Leith Library services are set to be available at Fort Community Centre since its own building is hosting a testing centre.
This comes as an attempt of the Edinburgh Council to restore services affected by the Covid pandemic.
Councillor Donald Wilson, Culture and Communities Convener, said: "I'm really pleased we'll be able to relocate these essential services to the Fort Community Centre, which is only a few minutes walk from the existing Leith Library building, on a temporary basis until we get Leith Library back fully functioning.
"There is so much more to libraries in addition to borrowing books – they are trusted and much-loved hubs and bring local communities together. Although our online provision during the pandemic has been incredibly successful, there's no substitute for physical access."
The community centre will provide the following services running from Monday to Saturday with exact opening times yet to be confirmed:
- customers borrowing, returning and reserving library stock
- bus pass applications
- Hey Girls sanitary provision
- hearing aid batteries
- food recycling bags
- Bookbug under 5s rhyme times for children and their parents/ carers
Library buildings in Leith, Oxgangs and Newington are currently used as Symptomatic Testing Centres, leaving locals with no access to library services.
Councillor Amy McNeese-Mechan, Culture and Communities Vice Convener, said: "I'm sure the local community will be delighted to hear that the services provided by Leith Library will soon be available from the nearby Fort Community Centre. All our libraries are centres of learning and information and are also essential for the wellbeing of our citizens.
"We're actively looking at how we can provide more services for our other communities where libraries are being used as test centres, and we'll do everything we can to get these up and running as well. I want to thank all the hard work and efforts from the various Council teams who worked so hard to achieve this."
