The health of our staff, volunteers, and patrons is important to us. To ensure that the library can continue to offer services for as long as possible, the trustees have approved some prudent policy changes in response to the COVID-19 virus, effective immediately and until further notice:
- Our staff will extend our hours of operation so that patron visits may be dispersed over a greater period of time to facilitate the social distancing recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. The expanded hours can be found in this newsletter, and on our website and Facebook pages.
- Since we now understand that the virus is very communicable by breathing the same air as those infected with the virus, we are limiting access to the library to picking up and dropping off borrowed materials.
- We encourage those dropping off books, audiobooks, and DVDs to please just use the book drop without entering the building. Any items from the realia collection or electronic items should still be returned inside the library.
- We also encourage patrons to browse for items for borrowing through our online catalog, and to request desired materials by email, phone, our webpage, or our Facebook page; our staff will pull items off the shelves and have them waiting for you. If you would prefer not to enter the library, we will bring the items to your vehicle. Please drive up to the building entrance and call us at 207-225-2030.
- We ask that patrons who themselves are ill, or who have a member of their household who is ill, to please not come to the library to borrow or return books.
- We will not be making calls to collect overdue materials during this period, however, we ask that you continue to return items to the library as you are able.
-Our realia collections will not be available until further notice.
- We will continue to take requests for Interlibrary Loans, however, because many libraries are closing or suspending their non-essential functions, we believe that it will take longer than usual to fulfill those requests.
- Because we ask that our own staff and volunteers do not report for work if they or any member of their household shows signs of COVID-19 illness, the library may need to suspend operations on short notice. Watch our updates on our website and Facebook page.
For a bit of fun news, some of our wonderful volunteers have recorded readings of picture books that have been posted online, so that story time for our youngest patrons can continue, if only remotely. Please take a look and share the links widely to help families with young children who might be missing this familiar library service.
We look forward to resuming normal operations after the pandemic has subsided, at which time we can again serve as the social hub of Turner. Until then, stay well!
