Salt Lake County Library - COVID-19 Impact Survey

2020 and Beyond with Salt Lake County Library, UT

We asked a few of our library customers questions about the impact pandemic closures had on their operations and collections processes and here is what Stephanie of The Salt Lake County Library had to say.

"Overall, it forced us to develop new ways to communicate."

Submitted by: Salt Lake County Library, Cottonwood Heights, UT 2/19/2021

How did COVID-19 impact your library/libraries in 2020?

We closed to the public in March 2020 (about the 13th) and then about a week later, staff were sent home as well. Staff who could work from home did (mostly the professional staff) and they transitioned to providing online programs like storytime and escape rooms and events in Discord. There was a lot of training done and some library staff were redeployed to other services like mask sewing, grounds maintenance, quarantine centers, contact tracing and other health department needs. Branch staff also began to assist with our customer service phone calls which exploded after we closed. Our cataloging team took boxes of new materials home to catalog and worked on various database clean-up projects. We started phasing back to work in late May, with adjusted hours and staffing. Branches began with curbside pickup, then inside appointments to pick up materials (no browsing) and since August or so we have had metered access to the buildings. We phased into offering limited computer access for 30 minute sessions. There’s very little seating in the branches to encourage patrons to keep their visits brief. We still don’t receive newspapers because of the touch transmission possibility. Masks continue to be required both by library policy and county & state health mandates. Following general social distancing and sanitizing practices.

Overall, it forced us to develop new ways to communicate. We now do most meetings via WebEx and using Slack has become best practice rather than just a side channel. We have streamlined some services. Our budget were not hurt as significantly as initially expected, but we have had to make some hard decisions about priorities. Services and procedures were looked at critically to determine what was essential or to find more effective and efficient ways to work.

Our physical circulation obviously took a big hit during the 2nd quarter, but rebounded significantly by the end of the year when comparing month to month.

How did you adjust and what decisions did you make regarding your serials collection?

We used the information provided by the OCLC REALM project and CDC to determine our procedures. We have been quarantining materials for 3 days after they are returned and before they are checked in. Customers are now able to browse the stacks. We do a minimum of hourly sanitizing of self-checkout stations and PAC computers. We waited for longer before resuming the circulation of the non-traditional items (telescopes, tablets, digitization equipment, storytime kits). These do check out now with the same quarantine process after. We removed all the toys and manipulatives from the storytime kits. Materials going through our internal delivery system to fill holds and return to their owning branches do not get quarantined again.

We spent more on digital content for our customers in 2020. We also used the cost per circ model for our ebooks and audiobooks for the first time to meet the high demand during the summer on titles related to the social justice movement.

How are you now designing and/or deploying strategies to reopen? 

We are continuing to monitor the recommendations and research. We initially developed a phased plan for reopening (or re-closing if needed). That has been adjusted as we learn more, both from practice and the research. We are now considering shortening the quarantine of returned items, but no final decision has been made. 3 days seems to be a good balance of demand, space limitations, and tracking. We have been very generous with fines. Initially after we closed, the checkouts were extended multiple times until after we reopened. We have turned on a 3 or 4 day grace period in the ILS for check-ins so no fines are accrued in the quarantine window. We had an amnesty period in the fall because there were still thousands of items that hadn’t been returned since March. We only recently resumed the collections process for excessive fines and fees. Our Leadership team has stayed in very close contact with our county health department to get their take on our processes. There have been regular surveys of staff to determine how comfortable everyone is with the policies and procedures. Our customers have generally been very supportive of the decisions made so far. They have been so happy to have access to our collections. There is some demand for our meeting rooms and events, but the transmission rates and guidelines from the health department have not made us feel comfortable doing that yet. We have a lot of ‘take & make’ programs for kids where they can pick up materials to do an activity at home. We are continuing to do some programs online like storytime, but have had to cut back as the demands on staff time in the branch increased. We added an online Winter Reading challenge for the first time this year.

Additional comments or feedback?

Hope this is helpful for other libraries!

Stephanie - Salt Lake County Library, Cottonwood Heights, UT