Ashley Hunter
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Unfortunately, there has yet to been a reopening date offered, but Natalie Binder, the library director at the Jefferson County R.J. Bailar Public Library, says that her staff are looking towards the future.
“We are taking a slow and step-by-step process for reopening the library,” says Binder, adding that her staff is working with local health officials and disaster services to ensure a safe opening.
In the meantime, the library has been offering programs to keep its patrons supplied with books to read and activities to engage in.
All clubs, crafting sessions and gatherings at the library have been postponed, but librarians have been offering virtual read-alongs and streamed crafting sessions from the library's Facebook Live.
Additionally, books are still being checked out and read by patrons who are needing reading material while quarantined at home.
E-books (which can be read on mobile reading apps or Kindles) can be borrowed from the R.J. Bailar Public Library's e-collection of novels, biographies and more.
The library has also been offering a Book-By-Mail program, which allows patrons to check out books and receive them through their mail carrier; after the patron has finished reading the book, they repackage it and return it to the library by placing it in their mailbox.
Once librarians have received the returned book, they unpackage it and place it in a clean room where it sits for 72 hours. According to the library and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is highly unlikely that COVID-19 could be spread through books, but the librarians aren't taking any chances.
The returned physical books sit in the room, “detoxing” in the purified air pumped into the room before being safely returned to the shelves for another patron to order and receive through the mail.
If you or someone in your family would like to participate in the library's Book-By-Mail program, visit jcpl.wildernesscoast.org for information on checking out e-books or requesting a book to be mailed to you. You can also call the librarians at (850) 342-0205 for more information about these programs.