SUBMITTED PHOTO
The Medicine Hat Public Library is now taking pick-up orders for books and other materials over the phone. Pictured: MHPL employee Susan Bubbel-Wilk.
jappel@medicinehatnews.com@MHNJeremyAppel
Although the building remains closed to the public, staff at the Medicine Hat Public Library have figured out a way to resume lending out books and other materials.
Gillian Reimer, MHPL’s head of marketing, tells the News members of the public can call into the library Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to arrange a pickup, with a limit of 10 per child and five per adult.
Patrons can ask for a specific book, movie or CD, items on a particular topic or those that have been on hold since the library closed.
Th pickup times will be arranged to ensure appropriate physical distancing, says Reimer.
“There’s only two people scheduled in a 30-minute time slot, so those people really shouldn’t see each other when they come. They come to our back door, ring the doorbell, hold their ID up to the window so our staff can verify the correct materials are going to the correct person,” she said. “There’s a table right outside the door, so staff can just grab their materials, put it on the table, go back inside, and the person has their books.”
There’s a sign at the back reminding patrons to maintain a physical distance of two metres in case another person is there, Reimer adds.
MHPL staff have still been coming into work while the library has been closed to the public, occupying different parts of the building to maintain social distancing, Reimer said.
“It’s easy enough to do when there’s no public in there anyways,” she said. “We figured we should try to figure out some way to get all the books that have been sitting on the shelves for two weeks now.”
Late fees are waived until the library is able to re-open.
Reimer says times like these offer many people the opportunity to read more.
“Maybe people haven’t made reading a part of their lives up until now, because they’re busy. Hopefully people have the chance now to slow down and maybe do some other things that weren’t at the top of their priority list before,” she said.
It also allows the opportunity to escape anxieties about the pandemic, Reimer said.
“Having a book to escape to a fictional world for a couple hours and forget what’s happening in the real world is really important now,” she says.
This lending system will be in place as long as staff are permitted to come into the library, which could change at any time.
