The outbreak and spread of COVID-19 in our community has created unprecedented challenges for all of us. Health directives from the county, state, and CDC have caused the library to close our doors temporarily, but staff are hard at work preparing for when we can reopen. The staff are working from home with limited resources to make sure the public can access all of our digital resources, including ebooks, digital newspapers and more. The public can use Libby, our eBook app, which gains them access to thousands of ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines. The public can also visit our website for lists of resources on COVID-19 health information and online resources to aid in home education and entertainment. Staff will be updating these resource lists regularly, as new information becomes available.
As we receive updates from the NY Governor and other State and Public Health Officials, we continue to modify our response as appropriate. Because there are so many unknowns, and we do not want to create more confusion by continuing to change our plans, we are making the hard decision to remain closed until the Officials announce it is safe to reopen. To this end, all library programs are canceled or postponed, including the Public Budget Forum. Patrons can visit our website for information on the proposed 2020-2021 Library Operating Budget: www.cornwallpubliclibrary.org/library-budget-vote. We hope that our budget vote will proceed as planned; the Board of Trustees and Library Director will make a decision soon and update the public.
We ask patrons to keep our materials safe at home. The book drops are locked and fines will be waived during this time. Delivery of holds is also suspended. We ask that patrons not leave book donations outside the library at this time, as staff are unable to process or sanitize.
Looking ahead, we are hard at work preparing for when our building can reopen. Plans for Summer Reading, future programming and more are keeping us busy. The library is committed to keeping the public as safe as possible during this challenging time. Please know that, in the meantime, we are doing all we can to keep our remote services available to all and we cannot wait to welcome you back into our library.
