OSWEGO – After 16 months of a skeleton-like operation, the Oswego Public Library has its reopening plan, starting with the children’s room which will host kids starting Monday, August 2.
Children will be able to interact with one another and library staff in the room with in-person reading time among other activities Monday through Thursday from 3-5 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 2-4 p.m., according to a press release from the library. Prior to July 8, the library utilized a curbside operation, with no patrons allowed inside the building. While it has been a long time coming for the reopening, the library’s new director, Miranda McDermott, who joined the Oswego Public Library in March, is incredibly excited to bring the community back.
“We’re really excited about opening the children’s room. We haven’t really seen kids that much for over a year, I know I was excited to see the kids come in,” McDermott said. “Currently, we are doing online story time but attendance has been really low due to Zoom fatigue and other issues, so we want kids in the library engaging with the staff and being more of a community center than virtual programs, although we will be continuing to do that as well.”
Some of these continued virtual programs are a hybrid-style reading time for children that are unable to make it to the library.
While McDermott and the entire library staff is ready to welcome back the entire community, it experienced delays due to a lack of workers, according to McDermott. These delays were seen as the library utilized a curbside pickup system for roughly a year until when it opened just the main floor July 8, however, once that first step to an opening was made, community members clamored for more.
“There was a lot of community feedback that I heard in June that patrons really wanted it to be open,” McDermott said. “Before the feedback, I planned to reopen August 2, but I was able to speed it up and the board of trustees approved it so we were authorized to open as of July 8.”
McDermott added that once she announced the July 8 reopening “people began asking about children’s services,” which she planned to have followed shortly.
As of August 2, the library will have updated hours and will be opened Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m.-7 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. With new hours and a full reopening coming September 7, the Oswego Public Library will soon become a community hub of learning once again.
“I’m very excited to be leading the library,” McDermott said. “We want to make this a great place of learning for people of all ages. We want to provide a great place to learn and [spend time] in the community.”
missing or outdated ad config
