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Sheep River Library in Turner Valley to reopen on Monday

Staff at the Sheep River Library have been working to ensure patrons can continue to access many of the facility’s services that they’ve enjoyed in the past.
Jan Burney 1523 BWC
Sheep River Library manager Jan Burney said staff have made the necessary preparations to reopen the facility to patrons. (Wheel File Photo)

Adept at changing with the times, staff at the Sheep River Library have made the necessary preparations to open to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sheep River Library manager Jan Burney and her staff have been working this past week to ensure patrons can continue to access many of the facility’s services they’ve enjoyed before its doors closed in March after COVID-19 hit Alberta.

Although the Turner Valley library will not be offering its programs when the doors open July 6 to discourage group gatherings, Burney said patrons can still check out the many items the library offers including reading materials, movies, hiking poles and tools – the process will just be a little different.

“All items must be returned at the drop box,” she said. “One employee will be designated at each shift to glove up and empty it. All returned items will be quarantined for three days.”

Burney suggests patrons reserve only those items already in the library.

“Not all libraries are open and some are not doing deliveries yet,” she said. “The surefire way of getting something is to put a hold on something that is here.”

More vulnerable patrons who are nervous about entering the building can opt, instead, to do curbside pick-up, which began on June 24. Burney said they can select a 15-minute interval to pick up their items.

“When they arrive we glove and mask up, put the item on a cart, bring it out, they take it and we bring the cart back in,” she said. “We can’t guarantee they may not come in contact with COVID-19 and suggest that maybe they should wipe the item down.”

Patrons who are comfortable entering the facility will notice a few changes – including being required to enter in the front door and exit through the back door.

Burney said decals will be on the floor guiding people in various directions to promote physical distancing, protective barriers have been placed at the circulation desk and between two work stations in the back, public computers will have a protective barrier over the keyboards and staff will wear masks and gloves.

In addition, a staff person on each shift will be assigned to regularly wipe down surfaces throughout the facility, including the washrooms.

In addition, shared items like board games and toys will not be available for use.

Burney said staff began making preparations to reopen since returning to work on June 22.

“We’ve been incredibly busy,” she said. “We’ve spent time figuring out how to do things, shelving books and processing new materials that arrived. It’s taken us up until now to get through all of that.”

With the Dr. Lander Memorial Swimming Pool also opening in early July, Burney expects she and her staff will have their work cut out for them.

“We tend to get groups of dripping wet children during a storm or if there’s too many people at the pool,” she said. “We will monitor the kids to make sure they’re not hanging all over each other.”

Burney expects monitoring people will be one of the toughest tasks ahead for staff.

“We always want the library to be a place of inclusion - open and welcoming to people,” she said. “We don’t want to be policing people’s behaviour. It’s a concern that we have to be watching people more closely than we normally would and not being able to accommodate everything that people may want or need. For example, if a group wants to have a meeting we have to say ‘no.’

“It will be an adjustment.”

Burney said she doesn’t foresee any changes for a few months.

“I’m hoping, if things go well, we will be able to start bringing some of those groups back in the fall,” she said.

In the meantime, she’s eager to see some familiar faces return to the library.

“We missed everybody,” she said. “We don’t see them elsewhere in the community because everyone is home or are wearing masks. The library is about patrons so that’s a huge factor that’s been missing.”

Operating hours for the Sheep River Library will return to 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays to Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

For more details about curbside pick-up or to learn more about the Sheep River Library, visit https://sheepriverlibrary.ca/

Tammy Rollie, OkotoksToday.ca

For updated information, follow our COVID-19 special section for the latest local and national news on the coronavirus pandemic, as well as resources, FAQs and more.

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