Back to Curbside Service Only, July 17, 2020 until ?????

As you may have heard or read in the local news media, Beaufort County Library has returned to only providing Curbside Service to our customers in response to the surge in COVID-19 infections in our community. All Beaufort County government facilities are closed to the public until further notice - including all of the Library system's branch libraries, the bookmobiles (that haven't been on the road since early March 2020) and the Beaufort District Collection.

Now would be a good time for you to check out my recommendations for local history titles from the Branch Libraries and/or on Hoopla, the Library's streaming service. The Hoopla items you can download to your computer, tablet or smartphone. Call into one of the branch libraries to secure physical copies of items from the local history shelves. Both services require that you have a valid Beaufort County Library card. Don't have one? We may have you covered!

During this period of limited services, curbside pickup will be available 11 AM - 4 PM, Mondays through Saturdays. You can find the details on how to use curbside services on the Library's website.

As before, I remain available through messages left on my office telephone 843-255-6446 or to my email address: gracec@bcgov.net during the BDC's usual and customary hours, Mondays - Fridays, 9 am to 5 pm. I do my best to respond appropriately to all incoming within 72 hours.

Mask up, socially distance and stay well, my dear readers. This too shall pass.

Library Enters Phase 3 - and What That Means for You

Update: 18 June 2020 5:00 PM - The Beaufort District Collection is closed until further notice. 

The Library enters Phase 3 of its re-opening plan on Monday, June 15, 2020. If you're on the Library's e-mail blast list, you got the news last night. If not, you may want to sign up to get on that list for future notices about Library operations as we are not out of the COVID-19 health alerts situation yet. And for those who missed the e-blast, here's the text:

The Beaufort County Library system is pleased to announce that its branches will reopen to the public with new protocols starting Monday, June 15. In the interest of preventing the spread of COVID-19 and protecting County employees and the public, library administration has announced several temporary changes to operations that are in line with the public health guidelines put forth by DHEC and the CDC. Read full details on the Beaufort County Government site.

• All library branches will reopen to their normal opening hours but will close at 4:00pm daily to ensure proper cleaning and sanitizing
• Bookmobiles will resume service to a limited number of stops starting July 6th. Check our Bookmobile page for the latest updates and the July route schedule (coming soon)
• Visits to the Beaufort District Collection (BDC) will be available by appointment only (Update 18 June 2020 - all prior appointments are cancelled until further notice. The Research Room is closed into the foreseeable future.) 
• Curbside service will continue [with an expansion to all] open hours

Our library buildings have been deep-cleaned and surfaces continue to be sanitized daily.

Employees have been provided with cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer, and face coverings, which they are required to wear in the workplace.

The following changes have been implemented:

•                      All visitors to County buildings (including library branches) will be required to wear a face covering while there

•                      Restrictions on the number of customers allowed in facilities pursuant to state/local recommendations

•                      Cough-guards installed at service counters

•                      Floor markers and signs displayed

•                      Furniture arranged to allow for social distancing

Library services:

• Books and movies can be checked out at service desks and self-checkout machines
• Public restrooms will be open
• Public computers are not available at this time
• Copier/scan/fax/email self-service machines will be available
• Library meeting rooms are not available at this time
• Library programs (for youth & adults) are suspended until further notice

Library cardholders can continue to access the library’s online resources such as Hoopla, cloudLibrary, Flipster Digital Magazines, Lynda.com Online Learning Suite and Ancestry.com Library Edition.

We thank you for your patience, support, and understanding as we closely monitor COVID-19 developments and work to mitigate issues related to the temporary closure and reopening of our library system.

