NORWAY —

Norway Memorial Library resumed inside services on Friday, July 17, 2020. “It’s great to have people back in the building,” said Beth Kane, Norway Memorial Library Director. “We are glad to have returned to a little more normalcy. It was a big milestone when online interlibrary loan requests and the van delivery service resumed. It felt like a big step forward.”

Though the building is open, there are guidelines for library patrons. There is a maximum occupancy of 10 visitors. The children’s room is limited to members of one family who have sheltered together. Items must be returned to one of the outside book drop boxes. The library asks that people wear a mask in all areas of the library, maintain 6 feet of social distance, and limit their visit to 30 minutes or less. Parking Lot Pickup service is still available for those who aren’t comfortable entering the building or who prefer not to wear a mask.

While many of the library’s resources are available, some are restricted. Study rooms are closed, magazines may be checked out but are not available for browsing and returning to the shelf, seating is reduced, and toys and games are removed from the children’s room. All in-person programming has been put on hold indefinitely. Children’s Summer Reading Fun is available using the Beanstack app. Children’s librarian, Annika Black, records storytimes and programs by guest presenters are online on the library’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. All of these measures follow guidelines for safe reopening.

Kane said patrons have been happy to be back in the library. “Even though people could borrow items, there is no replacement for being able to come in and browse. One person said that when they read the Facebook post that we were open, they said, ‘the best thing in the world has happened!’”

Kane said so far things are going well. “We’ll continue to follow guidelines set forth by the Maine CDC and the Maine State Library. We never imagined when we closed the doors in March that it would be for so long. We hope that’s behind us. Now we’re concentrating on the future.”

For more information call the Norway Memorial Library at 207-743-5309.

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