Kirklees Together

The Royal Voluntary Service, who work with Kirklees Libraries, will be restarting the Home Library Service next week (22 June).

The library service has been very active online during the lockdown, with an expanded e-book offer and a wide variety of online resources alongside offering support to more vulnerable library service users.

How does the service help people?

The Home Library Service delivers books to Kirklees residents who find it difficult to get to their local library, whether that be due to disability, illness or caring responsibilities.  The restarting of the service will help the residents who are less likely to be able to benefit from the gradual easing of lockdown that is taking place.

Cllr Graham Turner, Cabinet Member for Corporate said:

“We have an incredibly resilient library service that has adapted so well to the needs of the community during this pandemic.  Our frontline library staff have been incredibly busy making over 8,000 welfare calls to the over 70’s during the period of lockdown.

These service users are among the most vulnerable and lonely in our society and we are keen to prioritise the Home Library Service, which can, with relatively minor adaptations, be operated within safe social distancing guidelines, and we are delighted to be working with our partners in the Royal Voluntary Service to get our service back on the road”.

Carol Stump, Chief Librarian and President of Libraries Connected said:

“Whilst we’re very proud of the work we’ve been doing as a service during the period of lockdown, we are keen to get our actual physical services up and running again, so as the first stage of gradual and careful reintroduction, we will be restarting the Home Library Service.

Nothing is more important than the safety of our service users. Due planning and consideration will therefore be given to how and when we may reintroduce other library services so that local communities can once again take full advantage of the support available from Kirklees Libraries to keep residents well and support them in their ambitions to be the best they can be”.

What is available?

The Home Library Service provides access to books in hardcopy, audio CD and MP3 formats.

How do I get in touch?

If you, or anyone you know, are interested in receiving a visit from the Home Library Service please contact 01484 226363 for more information.

Opening of library buildings

Our library buildings remain closed to the public and will re-open once national guidelines permit and we can be confident that we can operate them in a safe manner.