National Records re-opening 21st July

[rhona]

They will be able to welcome visitors back into there reading rooms from Tuesday 21 July. And will be offering a limited service to visitors who need access to our collection of original documents for their research. Visitors will be required to book their visit and order their documents in advance.

Please follow the link for the full update: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/abo ... us-update/

The building and services will look very different to regular visitors, as they have been busy introducing a number of measures to ensure the safety of their visitors and staff. These include:

New booking system to help us manage visitor numbers – all visits will have to be pre-booked without exception, with a limit of one visit per week, and all documents ordered in advance
New document delivery processes to protect visitors and staff, and to ensure that documents are quarantined appropriately
One-way systems and capacity controls in frequently used areas
Floor markers and temporary signage to help with social distancing
Rigorous cleaning during and at the end of each day
Easier access to sinks for hand washing and provision of hand sanitiser.

We will also ask everyone booking a visit to agree to a new coronavirus visitor charter, aimed at encouraging all visitors to do their bit to help us ensure everyone’s safety. We will not permit anyone to enter the building who has not pre-booked, so please do not travel if you have not been able to book as we will not be able to let you in. We will be open from Tuesday to Friday, between 10:00 and 14:50.

We will initially be able to provide access to our first floor document reading room only – our other facilities will remain closed, including our map and large document reading room, our reference library, our exhibition spaces, our shop, and our cafés. We will also be unable to provide many of our other usual reading room services, including research advice, record copying and access to our computers.

We will continue to provide free downloads of digital records on our website for the time being, as we are initially only able to re-open for a very limited number of researchers. We will keep this, and all of our opening arrangements, under constant review.

[JanB156]

Good to see they are continuing the free downloads while there is limited access.