In the latest step to fully re-opening, the Chapel Hill Public Library is adjusting their practices to allow for library patrons to pick up their books or materials inside the building.

While the building closed to the public in March of 2020, the library has remained open for business throughout the course of the pandemic by employing their “Park and Pick Up” service. Through the service, library patrons have been able to place holds online, park at the library and collect their books or materials at the main entrance.

Now, starting Thursday, May 13, library patrons will once again be permitted to pick up their holds inside the building.

“As Library staff and community members are vaccinated, as COVID numbers continue a downward trend, and as public health restrictions are lifted,” said Chapel Hill Public Library director Susan Brown in a press release, “we look forward to welcoming our community back into the facility.”

In order to adhere to the existing COVID-19 restrictions, library staff said a limited number of people will be allowed inside the building at once. Patrons will still be asked to maintain social distancing guidelines and wash their hands, while wearing a mask will still be required for everyone over the age of 5 at all times.

The library will be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week to give staff the chance to set everything up, according to the Chapel Hill Public Library. On Thursday, however, the library will open and return to a schedule of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays.

According to a draft reopening plan shared to the community in April, this step of moving operations back indoors is the first of several the Chapel Hill Public Library will take to reopening more of its services. The next step involves offering public computing inside the lower level of the library again, with limited occupancy and time limits. From there, the library aims to allow browsing of materials with sessions in place before removing all restrictions and reopening all resources.

“We are thinking about this as steps on a path, and that path is not a straight one,” Brown wrote in April. “We will take one step at a time, stabilize our footing, and see what’s needed to move ahead. We will assess, revise, and iterate, adjusting occupancy and other access limits as we move ahead with each step.”

More information about the Chapel Hill Public Library and its services can be found on the library’s website.

 

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