The COVID pandemic presented a rare opportunity for many of us to stay home and read, but libraries were closed for months. Now, most of them have re-opened, and one rural Virginia branch is offering exciting new options for patrons.
At the Warm Springs branch of the Rockbridge Regional Library, manager Amy Porterfield and Assistant Amanda McGuire kept busy during the shutdown – weeding.
“Weeding is getting the old books off the shelves,” McGuire explains.
Dozens of volumes were given away, so when the library re-opened earlier this month the collection of about 6,000 books was clean and organized.
In addition, Porterfield says, they had started a tradition that continues even though the library is open again.
Every Monday at 10:30, she and McGuire take turns hosting a virtual story time for toddlers online with nearly 300 viewers – far more kids than the tiny library could accommodate.
And in the back room they’ve started a new service. McGuire describes a library of seeds donated by a dozen area gardeners.
“The old card catalogs are really good for storing packets of seeds in. The left hand side of the drawers have the vegetables – everything from blue hubbard squash to giant zucchini to salsify, and then over here we have flowers and herbs.”
She hopes this summer – when COVID offers more time to garden – area residents will produce more seeds for the library to give away this fall.
