It’s a good day — La Farge is opening again

Today is a red-letter day in midtown Santa Fe. The La Farge Branch Library, 1730 Llano St., is fully operational once more for patrons to browse, use computers, check out materials and otherwise enjoy their neighborhood library. Though the Main Library and the Southside Branch Library locations had been fully operational, the city had said it lacked staff to open the La Farge Branch Library except for curbside service.

No more.

The library will be open for in-person services from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday — it had been closed since March 2020. Expanded hours will have to wait until more people are hired. We get that, but when figuring library hours — or any other city service — it would be refreshing if anyone considered people with day jobs.

Maybe La Farge Branch Library only has enough staff to be open around 40 hours a week. There’s no reason two of those days couldn’t be noon to 8 p.m., so people can drop by after working hours. Flexibility matters, especially as we adjust to changing realities.

The reopening of La Farge Branch Library is a reminder to all in the city life is returning, not to a pre-pandemic normal, but to the accommodations we all must make in living with a contagious and sometimes deadly disease.

This new normal should include regular updates from city leaders about what’s next for recreation and senior centers and other services that deal with the public. Limited hours at the rec centers — mostly during the day — mean many residents simply can’t get to the gym to swim or exercise. Not everyone works 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or is retired.

We soon need to see the Genoveva Chavez Community Center and other rec centers return to hours that accommodate people who go there before work, as well as those who’d like to be there after work.

It’s also time for an update on how the city is doing in finding and hiring lifeguards. Public swimming pools can’t operate without enough lifeguards. There needs to be a short-term strategy for hiring — signing bonuses or increased pay, perhaps — and a strategic plan for training future lifeguards. That means swimming classes, Red Cross certification classes and recruitment that starts as early as elementary school swim teams.

Hiring and keeping lifeguards is a national problem, but there’s no reason to give up. Ask committed lap swimmers if they’re interested in becoming a lifeguard. A youngish retiree could supplement a pension or Social Security check that way. But get all working city pools up and running with hours that accommodate different schedules. A generation of kids is missing out.

At least those kids won’t miss any more library time. And when they return, it will be to a more attractive library. Staffers and supporters have improved the place, with updating from the Friends of the Library and the city Facilities Department.

In the reopened La Farge Branch Library, there will be new furniture, a young adult collection space and fresh décor, including additional pieces of art. Curbside pickup will continue for people who don’t want to be indoors. For those who do want to employ the physical library — whether to search for books, use a printer or work on a computer — masks that cover mouths and noses are required. This reopening is closer to normal, just not all the way there.

That day remains in the future. For now, watching students visit the library after school, knowing a child can browse for the perfect book or that it’s possible to print an important document for free — those are all signs of better days to come.

Libraries are among our most important civic institutions. Society is better when libraries thrive, and opening helps make that happen.