Sacramento library chief seeks to close all 28 branches to help slow coronavirus spread

Sacramento’s library director plans to recommend the closure of all 28 library branches in the system temporarily to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

Library chief Rivkah Sass said Monday she plans to ask the library board for permission to shut down the branches as soon as Wednesday to help mitigate community spread of the virus.

Sass already shut down the Martin Luther King Jr. branch Saturday after learning that the spouse of a staff member who worked there had tested positive for coronavirus.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we decided to close that branch,” Sass said, adding that eight to 10 staffers have been sent home.

The spouse of the individual who tested positive is still awaiting results of her own test, Sass said. That worker would have come into contact with the public at the library, she said.

“The risk is very low, and everybody is in a panic right now and I think it’s important not to panic,” she said.

Sass added that she is not seeking to close the libraries because of the one case, but rather to increase public safety overall during the crisis.

And, she added, she wants to be able to reopen as soon as possible with at least some services provided to patrons, including meals that are provided for children at several locations.

“There’s going to be utter chaos if we don’t show some semblance of civilization, and what is a library if it’s not a semblance of civilization?” she said. “This is not something we’ve dealt with before.

“This is a test, and we’ve got to get this right.”

The libraries are closed on Mondays, but likely will reopen Tuesday and, possibly, Wednesday, as Sass awaits permission from the board to shut down temporarily, she said. The move would affect 305 staffers, as well as about 100 on-call substitute staff.

Whether staff would be paid during a closure has not yet been worked out, she said.

Sass returned home over the weekend from a trip to work with Syrian refugees in Jordan and said she is working from home out of an abundance of caution after flying on six different planes during the trip.