SUSSEX COUNTY, Del. - South Coastal Library, Greenwood Library, and Milton Library reopened on Monday, after closing last March.
The libraries have permitted contactless pickup for the past several months, but their doors have been closed to foot traffic for almost a year. They've been planning for reopening ever since.
"I'm so grateful. It's been a long haul. I know we have a long way to go before anything gets back to normal again. Libraries are really service oriented, we really bent over backwards to try and learn new ways to provide service,” said Sue Keefe, Library Director at South Coastal.
"It's been a long year, and the staff has been working really hard to provide virtual services,” said Mary Hopkins, Milton Library Director.
The county-owned libraries now have a COVID-19 entry screening, where visitors will have their temperature taken, and will be asked questions about their health.
"[We] are very cautious to continue to take those steps forward ... we have wonderful safety protocols in place for the public and the staff,” said Sussex County Librarian Kathy Graybeal.
The plastic covering on keyboards are replaced after every use, and personal staff walk around and sanitize everything.
"We can have up to 30 customers at a time. We've made a lot of our browsing collections face out so people can easily see what it is they would like to have, and pick up and go,” said Keefe.
All three libraries offer walk-in browsing, and computer usage by appointment, on select days of the week.
The Cunningham Family was excited to head to Milton Library to pick out some of their favorite reads.
"We called on a chance and they were like we're doing walk-ins, and I was super excited,” said Sara Cunningham.
Libraries are still continuing curbside pick up and virtual programs.
“Public libraries are all about access, to whatever that may be. It could be newspapers, it could be technology,” said Graybeal.
They're already off to a great start.
“By the end of the day we had 206 people come visit us on our first day, and it was great, it was really great,” said Keefe.
Milton and Greenwood are open Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. South Coastal is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 4p.m.