UPDATE: This story has been updated to include information released by the Friends of the C.H. Booth Library on August 28.

C.H. Booth Library will reopen for patrons, by appointment, starting Wednesday, September 2. The library has been closed to the public since March 14 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The reopening announcement was made in an e-mail to patrons on August 25. The library’s curbside service will continue, as will the library’s patio browsing area.

“We’re really looking forward to it,” said C.H. Booth Library Director Douglas Lord on August 26.

The e-mail announcement reads, “With this next step in reopening, the library will continue to offer contactless pickup of materials and will now welcome a limited number of people into the building for computer use appointments and to browse the collection for checkout. Printing and faxing will also be available. Sessions will last 45 minutes and will be offered during set times. This will allow staff to clean and sanitize work stations and high-touch surfaces in between sessions.

“Services begin on Wednesday, September 2. To make an appointment for browsing or computer use, call us at 203-426-4533 or e-mail us at help@chboothlibrary.org. The library will accept reservations up to one day in advance. If you have an appointment, please wait outside the library at the main entrance (the sliding doors) until 5 minutes prior to your scheduled time slot. Upon entering the building, you will be checked in at the greeting area.

“After check in, you may proceed directly to your area of choice for collection browsing or your designated computer area, and leave the building when your session is over,” the announcement continues. “Certain areas of the library will remain closed for the foreseeable future.”

For patrons browsing or using computers in the building, masks are required.

“Those who cannot or will not wear masks will be served by reasonable accommodation,” the e-mail reads. “Hand sanitizer will be available upon entering the building. Everyone is expected to maintain social distancing while in the building. If you have accessibility needs, please let the library know when scheduling your appointment.”

The requirements and procedures are in accordance with State of Connecticut guidelines, according to the library.

For contactless curbside pickup, according to the announcement, patrons may place holds through the library’s online catalog, by e-mail through help@chboothlibrary.org, or by calling the library at 203-426-4533. When the order is ready, patrons will be contacted by the library to schedule a pickup time.

The library’s grab and go curbside browsing service is available, depending on weather, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, noon to 4 pm; Thursdays from noon to 7 pm; and Saturdays from 10 am to 1 pm, according to the library.

The library also announced the book and audiovisual drop boxes are open for returns of library materials, and all returns are quarantined before being backdated and checked in.

Lord said the library staff are happy, excited, and nervous for the opening.

“We think it is going to be just great,” said Lord.

Book Donations To Start Again, During Limited Times

The Friends of the C. H. Booth Library, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to providing financial and material support to the library, will also begin accepting donations again on September 2. But as Friends of the C.H. Booth Library announced on August 28, there are new rules for donating books.

“In order to do our part to mitigate risk of COVID-19,” said volunteer Denise Kaiser, “we are instituting a new schedule and new guidelines to again provide this popular service to the public.”

The Friends will now be receiving donations only on Wednesdays and Saturdays, from 10 to noon, at the volunteer-staffed POD in the library’s rear parking lot at 25 Main Street. No donations are permitted to be brought directly into the library. All volunteers will wear masks, have hand sanitizer available, and maintain safe distancing guidelines. Tax receipts will be available on request.

Items dropped off at any other time or location must be immediately discarded.

“By collecting donations twice weekly in a POD, the Friends is able to ensure that donations are protected from the weather and we’ll be able to move them into the library building after they decontaminate,” explained volunteer Toni Earnshaw. “We thank the public for their cooperation and continued generosity.”

Friends of the C.H. Booth Library is also instituting new donation guidelines to enhance its future fundraising and support of the library. The following items can no longer be accepted: encyclopedias and Time-Life Books, outdated reference and text books, travel guides, VHS tapes and cassettes, Reader’s Digest Books, magazines, and free pamphlets.

“We thank the public for donating good quality books, CDs, DVDs, audio books, LPs, puzzles, and games that we sell at the big annual summer book sale or at the library in the Little Book Store or at the Holiday Sale in December,” noted Earnshaw. “Items that are too old or in very poor condition cannot be sold to benefit the library, and we have to focus our efforts on the library.”

The proceeds from these sales support patron services, acquisitions of books and other materials, programs, online subscriptions, and much more.

For more information and updates, check the Friends’ website at boothbooksale.org. Contact the Friends of C.H. Booth Library at boothbooksale@yahoo.com.