The official decree of March 14, 2020 closed libraries for months. Many libraries kept working during quarantine weeks : to maintain a link with users and offer a variety of content, but also to prepare the « after ». Cilia Fougères, Director of the Munster’s media library’ remembers this strange period.
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Facing Covid-19 crisis, Munster media library adapts its services
Communicate effectively by multiplying tools
Cilia Fougères, the new director of the Munster’s multimedia library, took her functions on March 17, 2020, so 3 days after the closure of the libraries ! « During my first week, I had to get acquainted with the PMB software, I also took time to analize the team operating » she remembers. « And very quickly, we had to be reactive to maintain the link with users and prepare for post-containment. »
Be active on social networks
For that, communication is essential, as Cilia Fougères explains. « We are very present on social networks, especially on our Facebook page. During the first quarantine, we used it every day to give our users ideas for occupation, relay activities produced by other structures, highlight some online resources. »
Use the documentary portal
At the same time, the documentary portal (produced by PMB Services and unveiled to the public during 2019) was regularly updated : « We used our portal to cummunicate on the closure of the media library, then on its gradual reopening with its new hours and the implementation of a drive system (or click-and-collect). But we also highlighted our new products because we were lucky to receive orders during the confinement period. In addition, since March, we have clearly observed new reflexes among our users. They are now used to consult our portal to stay informed, which was not always automatic before. »
Send newsletters
And to make sure to maintain links with their users, the multimedia librarians of Munster haven’t hesitate to increase the number of newsletters. « Each new posting on the portal was the subject of a communication sent via the PMB’s DSI module. We wanted our users to know that we were still in activity, that we continued the collection despite the confinement. » the director explains.
Adapt
As soon as the authorized reopening of the libraries, The Munster team mobilized to permit users to return and re-borrow documents. But due to the context and the different health measures imposed by the authorities, Cilia Fougères and her team had to review the functioning of the multimedia library.
Respect sanitary obligations
“We re-opened the media library to the public on May 12, only for the return of documents. But it was imperative to set up a quarantine for all the works that we recovered, so we called on PMB Services. They have developed a procedure for documents to automatically change their status: as soon as a user returns a document to us, it goes into "quarantined" status in our database and cannot be borrowed. It is then left aside for 10 days in a room provided for this purpose. Once the quarantine period has elapsed, the status of the document automatically changes from "in quarantine" to "available". The tool made available to us by PMB Services really meets our needs and allows us to save a precious time! "
Offer new services
Since May 19, the Munster library has once again authorized its users to borrow documents using a drive system (or click-and-collect). “For the moment, users do not circulate in the media library. They consult our catalog via the portal and then contact us to put aside the documents that interest them. In 10 days, we had about 90 requests. The requests are regular, this proves that the service is satisfactory for the users” Cilia Fougères enthuses.
PMB Services warmly thanks Cilia Fougères for her testimony.