Central Arkansas Library System will take a variety of steps as a precaution on account of coronavirus.
Effective Friday, March 13, CALS is suspending programs, events, public meeting room use, and outreach through the end of the month. Patrons will not accrue daily charges for overdue materials and no fees will be charged for holds not picked up within the designated time. We’ve also taken the following steps for prevention:
- Adding additional cleaning and sanitation procedures in our buildings
- Providing reminders for staff and customers about hand washing hygiene and covering coughs and sneezes
- Encouraging staff and library users to stay home if they have any symptoms of illness
- Making hand sanitizer available for library staff and users when possible
During this period, we are asking that children younger than 16 be accompanied by an adult (18+) when visiting the library. Our usual after-school meal programs are being suspended along with other library events. CALS and Be Mighty are participating in a citywide campaign to offer pick-up meals at various locations across Little Rock including schools and libraries.
We will continue to monitor the situation and plan to resume scheduled activities once it’s been determined the public health risk has been minimized.
We understand this situation is not ideal and apologize for any inconvenience it may cause, but your health and the health of our staff are our priority. Even if you aren’t able to visit the library in person, we encourage you to enjoy the e-books, audiobooks, movies, TV shows, music, and magazines that can be streamed or downloaded directly to your mobile device.
Read the letter from CALS Executive Director Nate Coulter and keep up with the latest developments here.
Also this from Rock Region Metro, the local transit system:
It has been a standard practice to sanitize vehicles; offer on-board hand sanitizer stations to riders and hand sanitizer stations at the River Cities Travel Center (the downtown Little Rock local bus station); offer an on-site, full-time janitor at the travel center; and offer METRO drivers and other employees hand sanitizer stations and disposable gloves at each METRO property prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. These measures will continue. In addition, METRO has purchased special machines to fog sanitizer product into fleet vehicles nightly and has increased its fleet sanitation schedule, wiping down all high-touch surfaces daily. METRO is also increasing sanitation procedures at each METRO property to reduce the risk of virus exposure for employees.