CMCo Libraries Not Reopening Yet; Curbside Pickup Continues

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COURT HOUSE – The days of visiting the library for hours to read, browse titles, or enjoy the quiet may be over, as “the new norm is to grab your books and go” due to health and safety restrictions in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Librarians in Avalon, Ocean City, and the county library system anticipate many patrons will continue using curbside pickup because it’s easy, eliminates contact with others and seems to be working and acceptable under “the new norm.”
Curbside pickup was permitted, as of June 15, after the governor closed libraries March 21 because of the pandemic.
As of July 2, libraries could reopen at 25% capacity, but locally, they continued with curbside pickup. It may take the libraries a bit longer to create safe and effective service plans to reopen their buildings to patrons and expand services.
“Ocean City won’t be opening July 2. We want to do at least one more week of curbside pickup,” said Ocean City Free Public Library Director Karen Mahar. 
The county library system, which has eight branches, will continue with curbside pickup only through July and may expand to allow faxing, copying, computer use, and scanning services in August, according to County Library Director Andrea Orsini.
“I think people will continue to use curbside pickup because they’ve been surprised by how easy it is,” Mahar added. “There’s no contact with crowds or others, and it’s really been working well.
“I think the new norm is going to be to grab your books and go,” she lamented. “It won’t be like the days of browsing in the quiet or reading in the library.”
“We want to be really careful and protect our staff and patrons,” Orsini said. “We’ve been working with other libraries across the state and country to see how best we can do this.”
Avalon Free Public Library Director Erin Brown said their library was also not going to reopen its building July 2 and, as of June 30, did not have a date scheduled for when it would.
“Many of our patrons browse the collection to select items, so we anticipated they would miss that experience,” Brown noted. “In response, we’ve been identifying ways to support browsing remotely.”
Orsini said she thinks not being able to browse for books is the biggest change for patrons. “Normally, our patrons would come into the building, browse and select their book and have it immediately. Now, it’s a process,” she said.
Under the new COVID-19 rules, patrons can call or request online their book order or reference material, and assuming the books/information are on the shelf, could expect to receive notification for pickup the same or following day. Pickups are scheduled, so patrons won’t have contact with others.
At the county branches, the books are placed on a table outside the door just before a pickup occurs. Due to privacy concerns, only the last five numbers on a library card are used to identify book orders in Ocean City.
“People were so excited that we were finally open,” Mahar said. “You wanted to chat with them, but the whole point is to eliminate as much contact as possible.”
Orsini said the county libraries used the week of June 22 as a “dry run” of how curbside pickup would work, as they called patrons who had books on hold in March.
“People still wanted the books they’d been waiting for for three months,” Orsini said, “and we wanted to start with a clean slate.”
Curbside pickup at the county’s libraries “went well,” according to the librarians, as both staff and patrons adapted to a new way of doing business. Staff are answering phones to take orders, finding the books, instructing patrons how to pick them up, and scheduling appointments for pickup.
Additionally, lists are generated daily for online orders that the staff can fulfill. If a book isn’t available on the shelf, it is requested from another location and delivered.
During the first week of curbside pickup, Mahar said about 1,100 checkouts occurred, with just a few mix-ups of orders.
“It went very well, but was pretty hectic as we get used to this new normal,” Mahar said. “I’ve got a great staff who I think were as organized as you could expect with something that is new to all of us.”
Summertime, with its visitors, second homeowners, and year-round residents, is usually the busiest time at the area’s libraries, according to the librarians. During a “normal” summer day, Mahar said they could have 1,000 checkouts a day. Orsini agreed.
Because the book-return bins were closed since March, Mahar and her staff watched lines of people returning their books. “I think we emptied our bins three times that first day,” she noted. “They were overflowing.” They had 5,335 returns from June 22-July 1.   
When books are returned, they are quarantined for at least 72 hours before staff will check them in and return them to the shelves, another of the new COVID-19 requirements. 
Fines for overdue books were eliminated at the libraries, for now, the librarians noted.
In the meantime, the librarians are anticipating how things will operate as their doors open.
“Over the past three months, while we were closed, I think people got used to our e-books and digital books and they are used to our online features,” Mahar said. “Some people may still need help, and we are here to help them. I think we have a pretty good system and it worked pretty well.”
The libraries have extensive online programming, as a result of being closed, and the librarians said the programs were well received.
“This is not our usual summer,” Brown noted. “We’ve been using social media and YouTube to get our programs out and we’ve had a nice response and use. Even our story times for the young ones show 100-150 users. We had over 30 programs in June and anticipate even more in July and August.”
Orsini said the county’s staff was adding new online programming, as well, producing online content to “serve our patrons.”
“Our staff has done guitar lessons, online storytelling, even a cooking demo online,” Orsini said. “Everyone brings different skills to the table and has embraced what needs to be done to serve our patrons. It’s been well received, and I think it’s been a good way for us to stay in touch with our patrons, as well as they have been able to see familiar faces with us.”
“We miss connecting with our patrons in person,” Brown noted.
“When we do open, it will be another new norm,” Mahar said. “I hope people will be patient. They will be required to wear a face mask inside and things will be different than before.”
The libraries are being held to many of the same requirements imposed in retail business, according to the governor’s Executive Order 157 (https://bit.ly/3gaTx0F).
“We are trying to make it as easy as possible for our patrons,” Orsini added. “Everyone’s doing the best they can in these unprecedented times.”
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.