The American Library Association designates April 3 – 9 as Love Your Library Week.
Middlesex Public Library is committed to serving our patrons whether our building is open or closed. When our building was completely closed during the early part of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, our librarians were still available to answer questions via phone or email. Our patrons still had access to our digital services, such as Hoopla, eLibraryNJ and Libby for ebooks, audiobooks, magazines and movies. Our patrons had access to Knowledge City for learning opportunities. We were able to grant temporary library cards for residents that did not have a library card and wanted to use these services.
Since the Spring of 2020, we have learned so much about what we can do virtually and should we ever have to close again, we would be prepared to offer virtual programs in addition to our digital resources. We now have wifi that is available to patrons on the grounds surrounding our building and can be accessed even when we are closed.
When we were open for Walkup/Pickup we were able to offer virtual bookshelves for our patrons to peruse the latest new releases via their internet connection. We were able to offer Reader’s Advisory services based on patrons telling us other books, genres or topics they were interested in. We were able to offer printing and photocopying services.
We have done our best to meet our patrons needs and will continue to innovate and work to meet our patrons where they are.