Photo credit: Curtis Galbraith

By Shane Clausing

Grande Prairie Public Library

Grande Prairie Public Library set to re-open on July 2 with “GPPL Express”

Jun 22, 2020 | 5:28 PM

For the first time in over three months, the Grande Prairie Public Library will officially re-open its doors to the public on July 2.

The library has been shut down since March because of COVID-19, but now that the Province of Alberta has moved into Phase 2 of its reopening strategy, the library is once again ready to open and operate.

While closed to the public, the library continued to operate its regular services. Members were able to place their book orders online, where they could grab their books using a curbside pick up method. E-books were also made available online for those who are registered at the library.

The Grande Prairie Public Library tells EverythingGP that while they were given the green light to open back on June 12, they wanted to wait to put a smart and efficient plan in place in order to ensure the safety of all visitors and staff.

Deb Cryderman, the Director at the Grande Prairie Public Library, says its nice to finally re-open.

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“We are extremely excited to have the public back in our space. We’ve missed everyone so much, it’s been over 100 days since the public’s been in the library. We worked really hard to make sure that when we did re-open, that we would do it in the safest way possible, both for our staff and the public. We are really looking forward to it.”

While the library will be re-opened next Thursday, things will look different than normal.

The library is turning itself into what it calls the GPPL Express.

The GPPL Express will be housed in the Library’s Rotary Community Room and will provide a much smaller library experience.

“We will have a curated collection of our materials in that room,” explained Cryderman. “It will have a small, browsing library that we’ll just let a few people in at a time to visit and borrow from and we’ll do it as safe as we can.”

Cryderman says that if the book you’re looking for isn’t on the shelf, but is available online according to the library’s website, the staff could grab it for you.

Once reopened on July 2, no tables or computers will be available at the library for use and you are asked to grab your books and leave once you have rented them out. She adds that a maximum of seven people will be allowed inside the library at a time, this includes staff.

Books that are returned to the library will be placed under a three-day quarantine before being allowed back onto the shelves. Cryderman explained that based on research, this is the best method they’ve come up with.

“All of the studies that we have read have said that after three day’s there’s no evidence of viruses on both paper and plastic covered books. We feel quite confident that after that time, people should be quite safe.”

For those that are still hesitant going inside the library, the library says that it plans to keep programs like curbside pick up available for its members.

Cryderman tells EverythingGP that the library will gradually begin to expand and open its operations further.

“As we determine how to do something safely, we’ll open that up to the public. We are looking at access to computers and access to in-person reference services next, to allow people to have access to both of those and then we’ll slowly re-open the main facility as well.”

Cryderman says that no deadlines or timelines have been set for when the gradual reopening of the facility could continue.

The library will be open at reduced hours, Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.