Park Forest library reopens under a ‘different normal’
Last Monday, a mere two days short of the complete pandemic year, the revised edition of the Park Forest library opened its automatic doors to the public. Gone are hundreds of books that were rarely read and the dozens of magazines that because of contamination fears should not be read.
Missing as well is the once bustling routine that marked the library’s operation.
Library director Barbara Osuch said 45 people walked through the doors from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. the first day on the corner of Lakewood and Orchard drives. What they saw was different from what the building once was.
Chairs and tables that stood nearly elbowto-elbow in the large common area were out of sight. Those nine computers, once clustered together, are now spread throughout the building, with each module a convenient 6 feet apart. Plastic shields are in place at the front desk and a thorough wipeddown cleanliness is like a booster shot for the building. Books returned through the library’s ongoing four day-a-week curbside service are quarantined for one or two days. There is no vaccine for ink and paper.
Without schools in session, there are no students around so there is a lingering quiet that seems eerily out of order for a place where “shh,” was an accepted word.
Although Osuch insists this is not the
new normal but merely the “next normal,” the operative phrase should be a “different normal.” As the building slowly regains its strength and until the bleak chapters of COVID-19 and its variants are relegated to history books, public places such as a library need to operate on another level. It will take time to determine how such a hybrid “normal” will work.
Patrons (no more than 40 at any time) must wear masks and maintain that 6-foot distance. Without a place to sit, leisurely book browsing is a lost art. Since the library serves both Park Forest and Olympia Fields, only residents of those villages can sign up for an hourlong session on a computer. The once live potpourri of lectures and craft programs will run on Zoom until further notice.
Seeking your favorite author may be difficult. Many of the shelves seem to be half empty as those seldom-read books were weeded out. Most were sold to companies who, says Osuch, “repurposed them,” which may be a literary term for resale.
One needs to access the library’s online catalog service to find works by authors such as Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway or John Steinbeck. If you like being read to, take note that most of these out-of-reach volumes are in audio format. Most of those popular magazines that once filled racks along a back wall are also available online through the library.
Some things will remain. The drop-off service still functions on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and the large fish tank is still in place.