It’s National Library Week. Here’s how California’s libraries have helped during the pandemic

As the restrictions of the pandemic begin to ease, it’s not uncommon to hear someone say something like, “Isn’t it terrific, libraries are open again.” And, of course, it is terrific that doors to physical facilities are opening again — but libraries never closed in 2020.

Libraries did something few — if any — other public institutions are capable of: completely changed their service model, in a matter of days. As soon as state stay-at-home orders took effect, each and every one of California’s 1,128 local libraries began transforming themselves from in-person and online to online and outdoors.

That’s an extraordinary accomplishment under any circumstances, but it’s just one of the things worth celebrating during National Library Week. Libraries close the opportunity gap and have been doing so in California for more than 170 years — and for millennia, in some parts of the world. Libraries offer assistance and respite for our state’s most vulnerable, of all ages. They provide the tools — literally, in some cases — that Californians need to succeed and thrive. And they usually do all this on skimpy operating budgets, made even more meager by the pandemic’s economic fallout.

Libraries are too busy getting it done for their communities to worry about whether it can be done. And that’s why study after study shows that for every $1 invested in public libraries there’s an average return of $3 to $6.

Consider what happened at Sacramento’s libraries last year when all 28 branches shut their doors on March 18. Within four days, the first virtual services — job coaching to help those immediately impacted by the pandemic — were offered. Within two weeks, virtual storytimes in English and Spanish began, e-book and audiobook download opportunities were increased and online book clubs were launched.

Library staff demonstrated incredible flexibility, providing curbside pickup and opening for computer appointments — which was especially useful to those on the wrong side of the digital divide applying for unemployment benefits, searching for jobs or trying to connect with friends and family.

In the last 12 months, Sacramento Library staff have provided hundreds of online programs including Baby Instagram Storytimes, teen trivia events, personal shopper services and virtual gaming. They have kept readers engaged with author visits, including a virtual visit with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Sacramento library staff and library workers around the state pushed to get a strong 2020 Census count and collaborated on a how-to guide called “Census and Sensibility.” Sacramento library workers participated in the Great Plates Delivered program that serves meals to more than 1,000 seniors throughout the City of Sacramento.

Sacramento’s libraries are also part of the statewide “Lunch at the Library” network which served nearly 300,000 meals to poor kids last summer — more than the number of meals served in 2019 when physical library doors were open.

So, throughout this year’s National Library Week, April 4-10, ask not what your library can do for you (it’s probably already doing it) and instead do what you can do ensure online and in-person library services keep expanding to meet community needs.

Libraries represent the best in us because their mission is to help all of us.