Altamont Library Notes for Tuesday, November 24, 2020

As cases of COVID-19 continue to increase throughout our community, we are doing our best to make sure that your library experience is as safe as possible. From quarantining returned books and movies before we handle them, to frequently sanitizing our entryway where most of our traffic occurs, to the health checks that all of our staff members do every day that they work, we’re working hard to ensure that you have nothing to worry about whenever and however you use the library.

With that in mind, it is important that we respond to changing circumstances. As of last Thursday, Nov. 19, we have put a temporary halt to in-person browsing and have resumed offering only the Grab & Go Service until the public-health situation is under control. Please see details about Grab & Go below. 

I beg you all, if you have not already done so, to stop hosting and attending indoor gatherings, even for the holidays. Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Practice social distancing. The sooner we all get on the same page about these common-sense health practices, the sooner things can go back to something like normal. 

Thanksgiving

Altamont Free Library will close at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 25, and be closed the following Thursday and Friday in observance of Thanksgiving. On behalf of the board and staff, we wish you and your family a healthy, safe, and Happy Thanksgiving! 

Library Lights

Feel that nip in the air? That’s a pretty good sign that the holidays are creeping up on us. We’re about a month away from the Altamont Celebration of Lights, so it’s time to start thinking about lighting up the Orsini Park Gazebo. This holiday season, honor the memory of a friend, loved one, or pet with a light on the Altamont Village Gazebo in Orsini Park.

The lights cost $5.00 each and all proceeds benefit the Altamont Free Library. The honorees names will be read during the annual lighting ceremony on Friday, Dec. 11 at 6 p.m., and be published on the library’s website. Forms are available in the library’s entryway and in this week’s edition of the Altamont Enterprise. Please join us at the gazebo with for what is always a lovely and moving (masked-up and socially distant) ceremony.

Grab & Go

As I mentioned before, due to the public health situation, we are temporarily going back to an all-Grab & Go service model. But that’s OK! Grab & Go is still pretty great. Here’s how it works:

— Hours of operation for pick-up and drop-off will be 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday;

— Reserve books and DVD’s at http://www.catalog.uhls.org anytime or by calling us at 518- 861-7239;

— When your items are ready, a library staff member will call you with a time you to make an appointment for you to pick them up so that we can be sure to have everything ready for you when you get here and to control the flow of foot traffic in and out of the vestibule;

— Your order will be waiting on a table in the library’s vestibule in a paper bag with your name on it. Please follow the directions you will see posted about “traffic flow” and social distancing;

— At this time, the library building and its restroom will remain closed to the public. Printing, faxing and photocopying services are available by appointment;

— Returns can be dropped off in the marked boxes in the library’s vestibule during business hours or in out outside dropbox when we’re closed;

— Returned items will be quarantined at the library for at least 72 hours before they are able to be checked in and recirculated; and

— Library users must maintain social distance and wear masks while picking up and dropping off library materials. 

If you have any questions, please give us a call at 518-861-7239. See you soon!