Update 2: 19/3/20 All city libraries now closed.
Cobbett Hub & Library has been closed “for the foreseeable future”, “in line with Public England’s latest guidance as well as Southampton City Council Library Service”.
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The move will not only affect book borrowing, but also the various groups that meet there, and one-off events – for example an April talk organised by the Friends of Cobbett Road Library.
As reported, Social Care in Action, which runs the library, said on Facebook yesterday:
“[We] have taken the decision to close Cobbett Hub and Library for the foreseeable future. This is in line with Public Health England’s latest guidance as well as Southampton City Council Library Service. We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused.”
The group said fines won’t be incurred by people not being able to return books, although they can still be renewed online as usual.
As of March 17, the council said: “Southampton City Libraries and our partners in community libraries are committed to the health and well-being of both the public and staff in all our buildings and we are actively monitoring the information provided by Public Health England and the NHS, in response to the changing coronavirus (COVID-19) situation.
“At this time there is no change in our hours, operations or service availability.”
But “preparatory steps” are being taken – click the ‘Libraries’ tab on this page for more information.
Update 18/3/20
An update from the council, from the ‘Libraries’ tab on this page, and emailed out, says that all community operated libraries are now closed until further notice, while all council libraries are currently open "today, Wednesday 17 (sic) March 2020, until 4pm."
19/3/20
All city libraries now closed.
Please check here for any further council updates on libraries and other issues.
• You may be interested to know that Southampton Libraries also offer online newspapers, audio books and more via their web pages.
• We’ve attempted to mark all events, regular and one-off, listed at Cobbett Hub & Library on our own What’s On page as being cancelled. In fact the whole What's On section is basically turning into a list of cancellations :( Anyway please let us know what we’ve missed! Thanks. Ed.