Cobb residents looking for another way to pass the time during the pandemic will soon be able to check out a book at a public library.
Cobb County will begin offering curbside services at seven libraries on June 10, said spokesman Tom Brooks. Libraries where you’ll be able to pick up your requested materials during the week are:
•East Cobb, 4880 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta
•Mountain View, 3320 Sandy Plains Road, Marietta
•North Cobb, Old 41 Highway, Kennesaw
•Sewell Mill, 2051 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta
•South Cobb, 805 Clay Road, Mableton
•Vinings, 4290 Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta
•West Cobb, 1750 Dennis Kemp Lane, Kennesaw
Patrons can use their online accounts to reserve items to retrieve during curbside pickup. Brooks said about 4,000 items will be ready for pickup. The hours of operation for curbside service have not been finalized.
The book drops at those seven libraries opened Tuesday to allow residents to return materials they checked out before the system closed in March. Brooks said there are about 90,000 items that need to be returned to the system. No late fees will be charged on those items, and the due date for all materials has been extended to May 31.
Library staff on Tuesday began training and preparing for facilities to reopen in some capacity. This includes quarantining returned items as a precaution until they can be returned to circulation, processing requests for holds and taking an inventory of each library’s current collection. Staffers will also wear masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment.
The county library system closed in March due to the pandemic. Staff members have used social media to offer virtual services, including story time programming, in lieu of traditional events.
Brooks said these same libraries in mid-June could begin offering some type of grab-and-go service similar to what restaurants provide to customers. Patrons will be asked to limit their library visits to checking out items. No dates for the limited service or when traditional operations will resume have been announced.
Library Director Helen Poyer said “extensive behind-the-scenes efforts to protect the safety and health” of patrons, librarians and employees have been an ongoing effort. Reopening these libraries will also be a “watershed moment” for residents to reconnect with public libraries.
“Community support for Cobb libraries is deeply appreciated by the library staff,” Poyer added. “The positive messages we received over the past several weeks in calls, emails and through our social media in response to story time and other virtual program postings and the library’s robust digital resources go far in powering us forward.”
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