All branches of the Ocean County Library will be closed Friday, March 29, for Good Friday, and Sunday, March 31, for Easter Sunday.

Ocean County Library: Developing Guidelines to Provide Services

June 19, 2020

TOMS RIVER – Managers and staffers of the Ocean County Library are busy getting ready to resume services.

Ocean County Library would like to thank our customers for your continued patience and support during this extraordinary time. As you miss the library, we miss you as well! We look forward to the day when we can open our doors again.

As you may be aware, the Governor recently permitted libraries the ability to provide contactless pickup of library materials. We look forward to announcing this type of service very soon. We are developing the guidelines to provide this service in the safest way possible, and to phase in select services. There are a number of logistics we’ll need to tackle before we can make our physical collection available to cardholders. As we prepare to welcome you back, our focus will be on the following:

  • Returns: We will open book drops at select OCL locations. All materials returned will be quarantined for the recommended length of time set by public health officials, after which they will be checked in and added back to our collection.
  • Pick-up of Materials: Soon we’ll launch a Door-side Pick-up service. Many of you have had items on hold since March, so we want to offer you the opportunity to pick up those items. You will also be able to place new holds and then check out these physical items.
  • Access to Computers: When we are able to open our libraries again, we will provide access to public PCs by appointment and for limited use at select OCL locations

Additionally, we will implement new policies and procedures, and make changes to our physical spaces in order to accommodate safety protocols. In the coming weeks, we look forward to sharing more details and announcing exact dates on when we will resume our services.

In the meantime, please continue to engage with us virtually through our website, which provides access to online resources, streaming movies, eBooks, and audio eBooks 24/7.

The Ocean County Library truly misses you, and we look forward to bringing you more library services soon.

For more details, visit www.theoceancountylibrary.org.

PDF icon 06-19-service-guidelines.pdf