Saturday, August 15th, was a big day for the Vermont Genealogy Library. For the first time in almost 20 years we opened in a new physical location. Now, we’ve done this before – several times, in fact. Early members like Elaine Riley, Janet Allard and John Fisher, one of our three founders, can remember our parent organization, the Vermont French-Canadian Genealogical Society, moving from the 2nd floor of the St. Joseph School in Burlington to the St. John’s Club basement and then over to the Dupont Building at Fort Ethan Allen in Colchester. We even moved from one side of the Dupont Building to the other. All in our first eight years of existence.
But this time was different. In the past two decades we’ve amassed over 4,500 books and journals, 20-odd computers, plus printers, desks, chairs, sound systems, etc.. So it was clearly going to be a huge effort for a completely volunteer organization of, shall we say, “seasoned” genealogists. And just as we started the move – the pandemic hit.
Thanks to some great planning and preparation as well as the tireless efforts of a small group of volunteers we were able to design the room layout, organize the move (down to each box & keyboard), transfer all those resources, wire the building, get all the furniture in place and, finally, put all of those books back on their shelves at our Pinewood Plaza home.
When the first members walked in the door on the 15th, they found a brand-new facility with high ceilings, an open floor plan, lots of natural lighting from huge bay windows and a wall with over 30 feet of book shelves. Our new home makes an immediate impression!
Caroline Tassey (seated behind plexiglass shield) goes through our COVID-19 protocols as Lynn Johnson signs in at the reception desk while staff and researchers work in the background
The Same Resources – Modified Procedures
Because of COVID-19 we are currently limited to twelve people in the library at any one time. And, since we need three staff members, we only have a capacity of nine visitors. Our staff cover the reception area, the main book room and the computer room. (By the way, a summary of our COVID-19 procedures is appended at the end of this post).
Given the reduced capacity we are not allowing “walk-in” visits – everyone is required to make an appointment choosing either the first 3 hours of operation on a given day or the last 3 hours. And we are limiting attendance to only members until capacity increases. Appointments can be set up online by going to the “Members” tab on the home page at www.vtgenlib.org. Choose a day and a time slot – then add your name and email address. (Members without email access can call us and we’ll sign them up).
Our president, Marcie Crocker, gives a tour to sisters-in-law Ann Root and Carol Charbonneau
Among the other changes you will notice in the library are faster internet speeds, both for the networked machines in the computer room and any laptops or tablets using Wi-Fi. Our new service at Pinewood Plaza included a 33% bump in speed (200 Mbps) and the layout we designed allows us to place our Wi-Fi routers where they can broadcast to users without any intervening walls – unlike the Dupont Building. Oh, and that new service includes a library phone (802-871-5647) finally allowing people to call us directly.
While we’re talking about the computer room we should mention that only six computers are currently being used (3 Windows machines and 3 Chromeboxes) because the other half were shut off. This allows us to insure six feet between users.
Suzanne Blanchard searches with our Ancestry.com subscription in the computer room
Although we’ve reduced the number of systems in the computer room to a half-dozen, we’ve tried to compensate by adding three laptops with database access in our classroom. These are separated by more than 6 feet and each have a decent work surface nearby.
Bob Metcalf searches online collections on one of our laptops while recording his findings on his own machine
The distance restrictions also apply to the break room where only two visitors are allowed at one time and must maximize the distance between themselves. Only beverages are allowed in the break room at this time; food must be consumed outside the library.
The feedback from our initial visitors has been very positive and several of them are now repeat customers. It was always hard to get even ardent genealogists into the Dupont Building this time of year because the brick building seemed to store heat and we couldn’t install any air-conditioning. Now, we’re all finding this facility at Pinewood Plaza to be an oasis even on those humid, 90-degree days.
- “My first visit to the “new” library was a wonderful experience. It is so light and has so much room, not to mention the A/C!”
- “There’s lots of natural light, and all of our favorite resources are ready to be used.“
- “The volunteers have done a great job of setting up protocols, screening questionnaires, having hand sanitizer readily available, disinfecting computer stations after use, etc.“
- “The parking lot has many spaces and it is an easy walk into the building. From the entry inward the library is all on one level.“
- “The space is airy and very comfortable with air-conditioning.“
The library is 95% functional with all the major tools (books, computers, journals, etc) available and more accessible than back at the old location. We still have a few shelves to put up, some additional technology to install and a few “back office” tasks to complete but we feel that our members now have everything they need to find their elusive ancestors.
