Monmouth County children’s librarians like Laura Anderson are reading books on video for at-home story time, one of the many ways libraries are staying connected to the com- munity during the pandemic. Videos can be viewed on the Monmouth County Library’s YouTube channel.
By Allison Perrine
MONMOUTH COUNTY – At a time when it seems impossible to avoid the realities of COVID-19 on the news and social media, people are turning to books for distractions.
In the Two River area, librarians are reporting significantly higher programming participation rates and electronic book borrowing and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon.
This week, in honor of National Library Appreciation Week April 19 to 25, The Two River Times checked in with local libraries to see what they have been offering their patrons during this challenging and uncertain time. Here’s what they had to say.
Middletown Township Public Library
It’s been a busy few weeks for the Middletown Township Public Library (MTPL) as it transitioned its physical building to a virtual branch. By visiting mtpl.org/mtplathome, residents can access free language tutorials, virtual tours of museums, help guides, contact information and much more.
For younger audiences, the library is also providing links to story time videos featuring its librarians as well as famous authors, virtual puppet shows, online escape rooms and scavenger hunts, puzzles and more.
But its most popular offering right now seems to be the electronic book borrowing, said director Heather Andolsen. Its online database usage increased by 94 percent in March compared to usage in February, she said. And the day before libraries were shut down, on a Saturday, the library checked out 3,000 books in one day, which she said is “highly unusual.”
As for books that are already out on loan, due dates have been postponed until the closure is over. Fines will not be administered. Once the books are returned, they will be contained and stored until they are properly disinfected before being released back to the public. That’s why the book drops are closed right now as well.
“People are really looking to read stuff right now,” said Andolsen, and she doesn’t think that will change once the virus is gone. “I think it has been a good opportunity for libraries to get their electronic resources out there. It’s always been hard getting out there how much we offer. So now, I think people can see how easy it is to access ebooks and audiobooks and research from anywhere. I think they’re going to be doing that more.”
When the library opens again visitors will be in for a surprise: welcoming notes and messages hidden in books all over the library. While the library has been closed to the public, little notes have been placed in books all over the library. “We get to know our customers very well, so we do miss our customers a lot,” Andolsen said.
In the meantime, in addition to the MTPL website, librarians are working with the township and its schools to build resource lists for businesses in the township, find free books for children and create face shields for area emergency personnel and hospital workers. To date, they have created over 200 shields using the schools’ 3D printers to make the visors and plastic shields donated by All American Printing. Librarians assembled the shields and they will soon be delivered by Mayor Tony Perry to the recipients.
“It’s wonderful that the library can be a big part of this community when they really need us. The town has been wonderful in helping us get some of this information out to the public. We’re all working as one team,” said Andolsen. “We’ve been able to do a lot to help ease some of the hardships during this time. We can’t do a lot of stuff, but we’re still getting people entertainment and books and face shields are helping our EMTs,” she said.
Monmouth County Library System
The transition was a bit bumpy at first, but the outcome has been a great success, said Judith G. Tolchin, director, Monmouth County Library System. After purchasing cell phones for staff members to continually provide phone reference for customers, as well as reloading laptops and transferring data for the staff so they could access information from home, the library system was up and running remotely.
“It’s been a process,” said Tolchin. “It took a lot of work to make it happen… but it was important. We really did everything we possibly could to start making things happen right away and coming up with a plan.”
Now, the system is offering patrons more than 80,000 electronic books, about 110 electronic magazines, children’s programs, story time videos and much more. And like the MTPL, the Monmouth County Library System is also seeing an increase in e-book readers. Electronic books are up about 2,000 additional circulations each week, she said.
“Usually audiobooks seemed to be growing by leaps and bounds before, but since we have a high commuter population, people are not driving as much. They’re not listening to books as much. So, they’re really borrowing the e-books instead of the e-audio,” said Tolchin. “I thought that was interesting to see.”
The library system has also extended its due dates for physical books that have been checked out and also closed the book drops. No fines will be administered. Additionally, any library cards that were set to expire during this time have been extended; cards are now valid through July 2 if they are expired.
The Monmouth County Library System has 13 branches, including Two River area towns in Atlantic Highlands, Colts Neck, Holmdel, Oceanport and Shrewsbury Borough. Anyone interested in getting a library card can send the request by email to mcl@monmouthcountylib.org, including a name, phone number and an image of identification that includes the applicant’s name and street address.
“We thought that that was really an important thing to do to make sure that people kept their library service, even though they could only use remote service,” Tolchin said.
Red Bank Public Library
The COVID-19 pandemic has closed the doors of Red Bank Public Library, but it is still operating remotely for its community members. The decision to bring its features online was “second nature” because they knew it was important for community members to have resources, entertainment and support at this time, said Eleni Glykis, library director.
The Red Bank library is offering temporary library cards to anyone who lives, works or attends school in Red Bank and does not currently have one. It also has a wide selection of programming available on its Facebook and YouTube channels, including story times every weekday, virtual author visits, trivia, art lessons, photo contests, genealogy research sites and more. E-books and audiobooks are available 24-hours a day, as are magazines, music and language instruction lessons.
One of its unique and most recent offerings, however, is a Spanish language guide on how undocumented residents can get tested for COVID-19.
According to the guide, those who believe they are positive for COVID-19 should call their health care centers to ensure that test kits are available and if they require documents. Some test centers will accept utility bills as proof of address for those who don’t have federal or state IDs. For Monmouth County residents, there are multiple federally qualified health care centers where exams are free of charge. As listed in the guide, that includes Monmouth Family Health Center, Long Branch; Ocean Health Initiatives, Freehold; Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey, Red Bank and Keyport primary care centers; and more.
“Part of our job is to provide services for all members of our community and the undocumented population is such an integral part of our community,” said Glykis. “Some of them aren’t going to have the luxury to work from home or they’re not going to have the luxury of getting the federal stimulus money that a lot of us got. It was just natural to be able to support that member of our community. We want them to feel just as welcome as anyone else does.”
This article originally appeared in the April 23rd, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
