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Staying Safe at IFLS

COVID-19 Guidelines, July 31, 2020

During the COVID-19 pandemic, IFLS has established safety protocols to protect the health of its staff, IFLS member libraries’ staff and the public while we continue to provide services.  The IFLS office is in Eau Claire County and is subject to its health regulations https://www.eauclairewi.gov/government/our-divisions/health-department. These regulations may change at any time. 

Effective August 1, 2020 IFLS will be following the Governor’s Emergency Order #1 and require mask wearing in the office.

General Guidelines

1. Virtual/phone meetings are the preferred method of interaction between IFLS Staff and Library Staff to limit contact. If an in-person meeting/visit is needed or would result in a better interaction, then the guidelines below should be followed.
2. IFLS Staff reserve the right not to hold in-person meetings due to personal health and/or safety reasons.
3. Visits to the IFLS office, libraries, or other locations may be suspended at any time due to significant changes in the COVID levels within a county.

In the IFLS Office

1. Since many staff members are working from home you should schedule an appointment if you’d like to visit in person at the IFLS Office. Visits should be limited to one staff person per visit.
2. If you are meeting in an individual’s office and you are unable to physically distance both parties will be required to wear a mask. We can provide you with a mask if you don’t have one.
3. Individuals should use hand sanitizer or wash their hands upon entering the building. We have hand sanitizer available at both entrances.
4. Visitors will maintain a distance of 6 feet from all people present.

Field Visits by IFLS staff

1. IFLS staff will contact member libraries to determine the safest time to schedule a visit. When scheduling, we will arrange:
   • Arrival time.
     1. Visits are strongly recommended to occur when the library is closed to the public.
   • Where to enter.
     1. The preference would be the use of a staff entrance or an entrance with limited interaction with patrons.
   • If the library is open and patrons are present, the library should limit/restrict patron interaction with IFLS staff.
     1. Social distancing by patrons will be required.

2. IFLS staff will follow these safety protocols when meeting/working in libraries: hand washing/sanitizing, masks and social distance.
3. IFLS requires that all library staff follow the same protocol when interacting with IFLS staff.
4. If IFLS staff feels unsafe while visiting a library or other meeting location, they can suspend that day’s visit/service. In turn, if a library staff or board member feels unsafe, they may request IFLS staff follow local health or library guidelines or request IFLS staff suspend their visit.

American Rescue Plan

4/14/21 article from Governing website.

Employers can require vaccinations

Here’s vaccination coverage from WEAU.

Quick Links

• Impact of EO3 on Wisconsin Public Libraries, from DPI
• Wisconsin Health Department statistics page, including cases by county.
• Wisconsin Health Department vaccine data.
• DPI’s COVID-19 page including the latest information on Safer at Home
• Webinar recordings from The Division are posted on their website. https://dpi.wi.gov/wilibrariesforeveryone (hint: the search function works well on this page!) 
• Program Tracking: What You Need to Know: Leah put together a resource page with all the current information about tracking program participation.

Guidance for Re-opening

• Wisconsin Public Libraries Reopening Guide, (Addendum April 2021) a collaborative effort between the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and the Wisconsin public library community, provides a process to help libraries develop their own reopening plans. This reopening guide focuses on the safety of staff and the community and is specific to the needs of libraries and library services during this COVID-19 public health event. The decision about how and when to reopen a library remains a local decision.
  The overview document offers an “At-A-Glance” view of the process, presented as steps in decision-making at the local level, while the full Reopening Guide provides a “deep dive” into different aspects of reopening, including an occupancy calculator, which can help a library determine how many people it will allow in the library or a specific space.

