Trafford Council has announced it will be reopening Altrincham Library on Monday July 6th.
The Market Street library, in common with all of Trafford’s libraries, closed on Monday 23rd March as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
All staff were deployed where possible to support other services, including phoning over 6,000 residents who were shielding to see if they needed help.
But, alongside Sale and Urmston libraries, Altrincham will be reopening following the government’s announcement regarding the easing of restritions yesterday.
In the “first phase” of reopening, 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 allowed to enter on a one in, one out basis.
There will be further guidelines inside in order to ensure social distancing guidelines are followed, and all returned books will be placed in quarantine for 72 hours, as recommended by Public Health England.
The libraries, which have all been thoroughly cleaned, will initially open from 10am–4pm Monday to Saturday.
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.”
