New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Ivoryton Library ‘a shining light’
Craft-project home deliveries, Zoom cooking shows for kids among offerings during pandemic
ESSEX — Ivoryton Library Director Elizabeth Alvord recalls when COVID-19 forced the small library to close its doors last year.
“It was the worst feeling,” she said.
When the library closed in March — on Friday the 13th — it “was just the total opposite of what librarians want to do,” Alvord said. “Here are people stuck at home in this crazy situation and we want to help, to get books and movies into people’s hands, and we just couldn’t do it.”
To serve the community despite the pandemic, one of the first changes was to “add the digital service, Hoopla, where people can download e-books, and movies and things,” Alvord said.
Further, most of the existing programs, and some new classes are now held over Zoom, with a benefit of virtual classes being the broader reach. A program honoring Black History Month, for instance, featured speakers from Maryland and South Carolina, and drew people from several states, Alvord said.
The popular adult craft classes also went online. Now registrants pick up materials at the library and follow along with Alvord via Zoom. Recent creations included making junk journals, knotted coasters and gnomes.
For kids, Children’s Librarian Elizabeth Bartlett’s virtual cooking program invites kids to register, get an ingredients list, and a Zoom link to cook together from their own kitchens. An in-person cooking program wouldn’t be possible in the library building.
The library has been open for in-person use off and on, “the numbers started spiking in November, they weren’t tied to any particular situation, it was just all over the board, so we decided we had to close down again,” Alvord said. To accommodate people who like to scour the shelves and choose what catches their eye, and patrons who need to use the computers or printer, Alvord established 25-minute appointments.
“I have easily two-thirds of my day booked up with appointments. We sanitize after people leave to get ready for the next appointment. Everyone is of course required to wear a mask and sanitize their hands when they come in. People feel comfortable, they know they are coming into a clean situation,“Alvord said.
The library is a small space, so, “We’re really patron driven, we supply what people are asking for, we also watch the trends, see what other libraries are doing, and see if maybe we could do it too. “We’ve just added our new collection, the Library of Things, where people can check out items such as a scanner, or cake pans, or craft tools,” Alvord said.
“One of our book clubs, the Tea and Murder book club, has about 20 members,” Alvord said.
On a few nice days, the club met on the Green across the street. “People loved it, and out of that grew making phone calls to patrons to see if there was anything they needed, any books they wanted. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, we actually called patrons that we knew or suspected were likely going to be alone. It was so much fun just to talk to people,” she said.
Courtney Parkerson and her family moved to Essex three years ago and she takes daughter Katie, 2 and 1/2, to the library’s story hour, which meets in the gazebo on the Green.
“That Miss Elizabeth (Bartlett) has been able to do an in-person story time safely, out in the snow and cold weather, is amazing. We dress the kids in snowsuits, she brings crafts in bags for us to take home,” Parkerson said.
“There are so many great things happening online, but for kids, especially those my daughter’s age, they can only get so much across the screen.
“Having a place you can go, and to get out of the house has been such a great thing for us,” Parkerson said, “it’s such a precious time.” She also has two boys, one preschooler and one in elementary school, and added, “when my boys were that age, we went to museums, and libraries, it has really been a bummer to miss out on that this year.”
Essex Elementary School has been back and forth between remote and in-person learning this school year. At times it’s been hard for Parkerson to get to story hour and also help her son with his schooling.
“Miss Elizabeth would drop off crafts on our doorstep. She’s been amazing with delivering books and crafts to families who were quarantined. She’s just been going above and beyond to keep families engaged,” Parkerson said.
“The Ivoryton Library has been a shining light during this pandemic,” Cynthia Hyland, 61 wrote in a recent email. She moved to Essex from Niantic in 2014 with her husband, 57, and son, now 22. “On the last day they were open before shutdown, I took out a bagful of books. Elizabeth (Alvord) steered me towards books she thought I would like.”
Hyland takes advantage of porch pick-up, Hoopla, is a member of two book clubs and has attended online programs. She and her husband estimate they each read upwards of 200 books yearly. She appreciates the library’s personal service, “I always feel welcome.”
Alvord lists that as a priority, pandemic or not, “It’s so important to maintain that friendly personal contact we have with our patrons as best we can, I miss that so much. It’s for me as much as it is for them.”
Hyland sums it up this way, “I’ve lived in places that have big, new library buildings filled with a lot more books, but I have never experienced a library with more heart than this one. They are really the hub of the Ivoryton community.”
Visit the library online, ivorytonlibrary.org, or call 860-7671252.