Curbside service available at county library branches
Youth literacy associate Joy Meuller delivers library materials to a customer’s car at the Main Library in New Philadelphia.
The Tuscarawas County Public Library System began curbside pickup of materials this week at each of its five locations in Bolivar, New Philadelphia, Strasburg, Sugarcreek and Tuscarawas.
“In this first phase of our restart, our physical buildings remain closed to the public, but we still wanted to find a safe way to get customers the books and library materials that they need,” library director Michelle McMorrow Ramsell said. “We’ve put a lot of time and planning into this, and we hope that customers are able to enjoy library materials while still remaining safe.”
According to Ramsell, a committee of library staff members met throughout April and the beginning of May to adopt best practices for a responsible restart to library services that keep both staff and customers as safe as possible.
“Our customers have been enjoying the many digital materials the library has to offer these past two months,” said Cara Randall, support services manager and member of the responsible restart committee. “Still, we know people are excited to get physical materials from the library once again, so establishing a contactless curbside pickup was a high priority for our first phase.”
Randall said curbside pickup service for all the locations can be broken into three easy steps:
Customers can put items on hold through the library’s online catalog or call the TCPL location they visit to request items. Staff will call customers when the items are ready to be picked up and schedule an appointment for a specific day and time for them to come to the library. Customers come to the library and follow the contact-free directions staff have provided.
“Customers will be able to get their items without ever coming into contact with one of our employees,” Randall said. “At some locations they will simply pull into a designated parking spot, pop their trunk and staff will place their items into their vehicle. For other locations, once the customer arrives, staff will place their items on a table, and the customer can retrieve them when staff goes back into the building.”
Library customers also can now return items the library asked them to hang onto in March. Items can be returned in any of the outdoor book returns at each of the five county library locations.
According to Ramsell, when these items are returned, the staff safely places the items into quarantine for the amount of time recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This allows any germs that may be on books to die before they are handled by staff or given to another customer. It also was said there will be no fees for any items that are returned past their due date because of these procedures and the temporary closure.
For more information about contactless curbside pickup at the county library, visit www.tusclibrary.org or call the nearest TCPL location: Main at 330-364-4474, Bolivar at 330-874-2720, Strasburg at 330-878-5711, Sugarcreek at 330-852-2813 or Tusky at 740-922-2748.
For more information call or email Ramsell at 330-364-4474 ext. 237 or mramsell@tusclibrary.org.