Library News

A Message from Warren-Trumbull County Public Library Director Jim Wilkins

(06/16/20)

Dear Library Patron,

During this turbulent time when news and information seem to change weekly, we wanted to take a moment to highlight a few facts about our reopening.

Health Safety Guidelines and Precautions

Here at the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library, we have taken the guidelines given by state and national health officials very seriously. We made plans for reopening under safe and cautious conditions and procured the cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment (masks, gloves, plexiglass protective barriers) needed to do so in a controlled environment at our earliest opportunity.

Libraries are Open with Limited Services

We are now into our third week of limited operations, and the response has been very positive from those who have come in to check out items and browse our materials. We are not back to what we consider full operations yet, but we are working on plans to safely bring back all the services that our customers have come to enjoy.

Access to our free Wi-Fi has never been shut off and customers have been able to access this 24/7 from either inside the library or from our parking lots. We have limited public computers available at most of our locations, although we have had to put some time limitations on computer use due to necessary social distancing and sanitizing.

At this time, we do not have meeting rooms available for public use as we are currently using these rooms to quarantine for 72 hours all of our returned items so they can then be cleaned and checked in. We also have taken our tables and chairs from the floor to help with social distancing and to minimize the amount of surface area we need to clean on a continual basis.

The Library Moving Forward

We are facing a financial crunch for library funding. Governor DeWine has asked all state departments to plan for at least a 20% reduction in funding moving forward, and being good stewards of public funds, we also are planning for a 20% funding cut. With this in mind, we cut back our hours of operation and all spending where we can. Unfortunately, this includes placing 97 staff members on furlough in May and now operating with still reduced hours and staff.

We are making plans to expand hours and add more services in the next phase of our reopening. We hope that will be possible this summer, but we must consider coronavirus levels in the state before making any firm decisions. We also must be fiscally responsible and may need to make more cuts in response to a smaller budget.

We wish we could immediately return to business as usual, but the continuing pandemic means “usual” could be a long way off. In the meantime, be assured we are doing everything we can to safely offer you library materials and services.

Jim Wilkins,
Director

 

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