The Perry Public Library will begin taking back borrowed items June 1 provided it figures out how best to sanitize the returned materials, Perry Public Library Director Mary Murphy told the Perry City Council Monday night.
The library is “working on a procedure to take back library materials,” Murphy said on Facebook this week. She said the library is seeking to reconcile “conflicting information from the CDC and the Institute for Museum and Library Service about how long the virus lives on paper,” and the library will undergo “a trial quarantine and cleaning procedure before we announce that we will take back library materials.”
“We have a unique situation in Perry,” she said. “At this time, I feel that opening the library would not be in everyone’s best interest for public health reasons.”
Murphy told the city council the library will “be waiting for really what the city is going to do. We will be looking toward probably later June, July 1, to open up and give everybody a chance to come in and get their stuff before we close Aug. 3 for our renovation.”
The planned renovations include updated bathrooms, including a new family bathroom, along with new carpet, new tile and a new east entrance.
Murphy thanked the Dallas County Foundation for making an $8,000 grant toward the library’s upgrades. She urged library patrons to continue using the library’s online service and curbside delivery of resources until the public is readmitted.
Perry City Administrator praised Des Moines-based Ball Team Construction LLC for their work on the McCreary Community Building renovations and said he hoped they will bid on the library project.
“They’ve been a great contractor,” Peterson said. “We’ve pushed them to be on the lookout for the library project coming up. They could just move their tools over a few blocks and start on that, so hopefully they throw a bid in on that project next.”
