On Wednesday, June 10, the Library Board of Trustees announced a phased approach to reopening Highland Park Library, gradually expanding our level of services provided following cautionary steps to ensure the health and safety of all of our staff members and all of our library users. You can find details of the full plan on our website.
As you may have heard, on Friday afternoon it was announced that beginning June 15, libraries will be permitted to begin offering no-contact pick-up services. And we want nothing more than to begin providing you with access to our physical materials! But please also understand that we heard this news at the same time that you did. Libraries were ordered to close in March and, while we’ve been working from home to provide digital services and a wide array of virtual programming, we’ll need some time to get our staff back into the building, make sure our safety measures are in place and get ready to provide no-contact pick up services.
In the meantime, we are happy to announce that we will begin accepting the return of HPPL materials on Monday, June 22! In order to ensure that the handling of materials goes smoothly, we are initially opening on a very limited schedule. Outside of these hours, the book drop will remain locked. Please note that ALL due dates have already been extended to July 15 and that we are not issuing any late fees during this time. All items will be quarantined for a minimum of 3 days before being handled by staff in a safe way, so please allow for some time before you see items removed from you account.
Starting June 22, the book drop will be open Monday thru Thursday, 10:00-12:00, and additional hours on Monday and Thursday evenings, 5:00-7:00.
Please stay tuned and refer to our website and social media pages for the most updated information. We are very excited about resuming library services but we are determined to do so thoughtfully and safely. And don’t forget our digital services that are always available to you.
Feel free to send any inquiries to highlandparklib@gmail.com.
Thank you so much for your support and patience as we continue to navigate through this new time of service!
Kate Jaggers
Library Director
