Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Crafting with clerks
Librarians help patrons keep busy
PEA RIDGE — Closed doors and quarantines aren’t preventing the Community Library staff from serving people.
Staff at the Pea Ridge Community Library have adapted and dramatically increased their digital presence during the quarantine prompted by the covid-19 pandemic.
Clerks Ashdon Wilson and Nicolette Taylor are staying busy. Alternately working from home and in the closed library, they are catching up on work inside the library while no patrons are present.
“It’s given us time to kind of catch up on the stuff we’ve been neglecting,” Wilson said. “We’ve got a ton of books that have been needed to put in and add to the stacks that we can’t do when there are patrons in the building.”
New patrons can sign up for a library card online. To get a library card digitally, complete the online form (https://forms.gle/DUq JbLuGf1HKTNWR6). Allow at least 48 hours for the request to be processed.
“We’ve partnered with Arkansas Digital Library Consortium,” Taylor said, explaining library customers can access books and magazines online on electronic devices including smart phones, Apple iPads and Amazon Kindles.
Wilson plans and prepares a video of a craft every week for Tuesday release. Last week, she created a wreath from toilet paper tubes using glue and paint. This week’s craft was creating a geode using plastic eggs and Epsom
salts. She uses an app on her phone to speed up the construction of the craft and add information to make it enjoyable and educational for youngsters.
She has led Yoga near the Stacks, displaying yoga positions, on the library’s Facebook page.
A watercolor class will be held online, later this month.
Both Wilson and Taylor said they’re enjoying being creative and finding ways to serve customers.
Annette Beard may be reached by email at abeard@nwadg.com.