Visiting and using the Library

Chetham's Library
Long Millgate
Manchester
M3 1SB
Tel: 0161 834 7961
Fax: 0161 839 5797
Email:
Printed works and general enquiries: Michael Powell
Manuscript and archival enquiries: Jane Muskett
Systems and cataloguing: Fergus Wilde

Contacting the Chetham Society

Please read the page for the Chetham Society for contact details concerning the Society or its publications.

Opening Times

Chetham's Library is open by appointment Monday to Friday 9.00-12.30 a.m. and 1.30-4.30 p.m. The Library is normally closed during bank and public holidays, and between Christmas and New Year. Please read on for details of access arrangements.

Individual visits to view the Library

Visitors wishing to see over the Library and its historic buildings are normally welcome to call in without appointment during opening hours; please arrive before 4.00 p.m. Occasionally, however, it may not be possible to enter certain areas, or even to come in at all, so if you are planning to travel a distance, if you want to bring a group, or if your visit is of particular importance please make arrangements in advance.

Research and study

Use of the library is free, and no membership or reader's ticket is required.  The Library is open to readers and researchers by appointment, and an appointment to visit should be made at least 24 hours in advance in order to consult library materials. You are welcome to make an appointment by email, phone, or letter, but please be sure to allow time for us to reply if email or letter are used. Please do not consider the sending of an email or letter an appointment until we've replied!   New readers should bring a letter of reference or some form of identification.

Location and Maps

This plan of the city centre shows the general location of Chetham's (80k), and this detail of the surrounding streets (210k: © Andrew Taylor, whom we thank for permission to display a detail of his Manchester City Centre map) shows how to negotiate the one-way systems and pedestrianised streets. Multimap provides an alternative commercial version (includes adverts - off our site). If you have arranged to drive to the Library (see below), you may wish to note that vehicles coming from Deansgate or the south have to go around the north side of the Arena via Victoria Street, Great Ducie Street, New Bridge Street and Cheetham Hill Road as the only vehicular route to the gatehouse is from Corporation Street via Todd Street.

Group study visits

If you would like to bring in a study group to work on any aspect of the Library's holdings, please contact us as far in advance as possible. We will do our best to accommodate your needs.

Guided Tours for Groups

As of August 2008 all Wednesday afternoon tours are booked up until Christmas 2008. Tours from January 2009 onwards will be administered by Chetham's School of Music, which can be contacted on 0161 834 9644.

Visitors with disabilities

Access to the historic first-floor library is via a flight of eighteen stairs, and regrettably no lift can be installed. Wheelchair users and others unable to manage the stairs have full access to the collections by the use of ground floor study rooms; the shelves are not 'browsable' by any reader, so those working from the ground floor enjoy equal access to the collections with those able to ascend. Please contact us in advance with details of your requirements.

Parking

Parking on site is available only to holders of disabled parking permits or similar recognised permits. There is a multi-storey car park at the nearby Manchester Evening News Arena, the entrance to which is on Trinity Way.

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