Southbury Public Library has announced that they will open to the public this Wednesday, July 22.
In order to best serve you and other members of our community while maintaining safety for patrons and staff, we have made some significant changes to our services, hours, and building capacity. Please read on to see what changes are taking place.
New Hours
Our hours have been changed to the following:
- Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 9:30am-4:30pm
- Tuesday, Thursday: 9:30am-6:30pm
- Saturday, Sunday: Closed
Building Use and Capacity
Only the first floor will be open for book browsing; until further notice, all meeting rooms and the second floor are currently closed to the public. While the second floor Youth Services department will remain closed at this time, children's and teen library materials can be requested from home for convenient pick up as hold items at the First Floor Circulation Desk. To request from home, visit our online catalog here to place holds and wait for confirmation that your hold is available, or give us a call at 203-262-0626 x3.
Our building capacity has been reduced to 25 patrons at a time in order to maintain social distancing. Staff and visitors must observe social distancing of at least 6 feet and masks are required to be worn at all times. In keeping with this, visitors and staff will obey all directional signs, aisle arrows, and barriers. When visiting, please plan for short visits no longer than 30 minutes. Whenever possible, please limit visits to only one member of your family/household at a time. Hand sanitizer will be provided at the Main Entrance and at other popular locations including the checkout desk, and we encourage patrons to wash their hands in the restroom. Staff will be cleaning throughout the day in keeping with current best practices and to ensure staff and patron safety.
Borrowing and Returning Items
The indoor book return is currently closed, so please return all materials in the outside book return. Upon return, all materials will be quarantined for 72 hours; we are not charging fines while items are in quarantine. You may place items on hold from home online or via phone. If you like, you may browse the first floor shelves for items but lingering is not encouraged. Our pickup window is now closed. If you don't feel comfortable entering the building at this time, please call the Reference Desk at 203-262-0626 ext. 130 to arrange an alternative.
Services Changes
Printing, Copy, Scan, and Faxing Changes
Four first floor public computers will be available for 30 minute time periods with a limit of one session per person per day. Computers will be cleaned after every use. Staff will be unable to assist patrons with the public computers due to social distancing guidelines.
Our printer, copier, and scanner are primarily self-service. Patrons are asked to familiarize themselves with our how-to guides as our capacity to offer assistance is limited by social distancing.Patrons will be able to print either by sending their print job from a public computer or our mobile print services to the first floor public print station. Printing remains cash only and $0.10 a page for black and white and $0.25 a page for color. Exact change is requested.
The first floor public copier will also be available. Because the second floor copier is unavailable for overflow copying, patrons are asked to keep their copy sessions to 15 pages or 15 minutes or less. Copies are cash only and remain at the same prices: $0.10 a side for black and white ($0.10 for a single sided black and white copy, $0.20 for a double sided black and white copy) and $0.25 a side for color ($0.25 for a single sided color copy, $0.50 for a double sided color copy). Exact change is requested.
Unfortunately, faxing is not available at this time. If you can scan to an email at your destination instead of faxing, we welcome you to use our scanner as a free alternative.
Magazines and Newspaper Changes:
All magazines (including new issues) will be available for checkout but not for browsing or use while in the library. Physical copies of newspapers will not be available.
Services Unavailable at this time:
- Second Floor
- Faxing
- Meeting rooms
- Self-checkout machines and catalog computers
- Study tables
- Lounging chairs
- Water fountains
- Coffee machine
- Friends Lobby Book Sale
Virtual Programming:
We will continuing offering virtual programming for all ages, and encourage you to check out our events at https://www.southburylibrary.org/events/. There will be no in-person programming at this time.
Ebooks and Digital Resources:
We continue to offer ebooks, digital audiobooks, and other virtual resources. Check them out at www.southburylibrary.org/ebooks.
For additional information, visit the Library online www.southburylibrary.org