Friday, February 12, 2021

Q & A Thursday, February 11, 2021

 Submitted by Nikki Watkins

Double Masking

The CDC has issued new guidelines that now suggest that everyone should wear (2) masks or “double masking” to improve how your mask protects you.  When choosing a mask look at how well it fits, how well it filters the air, and how many layers it has.  Look for a blog coming soon from Aimee Brown to give you more information on how to double mask.

Announcements

On February 23rd we will start making announcements at each branch reminding our patrons to wear a mask and to practice social distancing.  The announcements will be repeated hourly.  Staff may use their best judgment if there are times when an announcement is not necessary.  We will also eliminate limiting the number of patrons in the branch and eliminate the time limit of 30 minutes per stay.  We have never actively enforced these limits so it’s a good time to eliminate them.  We will change out the signage to reflect these changes.  The no food & drink rule will remain in place.  We are still going to keep the meeting and study rooms closed.   Regarding when we will return to in-person programs, there is no target date at the moment of when this will change.

Vaccine Update

Our state librarian, Julie Walker, is still trying to get library staff classified as essential workers for vaccine purposes.  We have not had an update from her so we do not know where this stands.  Anna recently attended a webinar regarding our district (district 2) and Forsyth County should finish vaccinations for 1(A) classifications in mid-to-late March.  If we were to be deemed essential workers we would classify for the next stage 1(B).  Anna has also researched having vaccines given onsite.  To do so we would need to have a nurse practitioner or an occupational therapist on staff.  Knowing that our county wants to approach getting back to normal operations, we discussed the possibility of getting the county to consider us as essential workers.  Anna has already addressed that with the county and the county responded with they are dependent on what the state mandates.

A big thank you goes out to Holly Raus for the great questions and discussion!

Cumming Upfit Update

There are many exciting things happening simultaneously at Cumming and this week has been very busy for Facilities.  Cumming has received the last of their furniture and it looks great!  Also this week we had 3 pre-bid meetings.  A pre-bid meeting is where interested vendors tour the facility to inspect the areas they will be bidding on when they respond to our RFP (request for proposal).  Bids include the following upfit: a new entry way, a new AskUsDesk and new LED lighting.  The vendor to install the standby gas generator has been selected and a kickoff meeting is scheduled for next week.  In bigger news, Forsyth County has selected a vendor for a NEW ROOF!  Cumming has needed a new roof for several years now and the steps are in progress to make it happen.  The better news is the County will pay the $1.5 million cost of this project.  A kickoff meeting should happen in the next couple of weeks.  Though all of the above improvements are inside, outside will get a little “spring cleaning for the trees.”  There will be trees removed and trimmed which make outside equally as inviting as the inside.  Stop by and check out the improvements!

Best Times for Q&As

All attendees were queried to find out the best time to conduct future Q&As in order to allow the best possible attendance.  It was decided that we will try 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. for our next Q&A (date to be determined).  If you have questions and either are unable to attend or are uncomfortable asking in the group setting, you can email your questions ahead of time to Anna, Steve, or Nikki.

 

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