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Date: 6/10/2020
SOUTHWICK – After offering a brief trial period in March, the Southwick Public Library started offering curbside pickup for books, movies, magazines and more on June 1.
Lynn Blair, the library’s director, said that they recognized curbside operations as an option to keep services going amid the pandemic before the business closures began. “We were doing it before we closed in mid-March, so it started then just as a way to keep services going even when we couldn’t have people in the building. We can easily do curbside pickup with no person to person contact,” she said.
She explained that residents can place orders by calling the library or online using a Google Doc available on Southwick’s website to list any books, movies, or magazines they are looking to borrow.
Blair said that residents began placing their orders the week before the curbside service initially began. “We expect to get a lot of phone calls and requests next week so this week we started taking requests,” she said, “We’ve gotten quite a lot of requests already, and we have everything bagged up and ready to go for Monday.”
In terms of picking up rentals, she said the process is simple and completely contactless. “It’s simple so people just fill out the form or call us and then we ask them to give us a call when they are on their way and we have everything bagged with their name on it and when they let us know they are on their way we can just pop it on our bench and they can pick it up and go,” she said.
If the library does not have the specific book residents are looking for, they do have the option to allow library staff to pick a similar book.
While the closure has been difficult, Blair said the library has used the time to learn and adapt to the new restrictions. “It hurts us to have to close, we hate doing it and we love to serve the patrons, but it’s put things in perspective and made us think outside the box,” she said, “We’ve been experiencing with virtual programs and expanding our online resources. In a way it’s been a learning experience for us and it’s been going pretty well.”
Blair said that the library has plans in place for when it eventually reopens under social distancing guidelines. “We don’t have an opening date, but we are expecting to have to limit the number of in the building at first. We have everything set up from our computer stations and lines for check out, so they’ll be six feet apart,” she said.
She added that it is her goal to make sure staff and patrons are safe and comfortable once the library reopens. “We’re making sure that we quarantine all the items that come back in, we want to make sure that our staff and patrons feel comfortable about coming in, and using our materials and our space so we’re just taking every precaution we can,” she said.