Barrow library is housed in an impressive Victorian building, and has undergone a multimillion-pound redesign in 2021 to provide a brilliant new space for all the community making it the flagship library for Cumbria County Council’s Customer Connect Buildings.
The redesign includes a number of customer touch down points where staff can deal with a wide range of customer enquiries. There’s also a new glazed, soundproof pod which provides a more private space for services such as blue badge and Now Card applications, and the superb new sensory room provides a safe space for families with young children that have additional needs.
The building now includes a range of meeting rooms which can be booked for either large or small gatherings. The new changing places and show room provide extra space and accessible toilets to meet the needs of people with disabilities, their family and their carers.
The exciting new children’s library includes stunning bespoke ship book shelving, flying seagulls and an incredible tree shaped seating area. It provides the perfect space for creativity, storytelling and play.
We can now deliver Adult Education Courses from right here in the library using the lovely new Adult Learning classroom on the first floor. The Community Space offers real flexibility for a range of events such as exhibitions, theatre performances or local bands.
The Archive centre remains a much loved and well used asset and has been redesigned to allow customers to enjoy all it has to offer. The new dedicated local studies room is now available five days a week, providing easy access to a range of family history records, maps and documents.
The new IT suite provides free, bookable online access to suit customer needs and staff are on hand to provide support and guidance with 1-2-1 IT help, whist the fantastic Teen Zone is a space only for teenagers. They can meet, chat, study, use the Wi-Fi, charge up or just chill out on the comfy snug seating.
The book stock is refreshed, from classic literature to modern day contemporary fiction and a broad range of information resources.
The library is a vibrant community space that provides partners the space to hold Drop Ins, workshops and learning events; a space for all ages to come together for recreational and educational purposes.
For opening times see Barrow Library on the Cumbria County Council website
