After an extended closure due to the COVID19 pandemic, Ruthven is set to reopen its doors to the public at 9 a.m. today, with Cottam reopening in two weeks time on Monday, March 20 at 1 p.m.
The Essex County Library has announced a return to regular service at the Ruthven and Cottam branches.
After an extended closure, Ruthven is set to re-open its doors to the public at 9 a.m. today, with Cottam reopening in two weeks time on Monday, March 20 at 1 p.m.
CEO/Chief Librarian Adam Craig says re-opening the branches is part of a larger plan to return county libraries to pre-pandemic levels of service.
"Both of these branches have been closed since the beginning of the pandemic, so we are extremely excited to have these guys back open. If you remember we opened Stoney Point a couple of weeks ago and that went really well. We know that there's a big demand out in some of these small communities around the county, and we're just really excited to be back," he said.
Craig says he can feel the excitement from people based on the emails and calls he's received, and added they have a pretty solid core group of library users in both communities.
"We're actually hoping that all of this good news that's following the library around right now will bring more folks out who maybe didn't know we were there before," he continued. "There's an element of using these as an opportunity to spread the word about what we do, and where we are."
He says in both cases, which is part of the reason they've taken their time getting re-opened, there's little improvements and cosmetic things they've done to the branches.
Additionally something people may not think about is that books get out of date, and collections can age.
"Part of this process was making sure we had new materials out there. We did a big kind of refresh of all the resources that are available. Minor cosmetic stuff, but it's also a new feel as we've got some new faces out there to greet the community. It's essentially a fresh start really, after being closed for this long."
The Ruthven Branch is located at 1695 Elgin Street, while the Cottam Branch is located at 122 Fox Street.
"I am happy to see these community branches re-open and want to thank the Town of Kingsville and its residents for being patient during these extended closures, Deputy Warden and Library Board Chair Joe Bachetti said about the news.
On top of recently opening the new branch in Stoney Point, Essex County Library is also in the finishing stages of renovating a new location for the Comber branch.
- with files from AM800's Rob Hindi