshire – click and collect.
• Liverpool –  click and collect, home library service
• Luton – click and collect, home library service.
• Manchester – click and collect, PCs. All libraries open from 12 April.
• Medway – click and collect
• Merton – click and collect, PCs, home library service. 
• Middlesbrough 
• Milton Keynes – click and collect
• Newcastle – closed apart from visa appointments, home library service. Jesmond community library open for click and collect.
• Newham – click and collect, PCs
• Norfolk – closed until 8 March and then click and collect, PCs.
• North Lincolnshire 
• North Somerset  – click and collect
• North Tyneside – click and collect, PCs
• Northamptonshire – click and collect, home library service. Some volunteer branches are offering PC use but not council ones.
• Northumberland – click and collect
• North Yorkshire – Browsing and bookable PCs from 12 April. 
• Northeast Lincolnshire– click and collect
• Nottingham – click and collect, PCs
• Nottinghamshire – click and collect, PCs, home library service. Reservations possible. 
• Oldham– click and collect, PCs
• Oxfordshire – Phased reopening from 12 April. 
• Peterborough  – Browsing from 12 April, bookable PCs. 
• Plymouth – click and collect, PCs
• Portsmouth – click and collect, PCs
• Reading – click and collect, PCs, home library service, under review
• Redbridge – click and collect, home library service, schools library service.
• Redcar and Cleveland – click and collect
• Richmond – click and collect, PCs, home library service
• Rochdale – closed.
• Rotherham – click and collect
• Rutland – Click and collect and PCs from 12 April. Fines amnesty. 
• Salford – click and collect, PCs
• Sandwell – click and collect, PCs, home library service
• Sefton – closed, home library service
• Sheffield – click and collect, home library service. Some volunteer libraries open from 12 April.
• Shropshire – browsing, bookable PCs. 
• Slough – click and collect
• Solihull– Click and collect from 29 March , home library service
• Somerset – click and collect, PCs
• South Gloucestershire– click and collect, PCs
• South Tyneside – click and collect, PCs, home library service
• Southampton– closed, under review
• Southend – click and collect, PCs
• Southwark – closed, subject to review, home library service
• St Helens – originally closed, but home and school library services operational. Order and collect, PCs, from 8 March. “”Chester Lane, St Helens, Eccleston, Newton-le-Willows and Parr libraries, which have the space to reconfigure layouts in the interest of social distancing, have been identified to reopen first on April 12.”
• Staffordshire – click and collect, PCs, home library service
• Stockport – click and collect, PCs, home library service
• Stockton on Tees – click and collect, home library service
• Stoke – click and collect, home library service
• Suffolk – closed
• Sunderland – click and collect, home library service
• Surrey – click and collect, PC use, home library service
• Sutton  – click and collect, PCs
• Swindon – click and collect
• Tameside – click and collect, PCs, home library service
• Telford and Wrekin – closed.
• Thurrock – closed
• Torbay – closed.
• Tower Hamlets – click and collect, PCs
• Trafford  – click and collect, PCs
• Wakefield – click and collect, PCs
• Walsall – click and collect, home library service. 
• Waltham Forest– click and collect
• Wandsworth – click and collect, PCs, home library service
• Warrington – click and collect
• Warwickshire – 30 minute browsing, bookable PCs. 
• West Berkshire – click and collect, home library service
• West Sussex – All open for browsing and computers from 12 April. 
• Westminster – click and collect, PCs
• Wigan – closed
• Wiltshire – Phased reopening.
• Windsor and Maidenhead – click and collect, home library service
• Wirral – click and collect from 12 April. 
• Wokingham – click and collect
• Wolverhampton – click and collect
• Worcestershire – click and collect from all 21 branches, PCs
• York – browsing, bookable PCs from 12 April. 

Wales – 22 library services

Public libraries in Wales can officially reopen from 27 March. See library websites for up to date details.

• Anglesey
• Blaenau Gwent – closed.
• Bridgend – Browsing, IT, study in 6 branches. 
• Caerphilly – closed.
• Cardiff –  click and collect, computers.
• Carmarthenshire – housebound library service only.
• Ceredigion – closed
• Conwy – browsing by appointment, computers. 
• Denbighshire – browsing if booked in advance from 29 March
• Flintshire – browsing and computers.
• Gwynedd – Browsing by appointment.
• Merthyr Tydfil
• Monmouthshire – Browsing, not computers. 
• Neath Port Talbot – click and collect
• Newport – click and collect
• Pembrokeshire –  browsing and computers in come libraries. 
• Powys – click and collect
• Rhondda Cynon Taff – click and collect
• Swansea – click and collect
• Torfaen – click and collect
• Vale of Glamorgan – click and collect
• Wrexham – click and collect

Scotland – 32 services

All mainland services are currently in lockdown but the three island authorities (Eilean Siar, Orkney and Shetland) are not. Libraries can reopen from 26 April. 

• Aberdeen – click and collect
• Aberdeenshire – click and collect from 5 April.
• Angus – closed
• Argyll and Bute
• Borders – closed
• Clackmannanshire 
• Dumfries and Galloway
• Dundee – closed
• East Ayrshire – closed
• East Dunbartonshire – closed. 
• East Lothian – click and collect
• East Renfrewshire – click and collect
• Edinburgh – closed
• Eilean Siar – click and collect
• Falkirk – click and collect, home library service
• Fife 
• Glasgow – PC access. Branches open at variety of different times and levels from 27 April. 
• Highlands 
• Inverclyde – home library  service.
• Midlothian – closed
• Moray – click and collect
• North Ayrshire – closed
• North Lanarkshire – closed
• Orkney – visits by appointment
• Perth and Kinross – closed
• Renfrewshire – closed
• Shetland – click and collect, PCs
• South Ayrshire – closed
• South Lanarkshire – home library service
• Stirling – closed
• West Dunbartonshire – home library service.
• West Lothian – click and collect

Northern Ireland

• Click and collect, IT and print services.

Elsewhere in the British Isles

• Guernsey – open as normal
• Isle of Man – closed
• Jersey – click and collect, PCs, home library service

See also:

• What libraries have been doing during closure including GLL (Bromley, Dudley, Greenwich, Lincolnshire, Wandsworth) Suffolk, Tameside,
• Possible scenarios for UK reopening, including what is happening internationally.

Matt Finch on what Coronavirus means for public libraries in the future