By KENT MAHONEY
editor@lowcountry.com
The past four or five months has been an exercise of “What do I do now? What can I do now?”
Everyday life has been a laundry list of where to go, when to go, how to go and what can I do when I actually get there?
Now that it’s September, there has been the education factor added to the mix.
If you have school-aged children and you haven’t thought about your local library, this information may help you out.
The Colleton County Memorial Library is open for business, albeit in a limited way.
The biggest challenge is meeting DHEC guidelines and providing adequate services to the public.
Library Director Carl Coffin has been tasked with the challenge of meeting those sanitary guidelines and still providing service to the community.
“We changed the way we sanitize things here are the library,” he said.
The Centers for Disease Control recommended from a study that it’s possible for COVID-19 to stay on books for a few days.
“What we started doing is we are taking every single book that is returned and quarantining them for 48 hours,” Coffin said. “We also spray a solution on the outside that is supposed to kill (the virus).
“We are utilizing our auditorium as a quarantine room and then every day we have to wipe down our work stations.”
The library is practicing other guidelines as well.
“We have, for social distancing, had to remove some of our computers. We had more computers available to the public, but we’ve had to limit those,” Coffin said.
The library staff spaced the computers out to make room for social distancing. The public can still visit the library, use the internet and print out documents and do their business, but they are limited to 30-minute sessions. Coffin said that if the traffic is light and no one is waiting, customers can log in again.
Coffin is striking the balance between addressing health and safety issues and providing good customer service.
“I would say the challenge right now is we are trying to balance between being conscientious for the community’s sake, the staff’s sake, but we are also offering all our services, although some are limited except for programs,” he said.
“I’m hoping we are able to get back to get to allowing groups to come in here for programs by the end of the year. I’m hoping that in January, things may be better for that.”
The library is also helping out in additional ways because of virtual learning.
When students are not in school and don’t have internet access at home, the library can act as a stopgap with its bookmobile.
“It is like a wireless hot spot,” said Coffin. “We can go to virtually anywhere in the county that wants service and set up, and people can come to the bookmobile and get on the internet if they want to.”
Coffin explained that several people need to be in one location because it’s not feasible to just go to individuals. There has to be a commitment to a stop in the county or near one of the school campuses.
People are allowed to board one at a time.
Joyce Chaplan is the bookmobile manager and Jane Shaw, the assistant manager.
Customers can call the main number and ask for either person to schedule an appointment.
“The bookmobile has enjoyed a good following at the elementary schools in the county, but right now with schools being virtual, we’re not able to do that like we have been,” Coffin said.
The state library system is offering a tutoring service to the entire state for the entire year, according to Coffin, a program that used to be at the local library. But the contract ends soon and the state is taking over the tutoring program.
People can contact CCML for more information, 843-549-5621. The system offers tutorial services and education data bases to enhance a student’s learning environment.
There are three locations in the county – the main branch is here in Walterboro. The other two locations are in Cottageville and Edisto Beach.
The current Walterboro hours are Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The library is closed on Sunday.
For Cottageville, the library is open Tuesday and Thursday from 4 to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Edisto Beach location is open on Tuesday and Thursday from 1 to 5 p.m. and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
School-aged children under 10 years old, must be accompanied by an adult, as per library policy.