 (Update 18 June 2020 - the Research Room is closed until further notice.) 
As regards the operations of the Beaufort District Collection's physical facility, the primary goal I have is that you get the information you need while limiting actual visits to the Research Room as much as possible. This is to minimize the risk of spreading COVID-19 among ourselves and to others with whom we come into contact. So here's what to expect about Beaufort District Collection operations starting Monday and continuing until further notice:

1. Access to the Research Room is by appointment only until further notice.
2. You must contact me personally (gracec@bcgov.net) or call me at 843-255-6446 in advance to schedule an appointment to come into the Research Room. If I don't answer the telephone, please leave a message so I can engage with you as soon as practical.
3. I promise to respond to you within 72 hours (unless I am on leave) to discuss your needs and what we have in the BDC to help you. You might be surprised by how much I can help without you having to enter the Research Room.
4. Let's conduct as much business as possible through the telephone (843-255-6446) or via e-mail (gracec@bcgov.net). 
5. I will schedule one appointment per time slot followed with gaps for cleaning surfaces in between appointments in order to minimize the risk for other Research Room customers and BDC staff.
6. I am willing to do as little as one hour or as many as 8 hours within the 9 AM to 5 PM usual and customary day operations schedule - though you should note that access into the Library building will cease at 4 PM until further notice. We can talk about a mutually acceptable date and time during the follow-up telephone call or e-mail.
7. You must wear a mask at all times while in the Library building until further notice. Please note: There will be no relaxing of this County mandate inside the Research Room.
8. Please wash your hands before you come into the Research Room. Let's start off as safely as possible.
9. Hand sanitizer will be available for use inside the Research Room but customers must allow the hand sanitizer to completely dry and evaporate before handling any of the materials.
10. Materials used will be quarantined for 7 days after use. Only the customer who has used them in the preceding week can access those materials before the end of the 7 day quarantine. Any use begins a new 7 day quarantine period.   
11. Materials taken from the shelves in the public area of the Research Room will also be quarantined for the 7 day period. 
12. Please place materials used on the burgundy book cart or materials table in the public area of the Research Room. 
13. The very well attended BDC Local history program series are suspended until further notice - which I must admit makes me sad. Please know that I am working with our partners Beaufort History Museum, Beaufort County Historical Society, Coastal Discovery Museum, and the Family History Center of the International African American Museum to see if there is a practical way to deliver an abbreviated series to you in the Fall. It's too early to tell how our joint efforts will turn out.

I hope to see you soon. 

Beaufort County Library's Phased Re-Opening Moves Forward ...

When I arrived at the building this morning, this placard was on the front window of Beaufort Branch Library:

I know that it was meant for all the folks who work in the Beaufort Branch Library downstairs, but I am going to say that it was for all Beaufort County Library personnel who work full-time or part-time in one (or more) of our facilities to deliver materials and services to you: Administration, all the people who work at Bluffton, Hilton Head, Lobeco, and St. Helena Branches, on the bookmobiles, in the Technical Services department, the two folks in the IT unit who've kept our computers up and running, and the BDC. M. Smith, rest assured that we appreciate your sentiment and we miss seeing our customers, too. 

At 8 AM today, Phase II of the Library's re-opening plan came into effect. Details are on a new Library web page called  COVID Operations that looks like this: 

https://www.beaufortcountylibrary.org/covid-operations

 

As indicated, the Library will re-open but given the pandemic, service delivery may continue to be different from the way we did things on March 14, 2020 for quite some time. There's lots of good information detailing how Library staff can assist you at the present time. Please click your way through all the buttons to get the fullest experience and understanding of the Library's phased re-opening plan.

In the case of this unit, I am mostly working remotely but keeping regular hours. I will respond to emails sent to bcd@bcgov.net or gracec@bcgov.net as well as emails sent to the Library's general contact address about local history or genealogy that are forwarded to me. Voice mail messages left on the 843-255-6446 work line show up in my in-box as well. I am writing, planning, and maintaining the BDC's social media outlets: our local history focused Facebook page; this Connections blog as well as the "BDCBCL: Links, Lists, and Finding Aids" WordPress one so there's always something "new" about Beaufort District's long and storied history, people and/or places from the BDC for you to know and learn.

