Both the Central and the Southmost Public Libraries will open Monday at 25 percent capacity after one year of being closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The libraries will open with two-hour timeslots to give staff the time to disinfect and sanitize areas.
“We’ve been ready for a long time, but we needed to make sure that everybody was safe,” Juan Guerra, director of library services, said.
“We are going to provide social distancing and at the end of the day, it is everybody’s responsibility to be social distancing. We have screens; everybody of our staff will be wearing masks and wearing shields. We expect our patrons to also wear masks.”
According to a press release sent by the city, patrons will line up outside the library for specific timeslots and once capacity is met, patrons in line will need to wait until a person leaves the library to enter. The library chat and curbside pickup will continue to operate at the same hours.
“We want to make sure that everybody takes personal responsibility of being safe as much as possible, we will be following guidance,” Guerra said. “It is going to be something different, with the two-hour time slots. But, hopefully, eventually, we don’t have to do that.”
The timeslots for the libraries are as follow:
>> Monday – Thursday: 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.; 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.; 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.
>> Friday: 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.; 3 p.m. – 5 p.m.
>> Saturday – Sunday: 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Adapting to the pandemic, couches and tables at the library had been removed or rearranged to follow social distancing protocols. In addition, Plexi glass was also added at the front desk.
“We are excited and are looking forward to seeing our patrons back, not only our regular but our new ones,” Guerra said. “We are very excited.”
Although a lot has changed in the last 12 months such as the big couches with outlets being removed, the tables limiting only a seat per table per social distancing guidelines and plexiglass on the checkout desks, staff members have continued their operations by offering virtual and curbside services, The Herald reported in February.
“We really had to reevaluate how we provide services,” Chayse Sundt, librarian, said in a previous interview. “Making sure that the services we provide during the pandemic, maintain not only our employees safe, but most importantly the patrons that we serve, safe. A lot of our services have actually gone virtual and we’ve actually implemented and thought of new programs to bring a new way of providing a different type of library services to the public.”
