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Weekly News Digest
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August 4, 2020 — In addition to this week's NewsBreaks article and the monthly NewsLink Spotlight, Information Today, Inc. (ITI) offers Weekly News Digests that feature recent product news and company announcements. Watch for additional coverage to appear in the next print issue of Information Today.
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COVID-19 NEWS: Libraries Take Different Approaches to Reopening
The Bennington Banner reports that Wardsboro (Vt.) Public Library’s staff “resigned after being at odds with the board of trustees over whether to open for in-person service during the coronavirus pandemic.”The article continues: ‘In a nutshell, the three of us (staff) would not work in an “open” library and would have liked to stay with “curbside pickup” for the safety of patrons and staff,’ Jill Dean, director of the Wardsboro Public Library, wrote on the library’s Facebook page on Monday. ‘Unfortunately, the trustees (Carol Fay, Sheri Lewis, Mark Fernandes and Bob Stupp) demand the library be open. So the library trustees will have to find someone who will work in an OPEN library.’ Read more here. In other news, WGBH in Boston reports the following: [T]he underlying theme for re-opening libraries in Massachusetts reads more like a novel than a non-fiction book, with varying timelines and twists and turns on what people hope is a path back to normalcy. Nora Blake, president of the Massachusetts Library Association, said one big concern is ensuring libraries are safely disinfecting and sanitizing books. With so much uncertainty around how long the virus remains on surfaces, people aren’t the only ones facing quarantine. ‘I think what 100 percent of libraries are doing is quarantining materials,’ Blake said. ‘So, we’ll put gloves on. We’ll take all the materials out of our book return, and we will set them down somewhere and then we won’t go near them again for at least three days.’ … Milton Public Library Director William Adamczyk said technology has allowed some library services in his community to continue uninterrupted. ‘Even with our doors closed for the last quarter of the fiscal year, March through June,’ Adamczyk said, ‘we still had our Milton library users have over 53,000 digital checkouts, whether they’re e-books or language learning or videos.’ Milton Public Library has kept many of its programs going during the pandemic. Things like children’s story hours and summer reading programs have continued virtually. But Adamczyk said one area most libraries are staying away from is public computers. ‘We’re not using computers, copiers or scanners at this point—anything that’s really high-touch,’ he said. Read more here.
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Brandi Scardilli
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