Q Talk

[froggy]

Ours is open but I haven't been in person for years - download all my Kindle and audiobooks from the web. DH likes books he can touch so he goes to the Friends of the Library bookstore and buys them cheap.

[TaylorBrown]

We have seven libraries in our city and all of them are open. They are offering cubside pickup of materials and have a limited capacity inside.

[IMW]

Some BrooklynNYbranches open for returns and picking

up holds.

I just love my internet Brooklyn library, worth my tax$

That's' what I use extensively.

[JYWilliams]

Ours was curb side.

[Wobin]

Our local libraries offer curbside which has been great. Unfortunately the city where I live had to lay-off some employees during the pandemic including some at the library and parks & rec.

I am a retired librarian and have many friends working in this county and the adjoining county in California.  It's been very challenging as librarians had to determine what safety measures they needed to adopt to be able to even circulate books.  One colleague works at a library that was open to the public but with limited services.  With the latest spike in cases they have closed and are doing curbside service only.   

The loss of local tax revenue due to the pandemic may impact services such as libraries for a long time to come.  When the economy revives post pandemic there can be a lag in the recovery of local funds.  If the vaccines are effective and widely available I still think we will experience a gradual recovery over many months.  It will take time for people to be vaccinated and to see virus cases begin to go down and society reopening.  Support your local libraries!

[CalminHeart]

Our libraries are now online and requests can be picked up without in-person contact.

[Pearlee]

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@MW in Iowa wrote:

I just was thinking about the one in our town , i believe it has been closed since March , and i just wondered if any are open in US. I know it would be hard to follow protocol , and not worth getting a virus , but sad for the people and students that go to use computers and research. It may have been a stupid question .

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@MW in Iowa  It isn't a stupid question but I don't understand why it's in the Q Talk forum which is about QVC related subjects. 

[Wobin]

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@Pearlee wrote:

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@MW in Iowa wrote:

I just was thinking about the one in our town , i believe it has been closed since March , and i just wondered if any are open in US. I know it would be hard to follow protocol , and not worth getting a virus , but sad for the people and students that go to use computers and research. It may have been a stupid question .

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@MW in Iowa  It isn't a stupid question but I don't understand why it's in the Q Talk forum which is about QVC related subjects. 

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I was also wondering how this ended up in Q Talk.  @MW in Iowa  I earned my library degree from the University of Iowa.  Great school, great state.

[DooneyGal2]

I have noticed something with the responses  ... almost no one seems to act like it's sad, or something they miss, it's all very matter of fact. 

So sad for how the world is changing and everyone seems to accept it. That's what the lockdown has done, changed the every day simple things, yet also needed at one time, things ... making us more and more socially distant from one another. Wonder sometimes if the way life could be, and was, will ever be again. Don't misunderstand me, I completely understand that precautions are needed... it's just the way everyone seems to readily accept it as a new normal, like they are fine without it, that makes me sad. Praying for normalcy and better times in 2021- stay safe everyone!

[on the bay]

For me, the library has always been a second home; from when my kids were small to now.

I do miss it very much.

But I also feel humans have and have to have a lot of resilience to keep on living in whatever circumstances throws us.

That may include missing but doing without.

What else can we do?

I go from thinking I will do without this food or that convenience to, no I want it and am going to actually risk going into a store.

Weird decisions like that to larger ones like should I distance again from this child or grandchild.

I imagine all the things people have gone through-from the most catastrophic to not so much.

Here is a small one my grandmother used to talk about. She knows she drinks coffee black because during the civil war, they were not able to get sugar, nor milk, so long being deprived of something became a tradition.

Anyway, I begin to realize, that I can do without a lot, I'm here, so far, thank goodness, we are safe. I am living.

And that is something. And we go from here. Another day.

I grieve for the ones we have lost, and all that everyone has lost, and we go on.

It is hard to be encouraged, but talking to each other about how we really feel, with a friend, or loved one, makes us know we are not alone.