Introduction

When COVID-19 became a global pandemic in March 2020, libraries had to act fast. Most library leaders halted any service or program that could potentially spread the virus, which, for many, meant shutting off access to their buildings and stopping the circulation of all books and other tangible materials. Two months later, as the death toll rose across the United States and hopes of containment evaporated, many public and private institutions around the country continued to keep doors closed, shifting to socially distant and online approaches. By May of 2020, according to the American Library Association (ALA), 99 percent of libraries had limited access to their materials, and 62 percent had fully closed their buildings.¹

Library leaders were also bracing for, or already having to cope with, deep cuts to their staffing and hours.² In some places, such as the Santa Monica Public Library, cuts were already underway, with 26 positions eliminated.³ The emergency also led to sudden shifts in staff responsibilities: some city and county governments, for example, reassigned public librarians and other staff at public libraries to assist with food distribution and responding to COVID-19.

Most public libraries, however, were still determined to continue with their primary mission: to provide services to residents seeking knowledge, learning opportunities, and connections to information. This meant “ramping up the virtual,” as Atlantic writer Deborah Fallows noted last spring,⁴ and focusing on online resources as much as, if not more, than off-line ones. Since the 1990s, public libraries have been augmenting their holdings to ensure that they are able to give patrons the opportunity to check out ebooks and other digital media, to get to the internet via free Wi-Fi and computer stations, and to tap into “ask a librarian” services offered via phone, chat, or email. Many public libraries have also hosted educational programs to help adults gain skills in using online tools. As the Information Policy & Access Center put it seven years ago, libraries had become “vital hubs,” providing public access to technologies and digital content.”⁵

By the summer of 2020, with public buildings closed, reliable health information more pertinent than ever, jobs drying up, and millions of Americans trying to run their lives almost entirely online, these vital hubs of digital materials would be more important than ever. But did enough people know about these free resources? Would they find them and use them? Who would have internet access at home adequate to be able to tap in? And what would happen to those who were able to get online because of the facilities’ free Wi-Fi access and computer labs, services now closed because of the pandemic?