Appointment-free browsing and borrowing to return to Elgin Library
ELGIN library will be re-opening for customers to browse the shelves, without an appointment, from Monday (23 November).
Those browsing and borrowing books are asked to keep their visits to no longer than 20 minutes, as numbers inside the library will be capped. Customers will be able to use public PCs, reference, local heritage and archive resources – though appointments will be required for these services and are limited to one-hour per session.
These services will be available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 10am – 1pm; Tuesday and Thursday between 2 – 6pm; Saturday between 10am – noon. Appointments can be booked online or by calling the library directly. The order and collect service will still be available outwith these hours for those who are not ready to come back into libraries.
Perspex screens will be fitted to lending and enquiry desks to reduce the risk of the transmission of Covid-19, and staff will operate in ‘bubbles’ so that if any member of the library team had to self-isolate, it would not necessarily result in a temporary closure.
This opening up is being piloted in Elgin and, if there’s a successful response and all the procedures are operating as expected, Moray Council will look to re-open a number of libraries in the same way during December. These will be Buckie, Forres and Keith, with others anticipated to open for browsing and PC use during January.
Moray Council’s Principal Librarian, Rona Stephen, said: “It’s been fantastic to welcome so many library customers back who have been using our order and collect service.
“But many clearly miss the physical visit as we’ve regularly been asked when we’ll be opening the doors again.
“We’re now in a position to re-open Elgin library safely. We want to ensure the best, and safest, experience for library customers and once we’re confident everything is working as it should be, we’ll look to re-open our other libraries in a similar vein.
“Thanks to all who have respected the guidelines such as face coverings and social distancing, it’s vital that we continue with these public health measures so that we can minimise the risks of spreading the virus, and keep as many of our services open as possible.”