Southworth Library sees success after reopening

Last month, Southworth Library in Dryden was finally able to reopen its doors to the public after a long shutdown period caused by COVID-19. As library leadership explained, the reopening was a big relief for both staff and residents, as Southworth faced several challenges trying to provide programming and materials during the pandemic.

Diane Pamel, library director for the Southworth Library Association, has been with the library for many years and has seen it grow into the valuable community resource it is today. While the library itself was built in the late 19th century, it wasn’t until 2010 that it expanded into the library residents know and love.

In 2010, the library opened the Lincoln Center Addition, made possible by the sale of a handwritten copy of Abraham Lincoln’s 1864 re-election acceptance speech in 2009. As Pamel explained, that large sale was exactly what the library needed to grow.

“We sold the document at a Christie’s auction for a record value, $3.5 million,” Pamel said. “We used that money to build the addition, … and it’s just exploded since then. First year [with the expansion], our circulation increased 500%. We’ve been able to really become a community center and do a lot of programming because we have this space.”

The building expansion also led to a programming expansion, and prior to the pandemic, the library offered a wide variety of resources and programming for residents to enjoy, including interlibrary loans, book clubs, storytimes, classes and more.

Much of those offerings had to change once the pandemic hit. COVID-19 left leadership scrambling, Pamel said.

“I couldn’t even alert people and say, ‘Come get 50 books for your kids,’” Pamel said. “We had to, as did everyone, just completely shut down. So, that meant the only people that could go in the building were myself and occasionally our bookkeeper. So, it turned everything a little bit on its head.”

Despite the unexpected turn of events, library staff quickly pivoted to providing services in a socially distanced way that protected the public health of library users. The transition required a lot of learning for residents and staff alike.

“Programming that we had underway — book clubs and stuff — became getting packets together and either delivering or mailing them, book clubs getting books that I could mail to people,” Pamel said. “We would do Zoom discussions for the book club for the adults and the children, which was a great learning curve for the adults.”

After schools shut down in the spring, Southworth provided take-home materials to help with assignments students were doing from home, including instructions on accessing the library’s virtual resources.

Like many in the county, Southworth faced a variety of difficulties when trying to adjust to the pandemic. As Pamel said, library staff had to deal with constantly changing guidelines and information.

“It was challenging just because it was like keeping all the corks in, learning all those things at the same time and trying to make sure you weren’t missing anything that you could be doing,” she said.

Originally, Southworth was classified under phase four of the state’s reopening plan, but it was later put under phase one, allowing the library to offer more services a lot sooner.

After taking a couple of weeks to figure out all the logistics, the library started offering curbside pickup for materials in mid-June, which helped fulfill some of the demand that had been building during initial shutdowns.

“When people are stuck at home, what do they want to do? You really want to read a book or watch a movie, and it was so frustrating to be surrounded by all these wonderful new books and not be able to get them into the hands of people,” Pamel said. “So, once we could do curbside, we were making sure people got stuff. If people requested one item, we would usually give them two just in case.”

By mid-July, the library resumed its interlibrary loan services, and on Aug. 3, the library reopened for in-person services on an appointment-only basis, allowing visitors to browse the shelves and use the computers for the first time since mid-March. About two weeks later, the library switched to only requiring appointments for computer usage, making the rest of the library open to the public.

Now, the library is almost back to its pre-COVID-19 hours, with circulation at about 65% of what it was prior to the pandemic. Southworth receives roughly 20 to 30 visitors a day, and staff is continuing to offer virtual programming and curbside pickup. There are also many outside activities for residents to enjoy.

The library has instituted several new policies and practices to help protect public health. Toys have been put away to prevent contamination among kids, for example. Pamel expanded further.

“There’s a certain entrance, there’s a different exit, and there’s certain pathway markers for areas that are a little more congested,” she said. “We have strict mask and sanitation protocols that we require for folks, and they have to be able to answer the COVID [screening] questions before they can enter.”

Moving forward, Pamel said the library is hoping to increase its indoor offerings and programming in general. Like it did 10 years ago, the library expansion will likely prove to be crucial to this goal, but there’s still a lot of precautions that have to be taken into account.

“[We] want to be able to provide for things for the community that they want and that they need but still err on the side of being safe and cautious,” Pamel said. “I just don’t know what the future will look like in terms of indoor programming.”

For now, Pamel said everyone has abided by the rules to keep each other safe, and she’s received an outpouring of support from visitors.

“Everybody is so happy,” she said. “Every day, someone says, ‘Oh, I’m so glad you’re open.’ … They come in and they just stop and breathe through their masks and say, ‘I’m so glad to be back.’”

The library hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 2 to 7 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Computer access is by appointment only, and residents can sign up for 30- to 60-minute time slots by visiting the library’s website, southworthlibrary.org. Visitors not using the computers are asked to keep their in-person visit to under an hour to help with social distancing.