Kingston Frontenac Public Library now offering curbside service

After closing in mid-March due to provincial emergency orders, the Kingston Frontenac Public Library (KFPL) is now able to provide library users with their reserved materials.

Public libraries are under different COVID-19 emergency orders than retail outlets, so the library is limited to providing lending services at the curb, KFPL said in a press release on Thursday, Jun. 4, 2020.

“The Premier announced this first stage of library service in late May,” said Kimberly Sutherland Mills, Manager of Programming and Outreach for KFPL in a statement. “Our staff and management have been working behind the scenes to get ready. We know our patrons have been looking forward to this day for weeks.”

KFPL has already re-opened their return slots and reports that thousands of books have been received. All materials received are quarantined for 72 hours before processing in order to prevent library staff from coming into contact with traces of the novel coronavirus, as well as for the protection of the next borrower. And now that KFPL is able to launch their curbside services, library users can look forward to picking up their reserved materials at any of the library locations, Sutherland Mills explained.

We serve a broad area, all of Kingston and Frontenac County, so we’ve committed to providing curbside pickup at all 16 of our locations,” she said.

Library patrons who already had materials reserved and ready to pick up before the pandemic began will contacted by library staff in the near future. At the same time, library staff are pulling materials for new reservations from the shelves.

“Patrons are welcome to make new reservations at any time. To speed things up, we’re asking all of our patrons to log into their account online to review their older reservations and to cancel any they no longer need,” Sutherland Mills said. “They can also pause reservations they’d like to delay so that they don’t get everything at once.”

Anyone needing help with making or managing reservations is encouraged to call library staff for assistance at 613-549-8888. Curbside pickup at the libraries will be similar to the experience at retail outlets. Library patrons are reminded to practice physical distancing when using the curbside services, and encouraged to bring hand sanitizer for before and after picking up their package.

Sutherland Mills underlined the importance of following the direction of library staff for using curbside services.

“Please don’t come to your branch until you’ve received an email or phone call that your items are ready for pickup,” she said.

For more information on KFPL, or to reserve a book or other materials, click here.