So, things are a little strange right now. The whole worldwide pandemic issue is throwing many of us off our regular routines. There is a lot of confusion, as everyone works to figure out the best way to handle an evolving difficult situation.

But one thing is pretty clear: we all need to do what we can to NOT get sick right now. And that means we need to do some social isolation when possible. Cancelling public programs, moving computers around, working at home when you can, providing more resources online: all of this will help our community members to keep themselves, and us, safer.

Things are changing daily, even hourly. We don’t necessarily know what the best strategies will be, though everyone is doing their best right now. And CMLE is here to provide help to our library members.

We are assembling a list of materials that you can use in case you are, or will be working at home. Look on our front page menu; this is called Library Life Online, and you can find it on the top left of the page.

We will have material about telecommuting, and also material you can use to share with your patrons – especially your younger patrons. This webpage will be on our top menu, and you can access it any time. It is a work in progress, and we will continue added to it over the next few weeks.

Library people can do a lot of work online to fulfill our primary mission: to serve our community members. It doesn’t matter whether or not your building is open, or if you have cancelled public programs, or taken other steps to encourage distancing: there is work you can do to help your patrons.

Whether or not your library ends up closing, it is good to be thinking ahead about serving your community in a more flexible format! The world is moving online – and we want to provide effective service there.

CMLE members: if you have specific questions, and want to talk about your own situation of providing online instruction, programs, and materials – email me any time at mary@cmle.org. I’ll get back to everyone as soon as I can, and work with your individual situation.

Things are going to be strange for a while; but we are in the information business, and we have good work we can do together!