School library reopening during COVID-19 : my thoughts

My thoughts turned this week to pondering how operations could resume at SRCSA library. This proposal that I’ve compiled incorporates social distancing and also addresses decontamination of resources due to COVID-19. Keep in mind, this report consists of my own thoughts, based upon information and best-practices gained through reading and viewing webinars. (Bibliography appears below.) This report should not be treated as authoritative or actionable; rather, I consider it to be a starting-point for dialogue about reopening my school library.

Library operations proposal

The necessity of social distancing has closed our school campuses and, while campuses remain closed, the library’s collection is off-limits to students and other customers. This especially concerns me, because surveys suggest that children get the majority of their books from their school library (Siu-Runyan, 2011).

“A survey of 40,000 teachers conducted by Scholastic, Inc., and the Gates Foundation included the following question: ‘Where do your students get books for their independent reading most often? Select all that apply.’ The school library was the clear winner. According to the teachers, 83 percent of all students said they got books from the school library, compared to 38 percent from public libraries and 20 percent from retailers. For high school students, 80 percent got books from the school library, compared to 46 percent from public libraries and 35 percent from retailers” (ibid).

I’ve been promoting students’ access to digital resources through Sonoma County Library via the Student OneCard, as well as recording read-alouds and informational videos. But with California in a “Phase 2” of reopening, which allows curbside retail services (California, 2020a), I’d like to consider adopting “curbside” operations for the school library at Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts.

Service window, or curbside, drop-off
The library has at least one window without a screen that opens to the sheltered outdoor hallway. This window could facilitate drop-off of library materials by customers during my designated “office hours” or time of availability.

Patrons could hand the books through the window, onto the library counter.

I would frequently wipe the counter down to reduce risk of lingering contaminants, and would wear a facemask. I would also frequently wash my hands to reduce risk of infection.

As an alternative to using the “service window” approach, I could perform curbside pick-up from patrons in the school parking lot, similar to the practices by Barnes and Noble in offering free curbside pickup (Barnes and Noble, n.d.), and also similar to our arrangement in distributing Chromebooks to families who had need of them.

Checking-in returned materials
As books are returned, I propose to check them out to a “Quarantine” account, thereby absolving the previous borrower from continuing responsibility. Books would be bagged, and the bag would be labeled with the books’ “due-date,” the date that the books could safely be considered free of contamination.

I would place the bagged books in a central, isolated area, say the computer lab. The bags, once closed and labeled, would not be opened until their “due-date” had arrived, at which time I could safely reshelve the books in our school library.

As for the “due-date,” or the duration of quarantine, that can be determined by what seems to be “best practices.” For example, Fletcher Durant, director of conservation and preservation at the University of Florida’s George A. Smathers Libraries, believes the “best disinfectant” is to isolate books for 14 days (Ewen, 2020). But the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is “really not concerned” about paper-based materials being a transmission source (IMLS, 2020). Books, according to the IMLS, could be considered free of contamination in as few as 24 hours. The IMLS is far more concerned about decontaminating “hard, non-porous surfaces that are high-touch,” e.g. our iPads and Chromebooks. The IMLS recommends disinfecting “high-touch” electronics (IMLS, 2020).

Finally, the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) recommends a 72-hour quarantine as “the safest and most effective way to disinfect them after handling by staff and patrons” (Northeast Document Conservation Center, 2020). But it advises that, “For specific material types, a quarantine period of less than 72 hours may be appropriate.”

Checking out new materials
Library patrons would be encouraged to create accounts for themselves in Follett Destiny. To do so, requires them to input their last name and their Santa Rosa City Schools I.D. Once students and staff had created their accounts, they could browse the library catalog remotely and place holds on titles that interested them.

When I next came to work in the library, I could locate those requests, check them out to patrons, and notify them via email that they were ready for pick-up. I could then hand them out through the same window as was being used for returned-book drop offs.

Pediatrician and librarian Dr. Dipesh Navsaria offered an example of “no touch” curbside library delivery: the patron drives up and shows their library card through the window so that the library technician can scan the barcode. The library technician checks the books out to the patron and brings them out to the vehicle, the patron pops the trunk, and the library technician puts the books in the trunk and closes it (Demco, 2020).

