[Michlib-l] Respond to patron request for contactless pick up

[Reed, Nyama]

An email I just sent, in it helps anyone else with wording. Feel free to share.

Also, the family member mentioned is not my sister whom I posted about last week. While I'm here, I'll update on Angie - in short, it's not good. She is still sedated and on a respirator 100%. They tried to wean her last week to see if she would wake up or if her lungs would start working on their own. She opened her eyes but did not focus on anything and was unresponsive. Her body started deteriorating bc her lungs weren't kicking in. They had to re-up the medication and the vent. So she is 9 days in and the same condition, which does not bode well.

Thank you all for your messages of support, kind thoughts, healing energy, and prayers. We are still hoping she recovers, but I am not also starting to plan... That's hard to say, but the type-A in me needs to do that.

I hope you, your staff and your families are are well, safe, and healthy.
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Thank you for reaching out to the Whitefish Bay Public Library with you offer to help with contactless pick-up.

The commonly quoted research has shown the virus can live up to 5 days on the materials that books are typically made from. For quarantine I have seen libraries quarantining items from 2 hours - 5 days with 2-4 days being typical. If we touch an item to then put it in someone's trunk or on a cart for pick-up, that results in shared contact of the items at a matter of minutes or hours. While some libraries are comfortable with that, I am not.

On a personal note, I have a family member who was home alone for a full month. She only went out twice: she got coffee; she spent 15 minutes at the grocery store. She is now positive, even with those very minor interactions. Hence, I continue to err on the side of caution and not take any risk for library staff or patrons. I hope you understand even if you may not agree.

In the meantime we are heavily promoting the use of our e-materials and we have seen a significant spike in the usage of those materials. I hope we can return to being open as soon as is safely possible.

Resource: https://www.webmd.com/lung/how-long-covid-19-lives-on-surfaces
"Paper
The length of time varies. Some strains of coronavirus live for only a few minutes on paper, while others live for up to 5 days."

Based on this we should start making all books out of aluminum or copper. Or at least the covers. (a little levity for the moment)

Please feel free to reach out with any other suggestions or comments you have.
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Sincerely,
Nyama

Nyama Y. Reed
Library Director
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