Library Journal | April 2020
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich

Unprecedented. Heartbreaking. Heartwarming.

These three words have been most prominent in my mind as I observed and consulted with my colleagues, near and far, as they make tough decisions about how to keep their communities and staff healthy in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the reality set in as to what was going to be necessary to “flatten the curve,” I watched library directors go through a fast-paced version of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s “stages of grief”: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

Library leaders were listening intently to public health officials, government officials, stakeholders, and their own intuition. First, we had to acknowledge that we all need to pull in the same direction. But close the library? People need the library, they rely on it, we have advocated so hard to help funders understand that libraries are essential in people’s lives. If we close, what message are we sending?… read the full article here.