Reopening going well at St. Marys Public Library
Things have slowly been getting back to a new normal at the St. Marys Public Library after the facility reopened for in-person use by the general public last month following several months of curbside-only access due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to St. Marys Public Library Director Leslie Swope, while the library was initially having patrons sign up for a specific time slot to visit when the facility reopened in February, appointments have no longer been necessary as of March 1.
“Some libraries have had success with using appointments, but I don’t feel like it is working well for St. Marys,” Swope said. “We are not having a large influx of people wanting to come in at the same time. I think we can safely manage opening back up to the public.”
Even though appointments are no longer necessary, there still are capacity restrictions in place. Swope indicated that 14 people, not including staff, are currently able to be in the building at one time.
“We are able to raise that number if we need to, but we want to make sure that staff is able to clean as needed, and we will raise that number when we know it is feasible,” Swope said.
Swope noted that library hours were expanded to help counteract the lower capacity number. The library is currently open
from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, noon to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays.
As for which part of the in-person library experience patrons seemed to miss most when the facility was closed, Swope cited browsing.
“Browsing is the main thing that everyone missed,” Swope said. “It is so hard to know what you want to read without being able to look at the books. Second to that is Storytime. So many families miss coming in for programs, and we miss seeing the families. We have no idea when we will be able to start providing in-person programs, but we are hoping for the fall.”
While in-person activities remain unable to be held, the library did introduce some new virtual offerings recently, including access to a variety of magazines through Flipster.
“Flipster has been a little slow, which is normal for a new service,” Swope said. “We have signs and help guides about it in the library and hope that once more people are aware of it, the use will increase.”
Swope added that district libraries have also discontinued their subscription to Gale Courses and are now offering access to an online learning platform called Udemy.
“Gale Courses was used fairly well by the community, but we felt that the courses available were too limited in selection, and it was a lot of reading to be done,” Swope said. “Udemy has a variety of different length courses and has a lot more being offered.”
Use of Udemy is free for library card holders, though Swope noted that either a Microsoft or Google account is needed to be able to log in. A link to the service can be found on the library’s website.