The Library’s central lift is currently still out of use and is now expected to return to its full working state on 16 September.
The lift was decommissioned on 15 July as part of an essential programme of major remedial works to address ongoing issues and to improve its reliability after a number of failures in recent years. The vital repairs have been extensive with engineers onsite since July, and once remedied the lifts will serve members for many years to come.
We appreciate the inconvenience, particularly for members who are unable to use the stairs. However, it is essential that this work is completed; members will be aware of issues with the lift over several years and if we do not fix the issue now it may break, leading to an outage of over three months while we wait for parts and repair. This work will ensure that we can continue maintaining step-free access to the majority of the Library’s collection and workspaces.
Most of the work will be carried out inside the lift shaft and on the 6th floor of the Central Stack in the book stack area, but noise disruption will be kept to a minimum to cause least disruption to members.
The following facilities and routes will be affected during this time and members are reminded that the request service remains available:
- There will be no step-free access to the accessible toilet facilities
- The T S Eliot House lift will be available and allow access up to Floor 2 of the Central Stack
- The Art Reading Room will be a wheelchair accessible space and can be accessed through the T S Eliot House staff entrance and by taking the T S Eliot House lift to Floor 1.
Should you need help accessing the collection, please speak to staff in the Issue Hall or contact us: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or (020) 7766 4743.
We apologise once again for the inconvenience. Thank you for your co-operation.
