The Haines Borough Public Library. (Emily Files)
Assembly member Paul Rogers withdrew a resolution to end circulation of materials from the Haines Borough Public Library. At a meeting Tuesday night, Rogers told the borough assembly that he was satisfied with the health precautions that the library has taken to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus on the surfaces of books.
“Because I see this weekend that there was a memo from the library director indicating that materials were going out but not coming back. I would be good with that. I’m not good with materials coming back to the library.”
Library director Carolyn Goolsby wrote that the public is not allowed past the foyer of the library and that only one member of staff is allowed in the building at a time. Staff handle requests for materials by phone and email. They wear gloves while handling items and sanitize them thoroughly before placing them in the foyer for pickup. The library has asked patrons to not return books and other items they have borrowed from the library until they are contacted. Late fees have been suspended while the facility is closed to the public.
Rogers says the only reason he proposed to end checkouts from the library was because nobody told him that these changes had been implemented.
“To only find out about a change in how the library was handling this, this last weekend was really rather unacceptable. We should’ve known that quite a while ago. Had we known that, this resolution would not have been necessary in my opinion.”
Borough Manager Debra Schnabel responded that the information was available to the assembly, but nobody asked for it.
“The process was put in place, but we were never asked what that process was. I feel badly that there are assembly members who felt that they were acting without knowledge, but this process has been there and it was vetted through the state,” Schnabel said.
The Haines Borough Public Library’s current health precautions were developed based on guidance for libraries and museums provided within the state’s health mandates. The library remains closed to the public until the state lifts restrictions.
