Lexington’s public libraries are closed, but ‘virtual’ library use is soaring online
The doors closed at the Lexington Public Library on March 13 because of the novel coronavirus, and nobody knows when they will reopen. But on the internet, thousands of people continue to use the library’s materials and programs, including some new offerings created just for the shutdown.
The library saw more than 60,000 checkouts from its online “virtual branch” during April, a roughly 50 percent increase over the same period a year earlier. And the library’s first “virtual children’s storytime” has reached more than 3,100 people on Facebook so far, said the library’s executive director, Heather Dieffenbach.
“That’s so much higher than the six to 10 people who might have come to the Central Library to hear that same storytime before all this,” said Dieffenbach, who was hired last August.
“I think you’re exposing it to families who might not ordinarily have had access to our storytime,” she said. “Maybe they don’t have the freedom because of their jobs or transportation or whatever to go downtown or to one of our branch locations at the scheduled hour. And maybe a lot of people who never thought to attend a storytime suddenly saw it go through their Facebook feed and stopped to watch.”
Even with its buildings shuttered, the library’s website (lexpublib.org) continues to offer free access to digital books, audio books and magazines; podcasts; hundreds of online classes; and virtual galleries showing past art exhibits displayed at the Central Library.
To access the virtual branch library, patrons must have a library card and download the Libby app, Dieffenbach said.
The library has issued more than 1,300 new library cards — just digital cards for now — to Lexington residents who have requested them during the shutdown so they can borrow materials. The library’s virtual services department has answered more than 500 emails from people to assist them with the necessary technology.
“We have heard from a number of people who said they’ve never used our digital collections before and they’ve enjoyed it so much that this is how they’re going to use us in the future,” she said.
Separately, on its Facebook page, the library’s employees are showing off their diverse talents by producing their own videos of live music, gardening tips, cooking lessons, arts and crafts, computer technical instruction, genealogical research and virtual jigsaw puzzles based on postcards of old Central Kentucky landmarks. And, of course, plenty of children’s stories and songs.
Nearly every offering seems to find an audience.
Late Sunday night, librarian Jennifer Murphy posted the third installment in her “Mindfulness Minute” video series. In it, Murphy suggested that viewers keep a journal during the pandemic as a way to calm and focus their thoughts.
“Right now, I think we’re all living through a really interesting time,” Murphy said in the video. “And we’re all dealing with it in different ways. Journaling ... could be really great. It could be something you could look at later and think, ‘Wow, we got through that! And now we’re fine.’”
Within 12 hours, 150 people had watched her message. That might be a small crowd by YouTube celebrity standards, but Dieffenbach said the community clearly is interested in what the library is doing.
“One of the things we’re discussing is that even after this is all over and we’re able to go back to work and reopen and enjoy the library again, we probably still will continue with this in some form,” she said.
As to when the library will reopen, that’s anybody’s guess, Dieffenbach said. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has said that libraries and other government institutions ordinarily open to the public will be addressed by his reopening plan in coming days.
The Central Library and five branch libraries are likely to slowly reopen in phases, but there are difficult problems that must be solved concerning how to safely disinfect the materials and physical spaces and provide enough personal protective equipment for employees, Dieffenbach said.
The Institute of Museum Libraries and Services, a federal agency, is researching these issues right now. A library can’t dunk its returned books in bleach without destroying them, but it could quarantine books for 72 hours before restocking them on the shelves, giving any virus clinging to paper and cardboard enough time to die, researchers say.
“I want to be sure that whatever procedure we come up with is based on science so that we’ll be able to protect our community and our staff,” Dieffenbach said.
This story was originally published May 4, 2020 at 2:41 PM.
