Please note the early section which refers to all tiers, as follows:
In all tiers, the following businesses and venues can remain open:
public buildings, such as libraries, community centres and halls. They should not host events for private hire, such as birthday parties or most other social activities in tier 3
Following the introduction of more restrictions to slow the spread of Covid-19 in October and November, the UK Government announced four new grant schemes for businesses in England. Guidance on eligibility and grant rates for these schemes was published on 3 November 2020.
Like the business support grants made available in England between March and August 2020, these grant schemes are funded by Government and operated by local authorities. Eligibility for the first three grants is based on the business rates system and the ‘tier’ system of local restrictions. Eligibility for the Additional Restrictions Grant is at the discretion of local authorities.
The schemes
The new grant schemes are
Local Restrictions Support Grant (Open)
Local Restrictions Support Grant (Sector)
Local Restrictions Support Grant (Closed), which also features an ‘addendum’ following the reimposition of England-wide restrictions as of 5 November 2000
Under the restrictions, library services must close their buildings for general public access but are allowed to operate these services:
Home Library Service (doorstep delivery, no-contact service)
School Library Service (doorstep delivery, no-contact service)
Order & Collect services (may take place inside the library, as close to the entrance as possible)
Access to PCs for essential purposes
Digital and remote services including eLending, online events and activities and keep in touch calls
Digital access to public services, including the UKVI visa application service.
These services must be managed in COVID secure ways and subject to full risk assessment as set out in the updated Services Recovery Toolkit from Libraries Connected, available HERE. The Service Recovery Toolkit has been prepared in consultation with Public Health England (PHE) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Updated 05.11.20.
Following on from our recent publication ‘Community Managed Libraries as Community Hubs’, Harbury Village Library participated in a project during the summer to produce a book documenting the experiences of Harbury residents during the first lockdown.
Harbury Village Library was so inspired they run a parallel project documenting the lockdown experiences of local residents in poetry and prose. They invited local artists to create a piece of work reflecting their own experiences of the Coronavirus Pandemic. Any age, any medium, any level of accomplishment. The only requirement was that the artist had to be a resident of the village.
Submissions were accepted until the end of October and the works hung on the wall of the library. In order to make sure they could still be seen even when the library was in lockdown a selection of the works is displayed in their online gallery. A few of the works are available for sale and, if they sell, the library gets a percentage!
To find out more about each of the artists and their submissions visit:
Community Managed Libraries National Peer Network 