Decorah Public Library will remain closed to the public

With the number of COVID-19 cases locally, statewide and across the country on an uptick, the Decorah Public Library is sticking with serving its patrons in ways which minimize possible exposure to the coronavirus.

For the past five weeks, the library has been doing curbside pickup of reserved books, but banning any public entry into the library building.

Decorah Library Director Kristin Torresdal says she wants to provide as many services as possible to the public, but that has to be balanced with protecting the health and safety of library staff and library patrons.

In the past month, several library staff members were exposed to people later diagnosed with COVID-19, but they were not infected and just went into isolation for 14 days.  They did not exhibit any symptoms of COVID-19.

The library will continue operating as it is for the next four weeks.  The Library Board will meet August 10th for another discussion.