Barnet's Library on Wheels

Not all of Barnet's libraries are made of bricks and mortar. Did you know that there are two special library services bringing books to your door, or kerbside. Irfan Iqbal, Assistant Library and Customer Service Manager introduces Barnet's Mobile and Home Library Services.

"The Mobile library is a library on wheels! It allows us the flexibility to provide library materials and services anywhere in the borough. We can offer the same range of stock found in a library building including large and ordinary print books, spoken word CDs and DVDs. Our stock range also covers everyone from babies to adults.

We tend to position ourselves somewhere that is a fair distance from one of our established library buildings to allow customers to use the service who may find it difficult otherwise. Our stops are wide ranging and we visit schools and nurseries and residential homes and pull up in street sites. We have a lift on the vehicle to allow customers with mobility issues on board. Some of our stops are on a weekly basis and some on a monthly basis. We have recently re-established our timetable to include slots for ad hoc visits that may arise. Due to Covid, we are currently limiting the numbers of borrowers on the vehicle.

Where to find the Mobile library

The Home library service is for customers who cannot visit one of our library buildings, or who do not have anyone who can visit on their behalf. This may be due to illness, mobility or age. Instead, we bring the library service and its services to the comfort of people’s homes. We offer visits on a 4 week rota and can provide all types of library materials including books in other languages. There is a very short application process and then we allocate customers to routes where we already have other customers in the area. In most cases we can provide particular items if the customer wishes to reserve something we do not hold in stock.

We also visit care homes to provide them with books for their residents to enjoy. Our staff will deliver in marked vans, have undergone customer service training and are DBS checked regularly. Due to Covid, we are currently only offering a door step delivery service, but the books will still get through.  

Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you’d like more information or have any questions. Call us on 020 8359 3901 or drop us an email."