Barbican Library Refurbishment

 

The plan for the library ...

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In my last email, I let you know that the refurbishment works at Barbican Library were due to start at the end of October. I can now confirm that the actual start date for these works will be Monday 2nd November 2026. This is to avoid the half-term holidays. The impact on the service will be as follows: Children's Services From Monday 2nd to Saturday 7th November, there will be no children's stock available for loan at Barbican Library. Regular children's activities, such as Rhyme Time and Story Time, will still be taking place as usual, in an alternative location. Additional information about this will be sent to the email addresses registered on library accounts of children who are aged under 5 and through our Children's Newsletter service. From Monday 9th November, for the duration of the works to the children's library, there will be a limited collection of children's books available for loan from the Bostock Community Meeting Room at the front of the library. Music Services From Monday 2nd to Saturday 7th November, there will be no music stock available from Barbican Library. From Monday 9th November, there will be a limited collection of music-related books (no scores or CDs) available in the main library. CDs are still available at Shoe Lane Library and Artizan Street Library and Community Centre. You can reserve these items for free to be collected at Barbican Library. At least one piano will be relocated to the main library, with booking and headphones available from the main library desk. The Children's and Music libraries are expected to reopen at the beginning of January 2027. I would like to remind you that we have now extended the number of items you can borrow as per below: Item Current Temporary Extension Books 12 20 CDs 12 16 Also, any items from the Barbican Children's and Music libraries will have their due dates automatically extended to 15th January 2027. If you have an item with this date that is reserved by another user, we would be grateful if you could return it earlier for the person who is waiting for it. You will receive a Recall email if this is the case. Thank you so much to all those who have filled out the survey to give us more details on the potential impact of the refurbishment works. Here is a summary of the main concerns and our response: Concern Response More limited physical stock collections During the refurbishment, unfortunately we will have to restrict the amount of stock available from different areas of the library at different times. We will do our best to provide a well curated selection of our most popular stock for each area affected. A full range of stock is available at Shoe Lane Library and Artizan Street Library and Community Centre, and you will be able to reserve items from these libraries for collection at Barbican Library for free. The extensive closed store of unique, significant and out of print books (adult only) held at Barbican Library will still be available for reservation for collection too. Limited study/work space We are currently working with the Barbican Centre team to identify areas in the rest of the Centre where more tables and chairs can be provided for the duration of the refurbishment. There is also study/work space available at Shoe Lane and Guildhall libraries. Events and groups We will relocate all our events and groups to other spaces in the Barbican Centre. Please look out for email updates regarding this if your regular event/group has an email list or see posters in the library. Missing social connection/quiet space for mental wellbeing We appreciate that for many people, the library is an important part of their routine and a way to stay connected to others or take a quiet break. We will do our best to ensure there is still comfortable seating for those who need it, groups will still take place, and our staff will still be there to welcome people and assist. Limited access to newspapers and magazines Newspapers and the most popular magazines will still be available throughout the project. A much larger range of magazines is available through our digital service. Limited access to library computers During the second phase of works from January, when the main library will be refurbished, unfortunately there will be limited access to computers in the library, with only 3 available in the Music Library. Shoe Lane and Guildhall libraries do have sufficient numbers of computers available for public use. And finally, thank you to all those who came to the information sessions or who sent me their queries and their lovely comments about the library and the team via email. We know how important Barbican Library is to all of its users and how cherished it is, and we really appreciate your support and patience during this time of disruption to the service.

Best wishes, Rachel Rachel Levy Head of Barbican & Community Libraries - City of London Corporation