When the Library re-opens to the public on a limited basis in Phase III on or about June 15, 2020 - depending on the status of COVID-19 conditions - access to the Research Room will look and feel different due to the limited physical size of our public research area. I've already begun the changes as this photograph shows:

Research Room: 6' between desks, doors, and customer equipment

This may be a good moment to highlight our own unit's history. 10 years ago access to the BDC was shut down from July 19, 2010 until September 29, 2010 while Charmaine Concepcion and I physically relocated the materials from our cramped quarters in the old SC Room up to our current quarters on the 2nd floor. We got everything ready for the public with only 1 hour to spare before the formal reception that evening. But what a joyous occasion! I am sure that when the first researcher is allowed back in, there will be a celebration - but no hugs - because everyone has to stay socially distanced per the rules! Stay safe, stay well, and Kristi and I hope to see you in the Research Room sometime soon.

Celebrate National Library Week 2020 from the Comfort of Your Home

National Library Week (April 19- 25, 2020) is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and library workers and to promote library use and support. I always look forward to advocating for my industry of choice and employment during the celebration. However this year, I feel even more passionately that we lovers of libraries must speak out - and perhaps more forcefully than ever - as cutbacks are sure to come in the wake of all the death and economic disruption caused by worldwide attempts to "flatten the curve" of this dreadful pandemic.

Thus, like the rest of our lives as of mid-March, National Library Week 2020 is certainly different this year. Even the logo changed as library after library closed in the wake of all the disruption caused by everyone's attempt to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 virus.  We cannot have any large gatherings at the moment - and certainly not inside our buildings to mark this annual weeklong occasion.

While most libraries have closed their buildings to protect the public as well as staff members from contracting or spreading the COVID-19 virus, many are open for business online, providing and promoting their virtual services and digital content in new ways. Many like the Beaufort County Library have expanded access to digital content . Many like Beaufort County Library are finding innovative ways to continue programming efforts using technology tools that some have never used before.

As in the past, libraries as community institutions and library staff have proven themselves agile in reacting to circumstances and proactive in thinking of new ways to deliver services that the community needs. Almost overnight libraries transformed from places where staff deliver services to individual customers on a one-to-one basis into organizations of individual workers stationed at home who deliver personal services to other individuals primarily through technology and through our websites. Some of it has been fly-by-the-seats of our pants though Library staff are learning via free webinars how to better position Beaufort County Library to serve you, our community, in these unusual times by repositioning the Library as a trusted second line helper in the public health fight of the new century.

The BDC has long had "Virtual" services through its social media and presence on the Library's website. If you've attended any of our 20 local history programs or outreach efforts this fiscal year, you've heard about at least one or more of those services at each of those interactions with community members. I hope that you're using at least one or more of those portals to get your local history on!

Over the years, the BDC has as many website/virtual customers as it has had inside our physical Research Room. But COVID-19 now means that all our customers are at least temporarily somewhere else. The same is true for the Beaufort County Library as a whole. Library staff have been working hard since our buildings were closed to the public to serve our community in new and enhanced ways. Here are some of the changes:

• Temporary Library Cards
• Temporary Access to Ancestry Library Edition from home! 
• Temporary Suspension of Overdue Material Fines
• You can borrow more items from Hoopla
• Temporary Access to News Reliability database began April 2, 2020
• Library Book Drops Re-open, April 17, 2020
• A newly created Reading Suggestions for Downloadables page

According to reports submitted to the Library Board of Trustees by Library Director Ray McBride, Library staff have completed more than 1500 hours of continuing education and answered hundreds of questions through our home computers, internet connections and smart phones.  Staff have managed new services and promoted our website, databases, and downloadable services such as Hoopla and Cloud Library. Circulation of electronic formats have exploded. Staff received guidelines on how to do online presentations on Wednesday, April 15 so be alert for upcoming virtual programs, including (probably) one from us during May.

I have maintained all the BDC's social media from home during the shutdown. There is at least one Facebook post per day - and sometimes more. Please visit the BDC Facebook page for upcoming posts about these National Library Week events ... and more:

Monday, April 20: The 2020 State of America's Libraries Report is released
Tuesday, April 21: National Library Workers Day
Wednesday, April 22: National Bookmobile Day
Thursday, April 23: Take Action for Libraries Day

To stay in the know, please subscribe to receive e-blasts from the Library system and the Beaufort District Collection. #AloneTogether can't last forever. We will return to our buildings and to serving you with research help inside our facility and through gatherings with others interested in learning more about this wonderful place in which we are currently sheltering-in-place.