Jessica Micallef
Sunbury residents will soon be able to indulge in their favourite book at their local library.
The Sunbury library in the Hume Global Learning Centre will reopen for business on June 9 following the easing of strict COVID-19 restrictions.
The library’s chutes, for patrons to return their borrowed items, reopened yesterday.
Hume Libraries co-ordinator Mieke Mellars said about 50 per cent of the library’s collection was out in the community.
“We can’t operate properly without getting the stuff back,” she said.
“The chutes have been closed for two months so we need to make sure we process the materials that come back.”
Once the library reopens on June 9, up to a maximum of 20 patrons, plus staff, will be allowed in at any one time. Cleaning measures will be enhanced and social distancing will be encouraged.
“There will be signs on the floor, signs on the walls, signs basically wherever we can plaster them because we need to make sure that people are aware of social distancing,” Ms Mellars said.
“We will be cleaning every single high-touch surface. All the library materials that come back through the chutes will all go into quarantine for 72 hours.
“We will probably make it a condition on entry … that people sanitise their hands and we will be asking people to try not to touch as many things.”
Although the Sunbury library was closed for two months Ms Mellars said patrons were still able to borrow their favourite book through a home delivery service.
“We call it Hume Libraries Express,” Ms Mellars said.
“There has been a huge uptake through that. At the end of last week we delivered 1576 parcels across Hume and in total it ended up being 17,568 library items that were borrowed.
“We’ve done amazingly well. We have been able to … make sure people got the most out of their library membership.”