Fall classes will likely be mostly online and we have some work to do to pull that off. We need things like a quick, efficient registration system, better audio and a plan to integrate a much smaller audience in the library with a (hopefully) larger audience at home. Tuesday night Interest Groups have the same kinds of challenges.
Library Tours & Summer Reading
For those members who don’t have the time to do research right now but would like to get a quick look at the new library, we offer 20-minute tours when the library is not operating. A volunteer can meet you in the parking lot and show you the layout, discuss our current protocols and identify the location of any resources which you might want to access in the future. Simply write to us (library@vtgenlib.org) and we will try to match up days & times.
Some of us have time now for summer reading and would benefit from scanning a local history or a book on research techniques. Our lending library is a great resource for these topics. If you would like to brush up on something we can arrange to pull a relevent volume from our loan collection. Send us an email (library@vtgenlib.org) with your area of interest or title and we will let you know what’s available. Once an order and a time have been settled on, a volunteer will meet you in the parking lot with the volume(s) which you can keep for up to 2 weeks.
The Staff Who Make All This Happen…
On the subject of volunteers…we could definitely use a few more to assist with staffing the library. Even one 3-hour shift a month would be a big help to us. We’ve broken the tasks down to (1) a person to staff the main book room, (2) one in the computer room and (3) a person to manage the reception desk & visitor health screening. None of these jobs are, in themselves, particularly overwhelming and the people who do them agree that they “get” as much as they “give” when helping for a 3-hour stretch. For those of you wishing to learn more about the library and its many hidden treasures there is no better way to do it. If you want to chat with us about helping just send us an email (library@vtgenlib.org).
Jan Hughes (left) and Marcie Crocker discuss staffing for the coming week
Janet Allard and Ed McGuire prepare for the day’s scheduled appointments
It’s Not Just Books That Make A Great Library…
Speaking of helping…we are indebted to all of the members who helped plan & prepare for the move, all of the folks who worked with the moving company and the huge efforts made at Pinewood to turn a large, open exercise room into the beautiful library that’s now available to us all. We are also very thankful to the members who have donated so generously (our fundraising effort has just hit $24,000). We believe we’ll come close to covering the entire cost of the move and the fit-up of the new space as a result of your help! THANK YOU!
Finally, our Board of Directors and our volunteer staff are looking forward to seeing many of our members at the new library soon. It’s easy to sign up – go to the “Members” tab (at www.vtgenlib.org) and sign-in with the ID and password (write/call if you’ve lost them). Once you’re on the Members page you’ll find the square appointment icon on the top, left.
And, as soon as we are able to increase our capacity, we look forward to allowing non-members to schedule appointments, too.
The majority of our actions addressing COVID-19 are summarized below:
Keeping all of our visitors and staff safe during this pandemic is of the utmost importance to us especially given our demographics as genealogists. These procedures are based on guidance from the Vermont Department of Health, the Vermont Department of Libraries and others, and they include the following:
Library Access
- all visits are by appointment only; we’re limited to 9 appointments per 3-hour block
- walk-in visitors are not being allowed
- entering staff and visitors pass two sets of posters describing our COVID-19 practices
- everyone is asked to fill out a health questionnaire before entry to the main library
- questionnaires include contact information & are kept in case contact tracing is needed
- everyone is asked to use hand sanitizer when they arrive and when they leave
Library Protocols
- all staff and visitors must use face coverings while in the library
- everyone is expected to maintain at least 6 feet from other individuals
- seating is limited to 2 people on opposite diagonals of our 8 foot tables
- only every other station in the computer room is operational
- additional computers are set up in the classroom – at least 6 feet apart
- food consumption is not allowed within the library
- beverages can only be consumed in the break room with a max of 2 people at a time
- visitors need to bring their own pencils
Hygiene Protocols
- materials that have been used will not be reshelved or refiled
- these (and any new material) will be segregated for at least 3 days
- bottles of hand sanitizer have been placed in multiple locations in the library
- computer mice are sanitized after each user
- keyboards are covered with plastic wrap, which is changed after each user
- the restroom is cleaned & sanitized to begin each day, at the midpoint & before leaving
- commonly used surfaces, like door handles and table tops, are cleaned part way through the day & at the end of the day
