Library opens with limited hours and strict guidelines
CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. » The Clifton Park & Halfmoon Public Library opened its doors to the public Monday for the first time since March 15 with several new policies to keep everyone safe and healthy.
To enter the library patrons are required to wear masks, their numbers will be limited at any one time, and there will be a policy of no browsing. The euphemistic term to describe the temporary guidelines is no loitering. Please.
The new hours to enter the library are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday. Curbside pickup of reserved materials will follow the same times by appointment only. There is no inter-library loan service at this time.
One week after starting scheduled curbside pickup of reserved materials the library is slowy moving forward with a reopening plan that just might lead to allowing patron browsing later this month if all goes well.
During a walkthrough last week of the library building at 475 Moe Road, Clifton Park, it was clear that temporary modifications to the had been made with safety for the public and the staff a clear priority.
Curved Plexiglas barriers have been installed at the greeter’s desk in the front lobby, the checkout desk, and the reference desk. Crowd control stanchions are also in place to keep patrons from wandering beyond the library’s central operations area on the first floor.
Vertical and horizontal display stands hold quick pick, grab and go, hard copy publications, and a variety of DVDs. A folding table was planned for the foot of the staircase to hold grab and go
Book Bundles and Take & Make bags for youngsters.
The Book Bundles have several selections of popular young people’s books from a single category. The Take & Make bags have projects that kids can take with them and work on at home.
Monday’s limited reopening is the third stage of the library’s seven-stage reopening plan.
While curbside pickup by appointment of reserved materials started June 30, the public was allowed to drop off their returns two weeks earlier. To help with the expected large number of returns the library was loaned 40 new trash bins from a local waste and recycling hauler.
“The last day we checked out materials was March 15,” library Director Alex Gutelius said. “Our patrons had 30,000 items checked out when we closed on the governor’s orders. We told them to keep them; of course, we
never expected to be closed until July 1.”
Gutelius said eight of the bins were put out the first day to accept the returns. The first bin was filled in 15 minutes. She estimates the library has had about 100 curbside pickup appointments each day since that practice started.
After closing its doors Gutelius said she and the staff were initially focused on how to continue to provide its services to patrons. But when she and the others realized the closure might go on longer than anyone expected, Gutelius said they realized they were faced with two questions; how to continue to provide the services and what would have to be done to reopen.
To answer those questions committees on safety, programming, material handling, and communications were formed. After a bit of training staff members quickly learned the art of virtual programming from home.
“The [virtual] programs are really popular,” Gutelius said. “People who wouldn’t normally attend one otherwise are now attending them from home. We have three Zoom accounts to handle them all.”
Material handling, especially the returns and checking out new materials upon reopening was a different matter, however. Going over each book and every page with a disinfectant wipe was out of the question.
“The material handling part was tough because there’s not a lot of guidance there,” she said. “Studies show the virus won’t last [on hard surfaces] more than 72 hours so we quarantine the filled bins and let them sit for the required time. Using anti-viral wipes on the DVD cases is toxic for the staff and something like a UV light was impractical. We feel most libraries are doing this.”
The new, limited check out procedures will allow 25 patrons at a time to enter the library and either go to the checkout desk to pick up a reserved item or go to the reference desk where librarians will help fill requests from the stacks.
While the library was closed its staff was still keeping up on new publications and making orders. A backlog made up of fortyseven boxes of new books was delivered last week.
With regard to checking books out, Gutelius said many people know exactly what they want and can order it online or come in and request it. For those that don’t know, the librarians will help them either in person or over the phone.
Gutelius said curbside pickup for reserved materials will be in force for quite a while.
One of those using the service last week was Anne Kavanagh of Halfmoon. Kavanagh scheduled an appointment to pick up the book, Subversion: The FBI’s War on Student Radicals.
“I missed the library,” she said while standing outside the building with a book in hand. “I come here weekly.”
When asked how she liked the staged reopening process she replied, “so far so good”.
“I’ve had people tell me they won’t step inside this library again until there’s a vaccine,” Gutelius said. “I can understand that and for them, curbside pickup is the way to go. With everything that’s happened, you have to look for positives.”
The main phone number for the library is: 518371-8622