Tulsa City Library - COVID-19 Impact Survey

2020 and Beyond with Tulsa City-County Library

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 Sarah of Tulsa Public Library had to say.

"We did stop ordering physical materials."

Submitted by: Tulsa City-County Library, OK 2/22/2021

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

It’s honestly hard to count the ways! We closed briefly and then focused on online services, adding some digital resources and making others more accessible and marketing them. We also had to shift gears to online programming, which was a huge challenge that the staff here handled incredibly well – the programs were well done and well attended with very little time or training to figure out how to do this! IT ramped up our wireless service so that our library parking lots all had accessible wifi for people who needed that. We also stopped ordering physical materials for a time and shifted funds to ebooks and e-audio until we reopened for curbside and started circulating physical materials again. We’ve been quarantining returned materials for about 4 days. Over time, we have expanded curbside to include books bundles, accepting requests for types of materials wanted for customers, 3D printing delivery, and regular printing, copies, etc.

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

We did stop ordering physical materials for a time, and asked vendors and shipping companies to hold our shipments for us while we were closed. We shifted funds to eBooks and e-audio and worked to strenuously market our electronic offerings, including some popular resources that we could offer remotely for the first time due to the companies’ generosity in this area. As we started to move people back into the office, we made arrangements for delivery of waiting items, including allowing larger, palletized shipments until we caught up, and then we tried to get back into a more regular ordering cycle, but honestly, there aren’t as many things available, so we continued to shift some funds into electronic purchasing, while still buying titles that will circulate and keeping up with our holds ratios.

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

We are planning to open 8 out of 24 libraries for express service later this week. Plexiglass and distancing stickers installed, and masks are required. We will allow computer and business center use as well as browsing of the collection for up to an hour at a time, and will be prepared to limit occupancy as needed. We did this a couple of months ago at 5 of the libraries and had worked through a lot of the issues that will arise, so we’re hoping things will go smoothly and we will continue to open additional libraries as open positions are filled.

Additional comments or feedback?

I hope this is helpful – please let me know if you’re looking for more or different information. We are very pleased with how we’ve been able to pivot time and again to keep providing the services our community needs.

Sarah - Tulsa Public Library