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29
Jul 2020
Bilton library set to reopen
Bilton and Woodfield Community Library will reopen with new coronavirus safety measures in place on Monday.
The library will be open on Mondays from 2pm to 4pm and on Thursdays and Fridays from 10am to noon. Customers do not need to pre-book but the library will only be allowed to admit about four people to browse.
Safety measures include a one-way system, a book quarantine and a time limit for people browsing the book collection.
The library has been operating a 'select and collect' service, which allows people to collect pre-ordered books.
Although people will be allowed back inside the building, they will not be permitted to use the shared computers yet.
Also, the library will not yet be able to hold community events, much to the volunteers' sadness.
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Greta Knight, who helps to run the library, told the Stray Ferret:
The library has had a lot to contend with in recent years.
It could have closed permanently due to North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) cuts in 2011 but the local community rallied round to save it by running the library entirely with volunteers.
Not long after that, the council sold the library's former home at the old vicarage in Bilton so it moved to a vacant site at Woodfield School.
The volunteers had hoped a major flood caused by a faulty boiler in 2017 was the last of their troubles.
But coronavirus could have been catastrophic for the library, which needs funding of £9,000 a year. It was, however, saved by a government grant.
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