Use these suggestions to inform your opening decisions (from John)

• County Health Department or County Recommendations and/or County Dashboard information (Rebecca Dixon, Baldwin, suggests that you call and talk to your local hospital instead of looking at state-wide data.)
• Wisconsin DHS Data https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/local.htm
• Are the municipal and/or county buildings closed to the public?
• Did the school district move to virtual learning only?
• News on hospital capacity (Eau Claire area are near or at capacity https://www.weau.com/2020/11/11/western-wisconsin-hospitals-are-overwhelmed-by-covid-19-patients/)

Reopening FAQs

• Must a library close if there is a county or local health department order in place establishing restrictions similar to Safer at Home? Yes, pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 251.08, the jurisdiction of the local health department extends to the entire area represented by the governing body of the county, city, village or town that established the local health department, except that the jurisdiction of a single or multiple county health department or of a city-county health department does not extend to cities, villages and towns that have local health departments.
• In the absence of a county or local health department order, does the governing body have authority to close the library or does that authority fall to the library board? In the absence of such an order, the statutes appear to give the library board the authority to determine whether the library should open or close. Wisconsin Stat. § 43.58(1) provides that the library board has “exclusive charge, control and custody of all lands, buildings, money or other property devised, bequeathed, given or granted to, or otherwise acquired or leased by, the municipality for library purposes.”

Open Meeting Law and Virtual Meetings 

•  The Office of Open Government in the Wisconsin Department of Justice has issued two advisories indicating that governmental bodies may meet remotely during the COVID-19 public health emergency and still comply with the open meetings law.
  •  March 16 Advisory
  • March 20 Advisory

Spreadsheet

This is the place to record your current operations information, so that other libraries and IFLS staff can easily scan what’s going on system-wide. Please update this when your library’s information changes. Thanks!

• IFLS Library Operations Spreadsheet: Open status (bathrooms, community rooms), curbside, programming, staff status. Edit spreadsheet right on the linked page (no need to sign in to edit the spreadsheet).

Reopening

•  Wisconsin Public Libraries Reopening Guide
• From Niche Academy:  Reopening Lives Academy: crowd-sourced documentation from librarians.
• River Falls Service Level Plan document, created in partnership with Public Health.

Curbside

• Curbside Pickup Procedures put together by Lori Roholt.
• Curbside webinar recording from DPI

Materials and Quarantine

• Go to the Delivery toggle for updates on quarantine.

About Masks: Guidance from John

A few have asked if a library board meeting is needed prior to the Emergency Order going into effect. The answer is no. Libraries should be requiring face coverings/masks as outlined in the Emergency Order.

Some mentioned today during the Director Check-in some law enforcement agencies have indicated that they will not be responding to calls about individuals not wearing a mask. Your local library patron conduct/behavior policies are established to help with patron behavior issues.  Also see the attached email for the upcoming Ryan Dowd Webinar COVID:  How to deal with problem behaviours related to COVID-19. This webinar and other Ryan Dowd webinars/resources are also useful with handling problem behaviors.

Please let me know if you have any questions, John

• We’re back to our regular schedule as of September 30! Find it on the IFLS Delivery Page.
• All forms and flags are also available on the IFLS Delivery page.
• IFLS COVID-19 Courier and Delivery guidelines
• Dresser’s BIN CLOSED form.

Any changes to regular IFLS Delivery will be noted. Please submit a HelpDesk ticket or contact Maureen with any questions or concerns.

WISCAT ILL restarted on August 3

Stop, Breathe, and Think has a website and an app for adults, one for kids

Stress and Mental Health Resources compiled by System Staff and the Division for Libraries and Technology (DPI)

Highly recommended course from Leah!

• PLA Libraries Lead with Digital Skills Grant
• various grant opportunities

Clarification from Sep 4:

• Routes to  Recovery funding is federal funding awarded to municipalities to help defray the expenses that they have incurred due to COVID-19.  Municipalities apply for the funding.  Libraries should save invoices for COVID-related expenses and submit to the village clerk (talk to them first).   Below are some resources that may be of use.  If you are having trouble with your municipality on this front, check with John, he has helped a few libraries talk through this.
  • There has been some confusion about using the funds for payroll, and that was addressed in a recent League of Wisconsin Municipalities email John received.  If you have city clerks, etc. thinking they could spend the funds on their own salaries or bonuses, please see the Office for Inspector General FAQ.
  • League of Wisconsin Municipalities has created a Routes to Recovery Key Guidance Takeaways that may be useful