Charles City Public Library opening to public, with some restrictions

To The Press

The Charles City Public Library announced the next stage of reopening to the public, offering reserved browsing time for patrons to get their own books and movies.

Temporary hours will be 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Mondays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays.

Browsing will be in half-hour time slots, and patrons can call the day of their visit to reserve a browsing time, the library said. Browsing time may be reserved as an individual or a family.

“As time progresses, we will add more night hours and more browsing times until we are back to our normal hours,” the library said in a press statement.

Computer time slots in one-hour increments will continue to be offered as well.

“We will continue lobby pick-up for patrons. Please call the library or use our online catalog to place your requests,” the statement said.

Restrictions include:

• Patrons are asked to wear a mask.

• All children under age 16 must be with a supervising adult.

• No more than 35 people in the library at any one time.

• The newspaper sitting area will not be available, to minimize social gatherings. Magazines may be checked out to be read at home.

• No toys will be available in the children’s room.

“Any returned materials will be quarantined for 4 days,” the statement said. “They will stay on your account for that length of time even though you turned them in. This will not affect your ability to check out more materials.”

No fines will be charged on library materials until Oct 31, to let patrons return materials without penalty. Materials will start becoming due again and overdue notices will be sent once the parking lot work is finished.

“At this time, unfortunately, we are not able to allow our Zastrow Meeting Room to be reserved for large gatherings,” the library said. “All public programming is still suspended, but we will have some online programming and grab bags for adult and youth programming. Please watch our Facebook page for current event information.”

Contact the library at 641-257-6319, charlescitylibrary@gmail.com, or visit the online catalog at https://charlescity.biblionix.com.