Reopening NH Libraries Task Force Report

The Reopening NH Libraries Task Force has held two meetings to date (4/20/2020 and 4/27/2020), and sub committees of the Task Force are also meeting on a regular weekly basis.  The main goal of the Task Force is to compile and release a document that will guide NH libraries with best practices for phased reopening of library buildings, as well as questions for staff/trustees to ask themselves when creating an individual library reopening plan.

The Task Force has a number of outside factors to consider related to the release of this document, including the status of the Governor’s stay-at-home order, guidance from NH DHHS and the CDC, and the potential plans emerging from the Governor’s Economic Reopening Task Force that just started meeting on 4/22/2020.  Right now, the Reopening NH Libraries Task Force is hoping to have a final document available in a few weeks.

In the meantime, this does not mean that NH libraries have to wait to start planning for a phased reopening of library buildings to the public.  Instead, here are suggestions for things that can be done right now, in preparation for creating a reopening plan for your individual library:

• Is your library already communicating consistently and regularly with three groups: the public, library staff, and library trustees? If not, now is the time to establish a solid communication foundation that will greatly help your library to disseminate accurate, consistent messaging about reopening physical buildings in the future.
• Is someone from your library staff on the town/city Emergency Management Committee or Joint Loss Management Committee, or communicating regularly with these groups? Building relationships with either of those two groups will help the library keep informed about what other reopening plans are happening in the town, potentially help with sourcing supplies needed to reopen, and allows the library to interface with emergency responders, whose staffing and ability to respond to issues at our buildings will factor in to any reopening plan.
• Does your library trustee board have a relationship with an attorney (such as the town’s attorney or an attorney retained by the board)? Now is the time to get that person up to speed with the idea that your board will be approving a reopening plan, and that there will be employment and liability issues to consider prior to approval of that plan. It is important to get the advice of an attorney who would potentially defend the library/town in court if a challenge arose.

The Reopening NH Libraries Task Force will provide an email update to the NHAIS and NHLTA lists weekly on Thursdays, in this format, until the final document is released.  Please reach out to either Michael York or me with questions. And a BIG THANK YOU to the twenty members of our Reopening NH Libraries Task Force – they are sifting through a mountain of information and trying to cull down to the most important topics and reliable resources that will benefit our libraries the most as they create their individual reopening plans.

{This is a reprint of the report issued by Lori Fisher to the NHAIS-L listserv}