Library Keeps City Reading During Pandemic

Before the pandemic hit, Cyd Oppenheimer visited the library every Wednesday when dropping off her kids off at Hebrew school. When libraries closed to prevent the spread of Covid-19, Oppenheimer had to find another way to meet her family’s need to read.

The library — now in virtual mode — again became her source.

Oppenheimer called her neighbor, librarian Sharon Lovett-Graff. Lovett-Graff spent half an hour walking Oppenheimer through how to download e‑books on all of her family’s devices. (For a quick how-to, click here.)

“I was very intimidated by the whole process even though I’m not that old,” Oppenheimer laughed. ​“Now five of seven family members are all frequently downloading books.”

Open Online

Like other libraries across the country, NHFPL has transitioned to online services during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We are open for business — we just are not in the building. Please do reach out and contact us,” said Margaret Girgis, who manages the kids department of NHFPL.

For Girgis, being open for business means offering kids events online instead of in-person.

All NHFPL branches hold storytimes three times a week in non-pandemic times, Girgis said. Now rather than reading to the children in the room with them, librarians are now reading every day on YouTube, with permission from publishers. Many of the books are available as e‑books, so Girgis is working on how to start fully digital read-alongs and book clubs.

The library has started to release other kinds of videos as well, including a recent tutorial on how to draw dinosaurs.

Girgis has started to think about adding an online or digital component to their in-person programs when the pandemic ends, she said.

“Maybe it’s hard to get out. Maybe kids don’t have transportation,” Girgis said. ​“While the digital format lacks the face-to-face interaction we would love to have, it’s not a bad resource.”

For NHFPL Reference and Adult Learning Manager Seth Godfrey, working from home has meant a lot of answering phone calls.

“People are asking when are we going to open. Sometimes they just want to hear a voice,” Godfrey said.

Many, like Oppenheimer, are calling to learn how to access a resource. They ask how to access virtual tax filing software to get refunds as the Covid-19 recession has left them in need of extra cash. Others are in search of escapist movies and books.

For Godfrey, these services will never come close to the library’s function as an open, public space. He mourned the cancellation of the library’s re-entry job fair due to Covid and mentioned the stories he has heard of conditions in prisons during the pandemic.

“I’m not saying we’re first responders or second responders. When you work at a library, you recognize that there are a lot of people without a place to go. It’s such a democratic institution. No one’s keeping you out,” Godfrey said.

What They’re Downloading

Both Girgis and Godfrey recommended movie-streaming services.

Girgis has a documentary queued up on Kanopy about a group of women who performed safe abortions with no medical training at a time when abortions were illegal. She said that she plans to watch on Thursday night, when work commitments tend to wane for the week.

Godfrey has just watched The Poet of Havana on Hoopla and loved the music in the film. He also recommended the book The Green New Deal.

Meanwhile, every member of the Oppenheimer household has their own favorite books. Oppenheimer said that she has never been a fan of children having their own electronic devices. With a loaner laptop from New Haven Public Schools, there are just enough to go around.

Oppenheimer’s 6‑year-old has commandeered the family iPad to read all of the Wizard of Oz books. Oppenheimer already owned the first five books and was grateful that the library had the next ones as e‑books.

Meanwhile, when Oppenheimer and her 9‑year-old daughter finished Linda Sue Park’s Prairie Lotus (set in the same world as Little House on the Prairie but with a biracial heroine) together, they checked out The Hobbit. Oppenheimer thanked the library for filling another gap in her home collection.

The only one unable to read yet is Oppenheimer’s 19-month-old son. His favorite book is Peek-a-Who?—“the most boring book ever written,” Oppenheimer noted.

Oppenheimer reads on her phone while she puts her baby to bed. She often requests the library buy e‑books that have just come out, like Frances Cha’s If I Had Your Face. She said that the library usually buys them and makes them available within 24 hours.

The instantaneous availability is one advantage e‑books have over their print cousins, Oppenheimer admitted. She still prefers the in-person experience, though.

Oppenheimer’s sixth-grade daughter Elisabeth agreed. During Oppenheimer’s interview with the Independent, Elisabeth added from the background that you can fall asleep while reading print books. With a laptop, you have to make sure it does not fall off the bed, she said.

“There’s nothing like looking through the shelves, pulling out a book and reading the back,” Oppenheimer said. ​“It’s much more pleasurable than seeing what Amazon recommends for you based on your previous purchases.”