Despite the pandemic raging across the city, state, and country, the Chicago Public Library (CPL) system remains open. Other city services have made the jump largely online, such as the Cook County court system. The city has designated libraries as essential services, but some library staff say the current COVID-19 measures are not enough to protect the patrons and employees, and those measures also hinder the very services the staff are expected to perform.  

When asked about concerns over helping patrons with computers, Molloy explains that staff do what they can to help patrons, but safety has to be the most important concern.

“Ten minutes is OK but the less time the better. Also, even after a librarian is finished assisting someone, that doesn’t mean that they are out of contact distance with a person,” Suleta says.

As with the digital divide, the virus has exacerbated staffing issues within the library system. Chronic understaffing has been a problem long before March; a 2018 Report of the Office of Inspector General found issues with the CPL staffing, citing “inefficient use of CPL’s resources,” such as staff “performing tasks that fell outside their job descriptions and for which they were overqualified.”

“It’s not that we want to be staying at home eating bonbons. We want to do the job safely. It’s not safe. There are other library systems that have figured it out,” one staff member says. New York City, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, among others, have closed their buildings to the public and instead are offering curbside pick-up and digital services. 

It is a project of the Local Media Foundation with support from the Google News Initiative and the Solutions Journalism Network. The 20 partners span print, digital and broadcasting and include WBEZ, WTTW, the Chicago Reader, the Chicago Defender, La Raza, Shaw Media, Block Club Chicago, Borderless Magazine, the South Side Weekly, Injustice Watch, Austin Weekly News, Wednesday Journal, Forest Park Review, Rebellious Magazine for Women, Riverside Brookfield Landmark, Windy City Times, the Hyde Park Herald, Inside Publications, Loop North News and Chicago Music Guide.