After closing its doors in March due to COVID-19 and related health restrictions, Harbourfront library branch is set to open its doors Monday.
Library branches across Vancouver Island closed on March 16 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions implemented by the province of B.C., but according to a press release, Harbourfront branch, in downtown Nanaimo, will offer “walkthrough service” beginning Monday, July 20, following safety and social distancing procedures.
The branch will offer access to a limited collection of books and DVDs for loan, photocopying services, fee payment and self-checkout.
Harbourfront library will be open Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m.-noon and from 1-4 p.m. On Tuesdays, hours will be 1-4 p.m. and 5-7 p.m. and the branch is closed on Sundays.
Vancouver Island Regional Library reminds people that customers must have a library card and the branch will continue to offer pickup service, where customers can place holds on materials via an online catalogue and library staff prepare items, which customers can then pick up at a set time.
There will be no access to public washrooms or computers and according to Melissa Legacy, Vancouver Island Regional Library’s director of library services and planning, the plan at the branch will be used as a blueprint.
“It’s almost four months to the day since we suspended in-branch services in response to COVID-19,” Legacy said in the press release. “Since that time, we have never lost sight of people’s desire to return to the library … I am pleased to announce that we are piloting our walkthrough services at the Harbourfront branch – a model we plan to replicate and expand across our service area in the days and weeks ahead.”
For more information, go to www.virl.bc.ca.
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