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Curbside service coming to Morinville library

The Morinville Community Library is prepping for next week’s launch of curbside pickup by appointment. It also has its new library delivery van for homebound patrons.
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CHRIS COLBOURNE/St. Albert Gazette
Monday is sure to be a very exciting day at the Morinville Community Library. June 1 is when it will make its first offering of curbside pickup service to the many patrons who have spent the last two and a half months waiting and waiting and waiting for their holds.

“I'm not entirely sure how many we can expect to come but I have a good indication by the number of phone calls we've been receiving since we closed that there's a lot of people ... that are just waiting for the service to be available so they can have something to read or something to watch,” explained library director Isabelle Cramp.

That service will be offered by appointment only. Patrons are asked to either call the library at 780-939-3292 (weekdays between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. or noon to 3 p.m. on weekends), email [email protected], or visit morinvillelibrary.ca to book a time to pick up items using their library barcode.

“I think once we start taking in the appointments, I have a feeling we're going to be quite busy.”

Loans are limited to items the library currently has on its shelves and holds that were not picked up before the library closed in March. interlibrary loan material requests are not allowed for the time-being. There will be a limit of five adult or young adult items, five movies and 15 children’s items per person at one time.

Patrons can search a Morinville Library-specific version of the online catalogue by going to bit.ly/morilib-catalogue. Library staff members are also available to help choose book bundle selections for patrons based on a requested genre, author or subject.

Pickups will take place from the parking lot behind the library building until the construction on 100 Avenue is complete. Library staff will be masked and gloved and will remain the required two-metre distance away during the pickups.

“The staff has been very excited about being able to go back to doing what we do, which is provide reading material.”

Returns should still be made through the front dropbox on 100 Avenue as staff cannot accept curbside returns. All due dates have been extended to July 31 and overdue fines have been suspended. The library is not accepting donations at this time.

For patrons who cannot visit the library in person for the pickup service, the newly unveiled library van is there to make home deliveries. The acquisition has been in the works for quite some time, Cramp noted, and it was only last week that all of the finishing touches were put on it to get it road-ready, thanks to several sponsors.

“This is very exciting for us. This is something we've been working towards for the last couple of years as an addition to our services. This will basically be our way of testing out the water and doing home deliveries to anyone who's homebound in Morinville. We look forward to that.”

That service is also available by appointment through the same channels.


Scott Hayes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

About the Author: Scott Hayes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Ecology and Environment Reporter at the Fitzhugh Newspaper since July 2022 under Local Journalism Initiative funding provided by News Media Canada.
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