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Citizens Library welcoming patrons for 30-minute visits; other restrictions planned

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Citizens Library in Washington is reopening Monday, but with limited hours and capacity.

“Welcome back,” said Diane L. Ambrose, executive director of the library, which is also the district center for libraries in Washington, Greene and Fayette counties.

The hours will be noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, with patrons being asked to maintain social distancing guidelines and wear masks inside the building. If patrons don’t have a mask, a disposable one will be provided.

Citizens Library, along with all the libraries in Pennsylvania, closed as the novel coronavirus pandemic struck the area, and since May 26 it has offered curbside service only. Curbside service will continue, as will the virtual programming the library put in place since the start of the pandemic.

Decisions on when to reopen buildings have been left to individual libraries throughout the region, and some have already taken the plunge, though with limitations similar to what Citizens Library will have in place.

The capacity of the building at 55 College St. has been set at 49 people, and that means patrons will be allowed in the building for only 30 minutes. They will be allowed to browse in the fiction section, and books from the nonfiction section will be available by request only, given how far removed it is from the front desk. A selection of children’s books will be brought to the main floor since the children’s section of the library will be closed off.

Two computers will be available for use by appointment only. The library’s history and genealogy materials will also be available by appointment only.

All library materials will be quarantined for three days upon their return.

Neither the library nor CitiBooks, the used-book store operated by Friends of Citizens Library, are accepting book donations of any kind, and there is no date set for CitiBooks to reopen, according to Ambrose.

“Time will tell,” she said.

Staff writer Brad Hundt contributed to this story.

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