SALAMANCA — As one of the community’s most reliable resources for free information and entertainment through books, DVDs, internet access and more, the Salamanca Public Library has been vital during the coronavirus epidemic.
Unfortunately, as with the rest of the city’s buildings, the library closed to the public at the end of March. It reopened in June with the social distancing safety practices in place.
For library manager Jennifer Stickles, the atmosphere in the library is different due to the 10-person restriction for how many can be in the building and what those inside are allowed to do.
“At this point, we can’t let people hang out in the library, so all the chairs are put away and it’s very quiet,” she said. “But the patrons who have been coming in have been very excited to come in and browse the shelves. … It’s been nice to reconnect and have people to talk to again.”
During the three months it was closed, the library offered curbside pickup for patrons wishing to check-out materials, Stickles said. For staff in the building, a lot of the work included cleaning and sanitizing everything until state orders sent every nonessential employee home.
“We would come in to do our bills or answer emails and things like that, but the staff as a whole weren’t in the building during our closure,” she said.
With the doors back open, patrons are asked to wear masks and observe social distancing protocols, Stickles said. Returned items are also wiped clean and in quarantine for three days before being put back out on the shelf.
In addition to checking out materials, Stickles said two computers are available for patron use, but calling ahead to make an appointment is required. Computer use is also limited to 30 minutes to serve as many patrons as possible.
“After each person uses it, we go over and sanitize the keyboard, the mouse and the whole area so the next person who uses the computer doesn’t have to worry about any possible transfers,” she explained.
At this time, other recreational activities in the library are not permitted, such as puzzles and games, Stickles said, and the toys and games in the children’s area have also been put away. Additionally, groups cannot reserve the meeting room.
“We’ve had people who want to come in and want to have just two people sit at a table and talk, but that’s not something we can do right now either,” she added.
Although no in-person programs are available, Stickles said the library has been active on its Facebook page with virtual storytime and how-to craft videos. She said patrons can pick up a craft-to-go bag at the library and make the project at home while watching the videos.
“People have commented and seem to appreciate that we’re trying to work around all the restrictions and still provide people with some of the services they’re used to getting at the library,” Stickles said.
The library has also seen an increase in reference requests in recent months, receiving calls from people across the country. Stickles said many people have been doing genealogy research and ask the library to look up obituaries among other files.
With no end in sight for how long restrictions may remain, Stickles said the library board has discussed increasing the library’s web content with more videos or book reviews. She said they are also slowly catching up on new book orders for recently released titles.
“We’ve had about a quarter of the amount of patrons we usually get coming in,” she added. “We are open. You can come visit us. We appreciate it if people do stop in to see us.”
The Salamanca Public Library is open daily, Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 to 7 p.m. For more information, call 945-1890 or email salpublib@gmail.com.
