UPDATE ON CORONAVIRUS

UPDATE: 1st JULY 2020

We welcome the announcement that museums will be able to reopen from 4th July. The University of Reading Special Collections and the Museum of English Rural Life will not reopen straight away but we are working hard to put in place all the necessary measures to allow for a new kind of visit, ensuring the safety of all our staff and visitors.

Our reopening will be part of the phased reopening of all the University of Reading’s campus buildings. We hope to be able to share more information about our plans very soon.

In the meantime, we will continue delivering our programme of online exhibitions and activities through our websites and social media and responding to your enquiries. We will also be introducing new digitisation services for researchers in the middle of July, which we look forward to sharing more about very shortly.

Much has changed while we have been closed; we have missed our visitors. We look forward to welcoming you back to the reading room and to being able to contribute to and enjoy being part of the amazing community and cultural life of Reading.

UPDATE: 11th MAY 2020

An update on our enquiry and reprographic / image licensing service:

Our archive and library teams are continuing to run our enquiry service but with a reduced capacity. Our capacity to operate reprographic / image licensing services is also reduced. Responses may take longer than usual. Please be aware that any research queries or copying requests necessitating access to the physical collection stores will have to be postponed until we return to the workplace.

We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your understanding.

UPDATE: 2ND APRIL 2020

In light of the latest government advice, and in line with the University’s position, all events and external visits due to take place at The MERL and Special Collections are now cancelled until the end of June. The museum and the reading room will be closed until further notice.

Please note that we will respond to/forward email enquiries that we receive during this time and assist where we can. However, we cannot take reading room bookings until we have reopened, and will not be able to answer any research enquiries that require access to the physical collection stores.

Although the museum & collections service will be closed, we will continue sharing our collections through social media and via our websites. We are also working on alternative digital ways to deliver elements of the exciting events and activities we had planned for the next few months, keeping everyone entertained whilst sharing useful educational resources.

18TH MARCH, 2020

In response to the latest government advice regarding the developing COVID-19 situation, we have made the difficult decision to cancel all events and external visits due to take place at The MERL and Special Collections until the end of April. In addition, the museum and the reading room will close at 5pm on Friday 20th March until further notice.

We understand that this news will be disappointing. We would like to reassure you that it is not a decision we have taken lightly. We will review our plans beyond April in due course. For updates, please visit our website and follow us on social media.

Our primary concern is to protect the health of our visitors, volunteers, students and staff. The University’s Major Incident Team is meeting regularly to monitor the situation closely and follow all government advice to help prevent the spread of the virus.

Thank you for your understanding.