We almost can’t contain our excitement! Following advice from the Victorian Government, Murrindindi Shire Council’s libraries and customer service centres are re-opening this week – with limited hours and services – after closing our doors to the public on 20 March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While we are re-opening our Alexandra, Yea and Kinglake branches, unfortunately our Mobile Library and Customer Service won’t be operating, as maintaining a 1.5 m social distance between people on the van is pretty tricky. We are planning to re-open on Wednesday 3 June, but it is a good idea to check our website or Facebook page (or give us a call) to check our new restricted hours.
Things will look a little different at our branches when we re-open. We have reconfigured our facilities to ensure staff can work safely and to keep social distancing in place. There will be signs and markers around to help guide foot traffic, toilets won’t be open and there will be limits on numbers of people allowed in and the time they are allowed to stay. We also need to record the details of people entering our buildings.
Cr Rebecca Bowles, Portfolio Councillor for Environment, Library Services and Information Technology, said while we know many in our community are champing at the bit to visit our libraries it is still important to remember that we need to use common sense when leaving home for any reason.
‘Our staff have really missed interactions with our community while working from home. While they are really looking forward to seeing everyone, things will work a bit different at each of our facilities to ensure we can operate safely – and we need your assistance to do that. Everyone is responsible for their own health during this pandemic’ she said.
‘We’ll be open from 10.00 am – 1.00 pm in all three locations before closing for lunch and to allow staff to clean our facilities. Our afternoon hours will be from 2.00 to 4.00 pm, except in Kinglake on Mondays, and in Yea and Alexandra on Tuesdays where we are open 3.00 – 6.30 pm to allow those who are working to pop in before we close. For the time being, we won’t be opening at all on Saturdays at any of our branches.
‘For those library members who are keen to find some new material, you will be able to browse the collection, but only for 15 minutes. Our staff will be working to provide you with another option – that of a ‘quick pick’ bag of books themed around a genre – for example, history or crime writing. And we are still offering our Book Butler service, particularly to those who are in the high-risk categories for COVID-19. So give us a call on 5772
