I think the best tip to keep workers safe is to wait until the occurrence of new cases of Covid-19 start going down for 14 days straight.  New cases of Covid-19 keep going up every day in Tennessee, and they will keep going up thanks to the Governor’s reopening of parts of the economy.  All that this reopening will do is drag on the pandemic, causing more economic pain over a longer time period while killing more workers.  While this economic pain is horrible, economies recover; however, death is forever.

 

You may purchase UV lights to shine on tactile materials to help kill off Covid-19 if you cannot wait several days for returned materials to become Covid-19 free.  However, this involves having employees handle potentially infected materials, meaning they should be wearing face masks and have hand sanitizer to disinfect their hands afterwards.  Forget gloves; they cause a false sense of security.

 

Again, keep closed.   Have employees provide virtual reference.  If e-resources are insufficient for your students and faculty, then have at most walk-up or curbside service, but in a way that mitigates contact with other persons to reduce the spread.  And, for goodness sake, do NOT open up your library for patrons to enter!  Otherwise, you will have a several hundred thousand square feet of petri dish to infect employees and other patrons.

 

Frank Lambert, Ph.D., MLIS

orcid.org/0000-0002-1446-2957

Assistant Professor & Program Coordinator

Master of Library Science Program (NCATE accredited, and CAEP eligible, through 6/30/2022)

https://www.mtsu.edu/programs/library-science-mls/

Womack Educational Leadership Department

College of Education

Middle Tennessee State University

1301 E. Main Street

P.O. Box 91

Murfreesboro, TN  37132

615-898-2583-office

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“Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."~Brian O'Driscoll

“Ratio ante passio.”~P.E. Trudeau, trans.

“We need to know our past to understand our present and anticipate wisely our future.”~F.P. Lambert

 

 

 

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