LANSING, Mich. — Libraries have been closed since Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed her stay at home order last month. This has left families without access to books which is imperative for young readers.
Scott Duimstra the Executive Director for the Capital Area District Library said, "Children who are just being introduced to literacy and for those early readers, the format of a book is very important. So, while we have e-books it's very important they know how to use a physical book."
Kristina Sancar, a mother of a 3-year-old and a 5-month-old child is bilingual. Her husband is from South India and speaks Tamil.
They are trying to teach their kids the language, but without the library open they are struggling to find books that use Tamil.
"A really important part of the library is they do have a bilingual collection and they do have Tamil books and Tamil children's books. We're just having to find other ways to do teaching"
A lot of families rely on internet access from the library, but with it being closed people are having to check out hot spots the libraries provide.
They have about 130 internet hot spots that people can check out for two weeks. According to Duimstra, the library is trying to purchase more hot spots.
The library is also encouraging people not to use the drop off box to return books. Since it is closed, staff are not working on location, so there is no one to sift through the drop off boxes at each location.
If a person was to return a library item to a dropbox, the item would still be counted as "checked out," until the libraries reopen.
Duimstra said he doesn't know when the library will reopen, but it will take the staff about two weeks after the stay home order is lifted to get the libraries in order.
In the meantime, library items that are due back during the stay home order will be pushed to a later date including their late fees.
Duimstra said, "We're extending those due dates out. They don't have to worry about overdue fines. Even if they think the items are due again we're going to extend those due dates out."
The district libraries' summer programs have been canceled.
A loss for the library considering it is the busiest time of the year.
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