Sask. libraries looking at options for curbside pickup, reopening

Libraries in Moose Jaw and Saskatoon are continuing to look at options to safely reopen. 

The Palliser Regional Library in Moose Jaw was prepared for the closure when the pandemic hit. Library director Jan Smith modelled her plan after the City of Fredericton's and began moving all programing online in advance. 

"So I was actually ready to close within a half an hour of the City of Moose Jaw telling us that we were closed," Smith told The Morning Edition. 

The library offers creative blogging, videos on knitting patterns, creative crafts and more online. While rural libraries are closed, staff were also catching up on paperwork, cleaning, painting, going through collections and more, she said. 

When the library is closed, though, Smith said people miss certain aspects of it. 

"They just like the social interaction," she said. "The libraries in the rural branches in particular are the hubs of the community in many cases." 

Smith said many rural public spaces have been shut down over the years so libraries are where people meet for book clubs, coffee and knitting clubs. 

Book stores were allowed to open in Phase 2 of the Re-Open plan by the provincial government. Smith said libraries were not permitted to do the same. She said she is instead trying to get the provincial government to allow a phased reopening and wants to start curbside pickup at rural branches.

The Ministry of Education said public libraries fit within Phase Four of the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan which does not have a date yet. The Ministry said it will provide further information as it becomes available. 

"Most of our rural branches are a lot smaller. It's a lot easier to pull it off than in a big city branch," Smith said. "We're in the process of adapting a staff checklist — which we will run by the ministry so we can get permission."

The other option she would like to see is being done by libraries in the United States. It's called limited browsing, where people make appointments and can browse a limited selection of books. 

"That basically means one person — depending on the size of the library — comes in and the librarian is there with them and they go through maintaining proper social distancing and choose what books they want and then we'll check them out and then 50 minutes later, somebody else could come in and do the same thing," Smith said. 

Smith said if librarians were given permission, they could start limited browsing in about a week — as they would need to gather the proper precautionary equipment and sanitizers. 

Saskatoon Public Library preparing for curbside drop off but not pick up

Meanwhile, the Saskatoon Public Library got permission from the provincial government to begin offering curbside drop off for books, said CEO Carol Cooley. 

"We can open up our book drops and have materials that people have been holding onto returned," Cooley told Saskatoon Morning. "That's the first step in reopening." 

Cooley said staff will leave the books isolated for 72 hours as then they will be free of the virus. 

"The virus doesn't live on hard surfaces for long," she said. "We think that 72 hours might be a little longer than necessary but we really do want to be cautious and safe."

The library laid off about 100 employees who normally work in the library branches putting away books, Cooley said. She said many will be hired back as they begin taking books in again. 

While people can drop off books, readers won't be able to pick up any until about Phase 3 in June as they are still preparing for that, Cooley said. 

Cooley said the library is waiting to see how restrictions are lifted before fully opening. She said currently they are in Phase 4 of the reopening plan, however some smaller branches may open before the large branches. 

Even when the library doors are open, Cooley said they will be needing to control the amount of people entering at one time.