Cathy Grace, Nederland. Well, it might be springtime in the Rockies … and it might be springtime in the long siege with Covid. We’re not assuming anything, but it is all feeling more hopeful, isn’t it? With the sun getting higher and stronger every day, quickly melting the snow that keeps falling (and falling and falling); and with more of us getting vaccinated by the day, we can actually get out of our homes and see other people’s faces again occasionally. Things are looking up!

Here at the Nederland Community Library, we are excitedly preparing for springtime. We are welcoming back staff and (soon) volunteers, planning for longer hours and (cautiously) fewer restrictions. We never did close completely during the past Covid year+, but we know that not everyone wants to plan their library visits ahead of time and sign up for time slots. Take heart, free spirits! Increased flexibility and spontaneity are on the horizon.

We’d love to hear what this Covid year has been like for you, with limited library access; email cgrace.ncl@gmail.com or drop by the library with your comments. Have you missed us as much as we’ve missed you?

Here at the library, we’ve been busy this whole time coming up with safe, effective, and creative ways to connect and continue to offer our many services. It’s been working well to deliver items to patrons (that’s you) right outside our doors. For a while we tried home deliveries, but were surprised that the demand wasn’t greater, and we scaled back on that. We put together Zoom StoryTimes and events and take-and-make craft projects (thank you, Mike, Marguerite, Janette and Jessie). We expanded our Songs from the Stacks repertoire on YouTube with lots more local musical talent (filmed Covid-safely and expertly by Charlie). We had a fabulous outdoor event to celebrate our 10th Anniversary in our beautiful building and our coinciding 20 year Anniversary of the founding of the library itself. We even got immortalized by the Very Nice Brewing Company when they put a picture of our library staff on one of the bottle labels of Royal We; in this case, subtitled Read Responsibly.

We have a fun new initiative designed to supplement our already-tempting offerings and lure you back into the library to browse. We are fortunate to receive a steady stream of ARCs (Advance Reading Copies), which are released to book professionals to broaden the exposure/audience of new and forthcoming books. We’d love to share them with you! 

Look for the special area in the library which is delightfully crammed full of these ARCs (fiction, non-fiction, adult and juvenile). We want you to poke through them and take home those that pique your interest. We’d love to know what you think of them, as well, so we encourage you to jot down a few words on the simple form that accompanies each book. We appreciate your feedback, as it helps us decide what to purchase for the library and communicates with other potential readers. We all love to know what our friends and neighbors are reading and loving, or not loving.

For now, ARC-browsing will be by appointment, along with browsing for other items, using our deck and Community Room and public computers, and playing in the kids’ section. As we’re able to expand access safely, it will become even easier to cruise the shelf to pick out a not-yet-published book to explore.

Be sure to save the date, June 1st, 4-7 p.m., we will be having an outdoor, Summer Reading/Welcome Back Kick-off event to celebrate expanding our hours. Ice cream sundae bar, crafts, music, dancing, Mike in his skunk costume, all the things you love and have missed will be happening. More details coming soon on our website and through Facebook. 

Cathy Grace is a library assistant at the Nederland Community Library. 

(Originally published in the May 6, 2021, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)