Folks:

I love you people. You were just as thrilled as I was to open the book drop. It’s been overflowing all week. There are days that we are unloading it three times or more.

Regrettably, next week will be no different from this week. The book drop will remain open, and Books-by-Mail will undoubtedly continue. If you enjoy digital content, the directions to instantly access eBooks, eMagazines, and audiobooks, from Hoopla, RB Digital Magazines, and Overdrive, can be found on this page.

Next week the staff and I will remove from quarantine hundreds of books collected from the book drop for processing. We continue to draft protocols and adequately prepare the building to eventually let everybody in. Unfortunately, I cannot brief you when that will be.

Since Books by Mail is so effective and enjoyed by many of you utilizing it, we may try to wait until July 1 before deploying curbside services. However, that is not etched in stone. It could be sooner. The key to progressively expanding services is to do it in conjunction with the delivery system coming back online. That will enable everyone to place holds and get them from any of the 150 network libraries in CW MARS. It will also enable TML to replenish its collections, so local residents gain broader access to popular titles. I have not yet read any detailed information when the delivery system will be operational.

And now a word from our sponsor.

Now more than ever, we all need to be adequately heard. That’s why every household in Lancaster must participate in the 2020 Census. The more Commonwealth citizens accounted for the greater Massachusetts is adequately represented in Congress. Having everyone counted will,

• Reapportion seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
• Help redraw congressional, state, and local district boundaries to contain roughly equal numbers of people to ensure each person’s voting power is closely equivalent.
• Help determine the amount of funding that state governments and local communities receive from the federal government for the next decade.
• Inform a wide range of government, business, and nonprofit decision making.
• Determine the emergency response in the wake of disasters.

For goodness sake, stand up and be counted for what you are about to receive.

The heart is a bloom. Don’t let the days get away from you.

See you next week.

~ joe​