Reopening NH Libraries Task Force Report

The Reopening NH Libraries Task Force is working hard to get the first version of the Reopening NH Libraries best practices document finalized and released by 5/21/2020.  In the meantime, here are three additional pieces of information that the committee believes are important to reinforce this week:

• Library Directors and Library Trustees should be reviewing library policies related to employees at the same time they are creating a reopening plan. There are many nuances to employee issues and rights related to COVID19, and it is prudent to have the town HR department, the town attorney, or an attorney retained by the Library Trustees review any current employee policies so that they may be amended in light of the various federal and state laws that are impacting employer/employee options. Congruence and compatibility with town personnel policies should be considered too. For information about COVID19 and employment issues, visit the NH Department of Labor website and the US Department of Labor Wage & Hour website.
• Library materials are potential vectors for COVID19, both going into the library and leaving the library. While many librarians have discussed quarantining materials as they are returned to the library, not as many are talking about quarantining materials that are selected and bagged to go to patrons from the library. This material exchange is a two-way street, and library staff could also harbor the virus in an asymptomatic form and transfer it to materials as they are handled. It is important to consider what is an appropriate protocol for outgoing materials as well as a quarantine protocol for materials being returned to the library.
• The IMLS/OCLC/Battelle partnership has a new website and timeline available through WebJunction: https://www.webjunction.org/explore-topics/COVID-19-research-project.html.  The timeline for release of their information about COVID19 on materials could take as long as August 2020. In the meantime, here is a link to an article in the 4/16/2020 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine that provides additional information about the viability of the virus in the air and on certain material types: https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMc2004973

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