Is it time to consider what your church library will do about the coronavirus. It is becoming a real issue, and some of us are in the most vulnerable population (60+). Let's not forget how germ-laden books can be.
At our church we are considering the following procedure. We know the medical community is learning new things every day, so this approach may already be obsolete. Here it is:
We are calling our "safe" time frame a week. As we all learn more, you might need to amend the "safe" time.
1) Start by using the common-sense sanitizing procedures that have been widely recommended: wash your hands frequently; wipe down your computer keyboards, scanners, screens, desks, etc.; cover coughs and sneezes.
2) The vast majority of the books on our shelves have not been checked out in the last week. We can consider them as "safe." We can touch, check out and read these materials without concern.
We need, instead, to focus on the problems of our "returned books," those items that we have no certainty of where they have been, which page has been sneezed on, etc.
This procedure is simply a method to avoid touching any item that's been returned until it has been untouched for a "safe" period of time.
3) Have patrons return their materials to a single collection point for all of today's returns (a separate box marked with the date.) The staff does not touch any of the returned items yet.
4) At the end of the day, wearing rubber gloves, we check IN all the items in the box, and return them to the same box. The box is marked with today's date. The box is then set aside for a week-long quarantine.
5) Each day's returns are treated similarly and stored in a separate, dated box.
6) Nobody touches any of the "quarantined" books for any reason, until the quarantine period (one week) for that box is over.
7) After a box's quarantine period is reached, the books may be safely shelved and checked out again. The box itself can be reused and re-dated.
8) No cheating! The most popular books, most certainly, the one you want to read yourself, will be in one of the quarantine boxes. You may be putting others at risk and are surely at risk yourself if you sneak an early check OUT.
That's our plan. How would you improve on this?
Replies
Also, while our service is being held in the parking lot, a library staff member will take a mobile cart around the parking lot with a wide selection of media.
Also, we ordered in bulk John Piper's book "Christ in the Coronaviurs" to give for free to those who are interested. (cost $2.49)
We use Atriuum and the number of items a patron can check out had to be increased to allow for the delay in checking in items. I’m finding more are using our catalog and reserving their choices. People have been very appreciative!
When do we sanitize the books?
While they are being checked in or after the quarantine period is over with?
What if the patron says they would like to renew their books?
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