With today marking exactly one year since our first covid related closure, it’s entirely possible to describe the whole experience in pandemic adjacent buzzwords. Unprecedented times, new normal, contactless curbside pickup, social distancing, professional sweatsuit. Ok, we tried to get that last one going but it didn’t catch.
Though perhaps people are most interested in how we achieved the now ubiquitous pivot (a word we haven’t heard this much since the Friends episode where Ross unsuccessfully attempts to haul a couch up his apartment’s staircase). In covid terms, to pivot was/is to reconfigure oneself in response to a change in environment. And that we did. Times 700.
Last March 13th was a Friday. Which isn’t entirely surprising. But you already know this - through your own memories of the now infamous day, and also a running knowledge of how years work. We were fresh off the news of extended school closures while putting the finishing touches on a packed March Break lineup, expecting an invasion of dozens of children in the coming week, and the promise of more as cancellations rolled on into the following.
By that time, we’d already implemented a book sanitization station (the shift to book isolation rooms would come at a later date and much to the chagrin of our more sociable tomes), removed unnecessary touch surfaces like our beloved puppet theatre (along with its three Elmos – which you would think have similar personalities, but don’t), and advised anyone with basically anything to stay at home until it passed. But little did we know that by day’s end we would have shut our doors for a planned 3-week hiatus which subtly morphed its way into a 4 ½ month stint (there’s a construction joke in there somewhere, but we’re not going to make it).
As soon as it became clear that this expected blip would become more of a blob and eventually morph into an ooze over our regularly scheduled library life, we quickly shifted to a more digitalized version of our former selves. Call it TPL 2.0. No, nevermind - we haven’t thought of a cool name yet. By April 1st we had virtual programs up and running. And eleven and a half months later, we continue to offer an even broader schedule of online events alongside intermittent opportunities for the slow and safe return of limited in-library programming.
Over the past year, we’ve also tended to special projects, one of the results being a lovely digital index of our complete archival scrapbooks, Thorold Property history, and Fred Campbell collection– the first time we’ve been able to offer this local history in a searchable format. During the process, we also discovered that we’ve been openly calling a CSV file a CVS file for the entire time we were aware they existed - so it’s entirely possible there are some people out there who suspect us of having some explosive insider info on the popular pharmacy chain. We do not.
Contactless curbside pickup, in-library book browsing, and computer appointments came in to play over the first reopening back in the summer and we have continued to offer various incarnations of these services as regulations changed, then changed back, then changed again with a new name. We are currently providing all three by appointment. Covid screenings and masks became the norm. As did politely reminding patrons that a mask goes over the nose. That’s about half of our day right there.
Announcements were also big for us this year. We’re found ourself at an interesting communication impasse where we announced both changes to and continuations of service with the same urgency and importance. We also perfected the announcement tripod of pre- announcement, announcement announcement, and post-announcement reminder - all whilst conceding that 45% of any announcement is a self-referential acknowledgement that you are, in fact, making an announcement. Also, filler. That’s very important to the success of any non-announcement. Gives it the air of a real announcement.
Luckily, we have a pretty good group of patrons who’ve been quite vocal in their reciprocated support and appreciation – one even giving our coworker a bouquet of flowers, which we went ahead and assumed was really for everyone.
You can find more information about any of our unprecedented pivots by visiting our website at www.thoroldpubliclibrary.ca or phoning us at 905-227-2581.
