HUMBOLDT — The Humboldt Reid-Thompson Public Library is reopening with a 10 person set capacity limit.
“We are very excited about it, happy,” said Michael Langhorst, Humboldt branch librarian. “Of course, we were sad to close for more than three months, so we’re happy to reopen.”
This comes as Wapiti Regional Library loosened restrictions throughout the region on July 13, with library capacity accessed on an individual basis.
This capacity limit will help library staff manage the social distancing protocols that have become so much a way of life during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our first priority is always the safety of our staff and the safety of our patrons,” said Lindsay Baker, community services librarian with Wapiti Regional Library.
According to Baker, when books are returned policy dictates that they are to be handled by gloves and put in a 72-hour quarantine to kill the virus.
Any surface the book has come into contact with is then cleaned.
“By the time they get back into the hands of the patron they have been set into quarantine for longer than the basic recommendations are for items, since the medical community seems to agree that it takes about two days for the virus to die,” Baker said.
Two out of the five computers will be made available at the Humboldt Reid-Thompson Public Library.
Langhorst said this decrease due to the wiring into the Wi-Fi router and printer, which caused the devices to be unable to be moved to be distant from one another.
“We had to shut down the computers to make them inaccessible,” he said.
“We’re sanitizing as much as we can with sanitizers, and bleaches, and bleach sprays.”
At this time no programming will be held at Wapiti branch libraries, but the region’s summer programming will continue online.
For more information, the Humboldt Reid-Thompson Public Library can be contacted at 306-682-2034.
The library’s hours will remain the same as before the pandemic, with it operating from Monday to Thursday at 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
