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Acton Library’s Curbside Pickup Seeks to Bridge Gap Between Safety and Access

Since late May, Acton Public Library patrons have been making use of a curbside pickup program that bridges the gap between serving the town and curbing the COVID-19 pandemic. While the building is not open to the public, the library is staffed Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extra evening hours until 8 p.m. on Thursday.

Those who would like to take out items are asked to email or call the library with requests; a librarian returns the message with a time slot between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday to Friday with added pickups on Thursdays at 5, 6, and 7 p.m.

Each time slot is one-hour long; thus, an 11 a.m. pickup time means items may be picked up until noon. Brown craft lunch bags labeled with requesting patrons’ names are put out each hour and the occasional bag that hasn’t been picked up is taken back inside, according to Head of Circulation Lisa Mendes, although the library offers those patrons another chance to come get their materials.

“A lot of libraries only offer a 15-minute time slot,” she said. “We decided on giving people at least some room to be able to come within that hour. They could be tied up at a grocery store and they may not get here” in time. Providing that window “gives people a little more flexibility.”

Time slots at the beginning of the week tend to fill up quickly, said Mendes. “But then it kind of slows down as the week progresses.

“It has been very popular,” she continued. “So we are thinking of expanding our hours of pickup. Right now, we have four pickups per hour” and staff is considering increasing that number. “We were [also] thinking about opening up the 10 a.m. time slot, since we’re here at 10 a.m.”

Morning time slots are most sought after.

At present, only Acton Library materials are available for pickup. But in addition to the usual range of library materials, readers can request Bingo cards for the adult and teen summer reading programs. The games encourage readers to read a poetry book, clean up some trash in their community, and check out e-materials, earning them tickets that can be entered for prizes.

And after registering online for Read to Bead, the children’s summer reading program, chains, brag tags, and beads may also be requested for pickup.

“We also have little crafts [for children] that they can pick up curbside,” Mendes said.

Library staff who work in the building wear masks and usually gloves, especially when handling items that will be loaned out, according to Mendes.

“We’re also disinfecting the shelf that the items are placed on for pickup—we’re disinfecting that throughout the day,” she said.

Items are cleaned with rubbing alcohol before placed in bags for patrons and materials that have been returned are “quarantined” for 72 hours, she explained.

“[O]nly then will it get re-shelved to be available for someone else,” she said. “We’re being very careful.”

The curbside pickup process has been pretty much problem free since it began, according to Mendes.

“I found that our patrons are really excited to have curbside pickup available and they’ve been very grateful and appreciative,” she said.

Returns

“If people feel comfortable returning items, our drop boxes are open and we welcome people to do that,” said Mendes.

Concerns about the safety of staff handling items that come into the building through the drop boxes resulted in the library asking that book donations not be placed in these bins. Despite the signs stating this, donations have continued to come in, Mendes said.

As for how many items taken out before the library closed in March have not yet been returned, the exact number is hard to ascertain, she explained. People may have placed them in drop boxes at libraries that haven’t yet re-opened.

“Our items are coming back from other libraries as they open,” she said.

Fines are not being charged at all, as “[t]he LION Consortium extended loan periods” due to the pandemic, she said. The Acton Library does not assess fines on its own materials.

“When we were open, people could make a donation to the food pantry...or make a donation to the friends of the library in lieu of fines,” Mendes said.

Additional Resources

In addition to materials available for pickup, the library offers a host of online resources.

“Take a look at our website and see what we have,” Mendes said.

Books, e-books, magazines and audiobooks are available online, and the number of resources has expanded since the library subscribed to Hoopla.