Library Christmas Opening Hours

Our opening hours will be reduced over the Christmas and New Year period, find your campus below for specific information.

Colchester:

The main building (floors 1-5 and the ground floor foyer) will have the following opening hours:

• Friday 22 December – closed from 5pm onwards
• Saturday 23 December – Monday 1 January – CLOSED
• Tuesday 2 January – reopens from 8am

The Library Learning Room, IT Lab-L and the Postgraduate Room will be available 24/7 throughout the Christmas break. These areas will be accessible using your student/staff ID card.

The laptop loans and the external book return will continue to be available.

There will be no recalls on books during the library closure period, however books on loan can be recalled at any time from Tuesday 2 January onwards.

Southend (The Forum):

The Info Point will be unstaffed from Thursday 21 December but will be back to usual hours Tuesday 2 January onwards.

Throughout the Christmas period students and staff can still access the Learning Hub and Library floor in The Forum building, via the North access (SMACS) door. Security is on site 24/7 365 days a year.

Further details of the Forum’s opening hours can be found on our website.

Loughton:

• Friday 22 December – closed from 5pm onwards
• Saturday 23 December – Monday 1 January – CLOSED
• Tuesday 2 January – reopens from 8.30am

There will be no recalls on books during the library closure period, however books on loan can be recalled at any time from Monday 8 January onwards.

All libraries:

Support via chat, email, phone, and the helpdesk will be unavailable with staff responding to enquiries on their return from Tuesday 2 January. Our Book A Librarian service will also be unavailable. Please visit the Library website or your Subject Guide if you require support over the closure period.

Our systems and services will be automatically monitored over the Christmas period and major outages addressed by our service providers, individual issues will be addressed on our return on 2 January 2024.

If you are planning to go home for the holidays, please remember to return all books to the library before you go, or make sure that you are able to return them in the event of a recall. Books can be posted to the library using the address on our Contact us page.

From all of us in the Library and Cultural Services team, we wish you a wonderful winter break. Happy Holidays!

Photo credit: Steve Brading