Personal precautions
Just as they need to wear facemasks when entering retail stores, library patrons would need to wear a mask during drop-off and pick-up of books. I, too, would wear a mask when interacting with patrons, or with library or curriculum materials. The library service window would help provide a barrier to close personal contact, and I would frequently wash my hands while handling the returned books.

If more than one customer wanted to check out or return books on a given day, they could be spaced at six-foot intervals under the covered walkway, similar to the lines at retail stores.

Moving forward
It’s my hope that this report contributes to dialogue around how library services can operate within “Phase 2” requirements for our site (California, 2020b). Affected stakeholders in other departments of the school may need to be consulted as part of exploring this proposal’s viability.

We’ll also need to apply considerations once patrons can return to the library, similar to discussions that may take place around operations in the classroom. For example, how to impose physical distance among patrons waiting at the counter inside the library, and/or limit the number of students in compliance with “mass gathering” guidelines (California Governor’s Offfice, 2020).

Dr. Navsaria suggests that “You don’t” socially distance a class of young children in a small space and that, developmentally, young children will touch many things, will touch their faces, and touch each other, and you “just have to roll with it,” perhaps issuing gentle reminders (Demco, 2020).

Dr. Navsaria recommended that the same standards that govern students attending school live in the classroom, could also apply to that class when it visits the school library. He recommended that, if necessary, students could place their holds remotely from their classrooms and the books, once checked out to them, could be delivered to them in the classroom.

Students would need Follett Destiny accounts in order to place holds from the classroom.

Given the documented vital importance of children’s access to school libraries, I’d like to see us adopt this model if there is any hesitation among our staff about resuming physical visits to the library. As an alternative, I could also load books onto a cart and bring it to students’ classrooms, consistent with the wishes of Kindergarten teachers who want to set out books for the children to choose from.

For future development : A digital collection

Finally, I’d like to consider ways that, in future, the library can build and curate a digital collection that supports our curriculum - allowing access for library patrons with their Follett Destiny accounts.

With each school closure, whether because of COVID-19 or through smoke- or fire-related incidents, our students and staff lose their access to the physical library collection. A digital collection would help mitigate the loss of that physical access - while allowing us to curate digital resources that specifically support our school community.

Works cited
Barnes and Noble. (N.d.) Free Curbside Pickup for Online Orders. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/h/curbside-pickup

California Governor’s Office. (2020). California Public Health Experts: Mass Gatherings Should Be Postponed or Canceled Statewide to Slow the Spread of COVID-19. March 11, 2020. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/03/11/california-public-health-experts-mass-gatherings-should-be-postponed-or-canceled-statewide-to-slow-the-spread-of-covid-19/

California State Government. (2020). “Resilience Roadmap.” Coronavirus COVID-19 Response. May 12, 2020. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
https://covid19.ca.gov/roadmap/

California State Government. (2020). “Statewide industry guidance to reduce risk.” Coronavirus COVID-19 Response. May 13, 2020. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
https://covid19.ca.gov/industry-guidance/

Demco. (2020). COVID-19: Safety Tips for Reopening Your Library [webinar with presentation slides], May 12, 2020. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
https://ideas.demco.com/webinar/covid-19-safety-tips-for-reopening-your-library/

Ewen, Lara. (2020). “How to Sanitize Collections in a Pandemic.” American Libraries, March 27, 2020. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/how-to-sanitize-collections-covid-19/

Institute of Museum and Library Services. (2020). Mitigating COVID-19 When Managing Paper-Based, Circulating, and Other Types of Collections [webinar with transcript], April 2, 2020. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
https://www.imls.gov/webinars/mitigating-covid-19-when-managing-paper-based-circulating-and-other-types-collections

Northeast Document Conservation Center. (2020). “Disinfecting Books and Other Collections.” NEDCC Preservation Leaflets: Emergency Management, March 26, 2020. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
https://www.nedcc.org/free-resources/preservation-leaflets/3.-emergency-management/3.5-disinfecting-books

Siu-Runyan, Yvonne. (2011). “Public and School Libraries in Decline: When We Need Them,” Council Chronicle, Vol. 21, No. 1, September 2011, National Council of Teachers of English. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
https://secure.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/CC/0211-sep2011/CC0211Presidents.pdf