Throughout the COVID crisis Library of Michigan has been meeting regularly with other state library agency staff in the Midwest area and nationally to share experiences, resources and information.

We want you to understand the context of what is happening in other parts of the country as well concerning what the status of  libraries in regarding openings, delivery and providing in person public services.

From conversations with state librarians and library development managers in the Great Lakes region we are finding that ramping up to full library service is very slow even in neighboring states that have had permission to open before Michigan.  We recommend that you review and learn from other libraries around the country regarding how they have transitioned to their new reality.  Please review, consider and prepare so you can welcome back both your staff and patrons in a safe manner.

In other states that have had more time to move to the re-opening of libraries we hear that they only have about 5-10% of them actually open to the public and that resource sharing delivery is in the 50%- 60% level if at all.  Many libraries in neighboring states, even if allowed for public egress, are continuing to slowly ramp up services to support both safe spaces and practices for their patrons and staff. 

Some ideas you can consider as libraries in Michigan plan to move to offering services again are:

1. Continuing phasing in services to ensure your facility, staff, and patrons are in a safe environment and also are following all requirements of the EOs currently in place or coming ahead in the future.
2. Providing curbside as a start to services to learn more about what your community is comfortable with and ensure you have space for materials handling.
3. Allowing for appointment-based services to ensure patrons have opportunity to get technical assistance and use public access computers while ensuring your facility and staff have capacity in the new environment to serve patrons.
4. Limiting your operational hours for both staff and public in the building as you phase back to full operations.
5. Consider how you can provide services by mail in order to protect your patrons, especially those vulnerable populations, that may be concerned about in-person contact.
6. Virtual programs will be with us for the long haul. Don’t abandon the skills and capacity you created in the spring but continue to grow and support this method allowing community members to engage with information and experiences. 
7. Follow the current EO direction that any work that is capable of being performed remotely must be performed remotely.
8. Review your patron behavior guidelines to ensure you staff and your visitors can confidently do their jobs and use your services and facilities. Update if necessary and train or re-train your staff.
9. Reach out to friends groups as you communicate so stakeholders all understand what the current situation is for your library.
10. Create messaging and communications for your community so they are informed and understand what to expect since it will be different from before no matter the phase you plan to start with at your library.
11. Train your staff on cleaning procedures, managing symptomatic patrons, and notifications of infection.

(this is not an exhaustive list, only some things we hope you consider or items that we hear about from our national and state colleagues)

This is just a short list of things to consider.  As I mentioned before, just because you have permission to re-open next week with the EO 2020-110, it does not mean you need to be or even are allowed to return to the same environment you left in March. 

Please read the Executive Orders in effect now, EO 2020-110 and EO 2020-97 that provide the direction for your organization.  Also, please be aware that the Governor’s workgroup and it’s library subcommittee are meeting this week and recommendations from that group may necessitate additional changes, updates or protocols for libraries if the Governor chooses to issue new EOs that encompass activities in the Arts & Culture sector. 

As we have said before what you need to know, understand and ultimately actually do in your libraries will continue to change so be prepared for changes now and into the future. Be mindful of your community members health and safety as well as those of your staff.  Executive Orders and Directives can be found here: https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/0,9753,7-406-98178_98455---,00.html

We will continue to provide information out to Michlib-l and directly to our public library directors as we support the communities movement to advance to the Phase 4 of the Mi Safe Start Plan.  We have received many questions and will be compiling these and researching answers to held guide and support you in the process.

Please visit the State of Michigan Coronavirus website at www.michigan.gov/coronavirus for resources and links to details you need.

Shannon White
Library of Michigan, 702 W. Kalamazoo, Lansing, MI 48909
Whites29@michigan.gov  517-335-1507 | www.mi.gov/libraryofmichigan

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