DCDL requiring patrons to wear masks

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It’s been an eventful week at the Delaware County District Library.

On Monday, our Board of Trustees held a special meeting to discuss a new public health advisory system and the topic of facial coverings within the library. By the end of the meeting, they had approved a plan that works in conjunction with Gov. DeWine’s color-coded public health advisory system and approved the requirement of facial coverings inside library buildings.

Level 1 (Yellow) and Level 2 (Orange) mean the same thing for Delaware County District Library, which is our walkthrough browsing system, continued curbside and drive-up service, and limited access to public computers.

Level 3 (Red), indicates a stop to walkthrough browsing services and the library moves to curbside-only services. No public may be admitted inside the building. Staff may work in the buildings, if helping with curbside or reference services, but most may remain home if they do not have work that requires being in the library building.

Finally, a Level 4 (Purple) remains similar to Level 3 (Red), unless there is a stay-at-home order. Curbside and drive-up service will remain, so long as staff and the public are allowed to leave home for non-emergency or essential business. Buildings will operate on the smallest levels of staffing.

Whether Delaware County is on Level 1 or Level 4, the Board of Trustees did vote to require face coverings for all people entering Delaware County District Library locations. After careful consideration, this policy is asked of individuals ages 2 and up, who are not otherwise exempt due to medical, life, health or other specified reasons.

As a parent of a 2-year-old, I know it will be difficult to ask her to wear a mask or face covering. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do recommend face coverings for ages 2 and up, because at 2 years of age, children have the ability and dexterity to remove something from their body if it’s uncomfortable or harming them. (If you have children, did you live through the “I can take off my own diaper” phase? It can get real messy if you don’t catch them in the act.) So for me, personally, I’ve enjoyed the many curbside offerings that businesses have added to their services in the past four months, and I’ll stick with those when I’ve got the kids in tow.

Thursday’s update came with the announcement that Delaware County had moved into the Level 3 (Red) alert. So, beginning Friday all branches went back to the curbside model, as proposed earlier in the week.

And finally, on Friday, the City of Delaware informed the library that they would be replacing a water main filter on Henry Street on Monday, July 20, resulting in a water shutoff at the Delaware Main Library. Unfortunately, even though we’re now only doing curbside requests at our branches, due to the Red Level 3 Alert, no water means Delaware Main Library will have to close entirely on Monday.

We’re sorry for yet another inconvenience in what seems like a never-ending list of inconveniences. However, we should be open and ready again at our usual time on Tuesday morning.

If you haven’t already discovered them, this is another good chance to try something from the library’s digital collection. Hoopla has a list of titles to continue the conversations on race, from a young adult perspective. Download or stream one today with your library card.

• “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas. Available from Hoopla on eBook. Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer.

• “March: Book One” by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, illustrated by Nate Powell. Available from Hoopla as a Comic. A first-hand account of the author’s lifelong struggle for civil and human rights spans his youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., and the birth of the Nashville Student Movement.

• “Betty Before X” by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renee Watson. Available from Hoopla in audiobook format. Raised by her aunt until she is six, Betty, who will later marry Malcolm X, joins her mother and stepfamily in 1940s Detroit, where she learns about the civil rights movement.

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By Nicole Fowles

Glad You Asked

If you have a question that you would like to see answered in this column, mail it to Nicole Fowles, Delaware County District Library, 84 E. Winter St., Delaware, OH 43015, or call us at 740-362-3861. You can also email your questions by visiting the library’s web site at www.delawarelibrary.org or directly to Nicole at [email protected]. No matter how you contact us, we’re always glad you asked!

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