School Library Handbook

As districts are making plans for reopening for the 20-21 school year, here are some links that may help you determine important aspects of reopening your school library to make it safer for your students, you, and your community.

 

COVID-19 Guidance

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has guidance for the re-opening of schools.

 

• Information and guidance on COVID-19 can be found on the Wyoming Department of Health's website.

 

Reopening Guidance

• The Wyoming Department of Education has issued their Smart Start Guide which pretty much leaves reopening guidelines up to school districts. You are also encouraged to communicate with your local health officer.

 

• Jennisen Lucas, District Librarian at Park County School District #6, created a Library Services Reopening Plan for the district.

 

• The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) issued the "School Librarian Role in Pandemic Learning Conditions" and other pandemic resources

 

• The American Library Association (ALA) has issued "COVID-19 Resources for Reopening and Recovery" which includes guidance on protecting library staff and community.

 

• The South Carolina Association of School Librarians issued an appendix their state's dept of ed guidelines, starting at page 89.

 

• Pennsylvania developed a "Library Opening Plan and Covid Response" infographic.

 

• "Why Are School Libraries So Important?" YouTube video.

 

 

I hope these resources are helpful. Please share what you are doing in your school library/district to facilitate reopening and to mitigate risks. Email me at paige.bredenkamp@wyo.gov or post to the Wyoming Library Association School Library Interest Group Facebook group.

 

REopening Archives, Libraries, and Museums (REALM) is a research project conducted by OCLC, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and Battelle to produce science-based information about how materials can be handled to mitigate COVID-19 exposure to staff and visitors of archives, libraries, and museums.

 

• REALM Toolkit Materials Available: The REALM (REopening Archives, Libraries,and Museums) Project has made available the first in a series of materials to help support the interpretation and use of REALM project resources. These materials include REALM 101 (about COVID-19 and the project), a checklist for decision-making, and visual aids comparing all REALM test results thus far.

 

• The REALM Project  (Reopening Archives, Libraries, and Museums) issues guidance according to their laboratory tests about when to reinstate various library materials, including how long to quarantine. 

 

• REALM Test Results: As part of the REALM research, Battelle is conducting natural attenuation studies to provide information on how long the virus may survive on materials common to archives, libraries, and museums. The studies are conducted by applying the virulent SARS-CoV-2 virus on five materials (per test set) held at standard room temperature (68°F to 75°F) and relative humidity conditions (30 to 50 percent). Below are the results of tests completed to date.