Riverside Regional Library to partially reopen Monday, moves programs online

On Monday, two of Riverside Regional Library's branches will reopen their doors to a limited number of patrons and services, and summer programming will be primarily online or off-site, said library director Jeff Trinkle.

Children's librarian Alynda Smithey has been hard at work with her staff, finding ways to deliver summer programs for children and teens in the cities served by the library system.

"One of the big things this year is, we are going all online, not only with programming, but with how we log [participants'] reading in the reading challenge," Smithey said.

All five branches of Riverside offer curbside pickup, and are closed to the public for now. The Jackson and Perryville, Missouri, branches will open Monday, Trinkle said,

The larger branches' reopen plan includes limiting how many people can be in the building at one time -- 30 at Jackson, 18 in Perryville -- and limited browsing time.

Trinkle said calling ahead to let staff know what materials patrons would like to borrow, or using the existing curbside request service, will help patrons get the best experience.

"We want to reopen, for sure, but we want to do it in a safe and responsible manner," Trinkle said.

Meanwhile, "There are still a lot of advantages to doing these things online," Trinkle said of the summer programming.

The library partnered with Beanstack, a software company that provides libraries, schools and families a way to record reading challenge progress online, Smithey said.

A mobile app and website for registration will go live June 8, Smithey said.

"We have never done anything like this," Smithey said of the digital approach. "It's always been by paper, marking the little circles and turning it in."

Smithey said the library's front desk staff can help with recording progress, too, either by phone or in person once the libraries' doors reopen.

Participants can still earn tickets toward the grand prize drawing at the end of the program, Smithey said, and the badge system is also unchanged. A free swag bag with "coupons and goodies from local businesses" also awaits for readers, she said.

Rolling out June 2 are the virtual programs. Every week, usually at 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays, a performer will hold a live Zoom session with entertainment, and follows up with another session at 7 p.m. the next day, Wednesday, for those who don't have internet access during the day.

At 10:30 a.m. on Thursdays, Smithey will do a live story time session, also via Zoom, and she'll travel to a different location for each so the children can guess where she is.

"It'll be fun," she said.

Tickets to participate in these online sessions are free through Eventbrite, she said, and that's how participants receive the session identification number and password.

Another big change is the craft afternoons. In previous years, children in three age groups could come in for afternoon crafting sessions with provided materials. "Since we can't really have kids come in and have big groups doing crafts, we are putting together kits for age groups: Children, juvenile and teen," Smithey said. "Each branch has a designated time where staff will be there for an hour, curbside, to hand out these kits."

First up is next week's unicorn mask for the youngest group, she said. "They'll get a little mask and yarn to tie it with and decorations," she said. The kits change each week.

Smithey said library staff has been working hard to figure out how to give children a somewhat normal summer. "I deal with little ones all the time, and trying to explain to them why you can't gather anymore, it's hard," she said.

But, Smithey said, library staff is there to answer any questions patrons might have about the changes, by phone at (573) 243-8141, riversideregionallibrary.org, or on Facebook @RiversideRegionalLibrary.

"Keep on the Facebook page," she said. "Like it, share it, and we'll keep you updated."

Trinkle said the plan now is to keep the reopen limited throughout the month of June, and reassess in July.

"This is kind of complicated," Trinkle said of the reopen plan. "Patrons can call their nearest branch with questions or reach out to us on our website or Facebook."

Riverside Regional Library has branches in Missouri towns Jackson, Benton, Oran, Perryville, Altenburg and Scott City.