'It's the right time': Essex County libraries almost back to pre-pandemic service

Kayla Neal has been patiently waiting to bring her one-year-old son, Maverick, to the Ruthven branch of the Essex County Library.

The small building had been closed since March 2020 when COVID-19 shuttered all 14 county branches. It reopened Monday with regular service after nearly three years.

“We live just across the street,” Neal said. “So we're super excited to have it open. We've been kind of curious when they would. We just wanted to come in and see what they have to offer.”

Neal explained she liked the sense of community the library offers.

“I just feel like it's something that breaks up the day when you have kids and I'm a stay at home mom, so it’s just something to do and somewhere to go,” Neal added. “I really like that.”

Staff said a couple loyal patrons were waiting at the doors before they opened at 9 a.m.

“It's been a long three years,” said librarian Melanie Lindsey. “Our community is excited to have its library back.”

Lindsey explained the library branch offers more than just books, with Wi-Fi, e-readers, printing services and board games available for people to use.

“And it's just a place for people to hang out and gather and spend their time,” Lindsey said.

“They've been eager to get it open these last three years. So we're happy to see a lot of familiar faces come through the doors.”

Essex County Library chief librarian and CEO, Adam Craig, said it’s been a long road to get back to pre-pandemic service and that things were closed for “way too long.”

“Across the county, I think we're absolutely headed in the right direction,” Craig said.

“We are more than happy to be back and I get the sense from the conversations that I'm having with the community members out there that they're happy to have us back. So I think it's the right time.”

Craig noted once the Cottam branch re-opens on Monday, Mar. 20. Following renovations, library service across all of Essex County should be back to normal levels.

Craig told CTV News construction of a new branch in Comber is almost complete with hopes of opening it in early spring.

“We're really just waiting on a couple of finishing touches for that branch and then we'll make a big announcement as to when we're getting get the doors open,” he said.

Mean time, deputy warden and library board chair, Joe Bachetti, said demand is on the rise saying the new goal for library officials is to attract new membership.

“It's no longer just a paper book place where you can go in, take a book and then sign it out and bring it back a week later,” Bachetti said. “We want to make that a community hub where all ages, whether you be youth or senior, can attend those branches, and then see a lot of the innovative technological things that are available now.”

Bachetti said the library board is going to keep an eye on how borrowing goes, adding they just want to make sure people know their local libraries have resumed service.

“We're going to actually target and zero in on the needs of those smaller branches and see what is it that the residents are looking for,” he said. “And based on that feedback, we're going to incorporate that into our overall plan and in putting money, budget dollars into that so that we can provide that.”