Welcome Back!

Welcome Back!

If you haven’t already noticed or heard, the library is back in action after the stay at home order! After the long break, everyone at the library is excited to be back and able to help you with whatever the library can help you with. However, with the continued state of COVID-19, we do have a few changes in place to make sure that everyone can be as safe and healthy as possible.

• Until further notice, it is mandatory that anyone over the age of 2 that is entering the library must wear a mask properly, no matter the reason they are there, or the amount of time they will be in the building. If you do not have your own mask, we have disposable  masks at the circulation desk that are available for anyone that needs a mask. There will be a warning issued if you fail to wear a mask or wear a mask correctly, and after the initial warning, if you still do not want to wear a mask, you will be asked to leave the library. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS POLICY IF YOU WISH TO ENTER THE LIBRARY. HOWEVER, THERE ARE STILL OTHER OPTIONS TO USE THE LIBRARY IF YOU WISH TO NOT WEAR A MASK.
•  If you cannot wear a mask or do not want to wear a mask, there are options for you to still be able to utilize what the library has to offer. We are continuing to offer curbside pickup to anyone who would like to use it. We want everyone to be able to utilize the library however they can, but public safety is our number one priority.
  
• There is also a new computer policy in place, that states that each patron will be allowed only 30 minutes per day on our computers. This is due to the fact that we had to close down most of our computers to ensure adequate space for social distancing rules. We want everyone to be able to use the computers if they need or want to, so we are putting a time limit for the day on all patrons to ensure that everyone can use a computer if they need to.

All of these new rules have been talked about at length and approved by the Portland District Library board. These new policies have been put in place to ensure safety in the library, and will be enforced accordingly.

These new policies are also going to be in effect until further notice, as there is no true way of knowing when COVID-19 is going to let up enough as to where everything can go back to normal. We also want everyone to know that we hear your concerns, and if you think that there is something that we need to be doing that we aren’t that can make the library a safer place in this time, we want to hear it. Don’t be afraid to tell a staff member that you think we could be doing something differently to ensure more overall safety, but we want to please ask that you also do so in a calm and respectful manner. This is the first time that we are all working through a global pandemic, and we are doing our best to keep everyone as safe as possible.

We as a library want to thank all of our wonderful patrons for being so cooperative with all of our new policies since we have opened up, and also want to say how excited we are to see everyone coming back into the library! We are excited to all be experiencing the first steps back into normality, and are glad that you are going to be doing so with us. So please stay safe and stay healthy, and know that we will all be able to get through this troubling time together.