Last week's announcement removing all public health orders for Manitoba public libraries came as a bit of a surprise to Cathy Ching, Director of Library Services for South Central Regional Library.

“We were left off the initial opening in July, [which] that kind of surprised us. But now it's doors wide open," she said.

However, Ching noted they are a little concerned about how quickly things have moved.

“Because we have families and seniors, and a variety of people in our buildings, the board really felt that we should continue with masks for the time being," she explained, noting the Board of Directors has opted to follow the public health recommendation. "We do allow full capacity, but we ask people to, still remain distanced and use hand sanitizer," added Ching.

Ching added the return to full capacity at the beginning of August was great news.

“We have our summer reading programs going in all of our branches. We've hired nine summer reading programmers that are doing games and crafts with children across all the libraries. It's been exciting to watch the kids come back in," she said. “It's so much fun to hear people in the library again, laughing. It’s pretty quiet in here when there's only about half a dozen of us roaming around.”

While relieved at no longer needing to enforce restrictions, Ching said all SCRL branches will continue to offer contact-less pick-up, a popular option with patrons during the pandemic.

“If people are not sure how that works, they can call their libraries and ask for a variety of books," explained Ching. "We have had our staff go out into the stacks and read the back of books to people and ask if that's the one they want. And we also have had other services that we offer for people, so it works out well.”