Penetanguishene library staff have been thinking outside the box to keep patrons engaged.
"We are working to the maximum," said Linda Keenan, CEO of the library. "We believe in serving our community and patrons with the most efficient quality of services, so we didn't want to make any adjustments to that. We're just doing it in a different way."
Since being told to close a few weeks ago, the eight library staff (two full-time and six part-time) have been coming up with innovative ways of keeping the service going.
One of the moves the library has made involves moving everything online.
"Our German and Spanish classes and book clubs are all virtual now," she noted. "We've seen a good uptake on (the book club). I was surprised because I didn't think people would be up for it. It's a great opportunity to be social. A lot of people are lacking that. The camaradrie is great to have with the virtual meetings."
So far, of the 12 people who were already part of the regular book club, six have continued as part of the virtual club. Those interested in joining can contact library staff.
Keenan said going virtual has also taken away the need for the library requesting groups of books for the club since they're all accessible online, via Libby and Overdrive, two apps used by most Ontario libraries.
Among the new offerings is the e-movie club, which was introduced at the end of April.
"We post it on our social media what movie we will be watching," Keenan said. "We leave it to whoever is able to watch it to contact the staff member to join the meeting."
Keenan said she anticipates it's going to become more popular because staff have been sharing information about it on the library's social media channels.
The most popular program so far, however, has been the curbside mystery book bag sale.
"People can call in by Wednesday (every week) to sign up for this," said Keenan, adding that the books are coming from the library's book sale section in the basement.
"For a dollar, we fill up a bag with four or five books for them, and they don't have any idea what the books will be. Then we give them a pickup time for Thursday. We've had great success with that because people are so hungry for reading. We've done over 400 books in the last four weeks."
Community members reached out to the library to donate handmade masks, Keenan said, which staff put in the mystery book bags that go out.
"We use all the procedures we've been given to sanitize the books and to adopt the process to make it safe for staff and people who come by to pick them up," she said.
As well, staff are giving recommendations online for books people can read to their pets.
Next on Keenan's list is preparing to reopen while best accommodating staff and patrons. But she said more on this should be available in the next couple weeks or so.
For more information on programs and how to join, visit the library's Facebook page.