St. Joe-Benton Harbor News

As industries in Michigan begin to reopen with new COVID-19 safety practices in place to protect employees and customers, libraries are no different, according to Sen. Kim LaSata (R- Bainbridge Township).

She held a YouTube chat June 29 with Barbara Gordon, director of Cass Public Libraries, about the reopening.

“We’ve implemented a mandatory 72-hour quarantine period,” Gordon told LaSata. “When books and materials come back to us, they sit untouched for 72 hours before they are able to be checked out again by another patron.”

The library system is also requiring patrons to wear masks before entering a library. “We will do that as long as that is the directive of the governor,” Gordon said in the video.

Libraries are opening at regular times but are not staying open as late in the evenings as they used to, Gordon said.

“Most of our branches are closed by either 5 p.m. or 6 p.m.,” she said. Curbside service is also available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day.

“If people feel more comfortable calling us to ask for a bag of books, we’re happy to do that and bring them out to them,” Gordon said in the video chat.

Requests for curbside service have been strong at all the library locations, according to the director.

It's not just books that patrons need from the library. “A lot of people, especially in the rural part of the county, still need computers, they still need faxes, they need copies made,” Gordon told LaSata. “That’s something we’re really happy we've been able to offer, too.”

The library system heard from patrons even during the months it was closed.

“I was receiving a lot of emails from people, just wondering when we might be able to reopen and asking to make sure that we bought some of their favorite new books, so they were here and ready when we reopened,” Gordon said in the video.

Those are the “personal touches that I think people love about their local public library,” she added.