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Library board to vote on limited reopening

contributed photo — Staff at Marshalltown Public Library move shelves to provide more room for patrons during the pandemic.

A proposal to open the Marshalltown Public Library on a limited basis will be submitted on Tuesday.

Sarah Rosenblum, the library director, said a meeting of the Marshalltown Library Board of Trustees will be held virtually at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, to discuss a proposed walkthrough phase of the building.

“We would like to be move to a walk-through phase; for people to come in, browse briefly and use the computer for a limited amount of time,” she said. “But the board needs to say ‘yay’ or ‘nay.'”

Meeting rooms in the library will remain unavailable, as well as the fun items and activities for children. Rosenblum said there will still be plenty of fun and educational books for children to check out, though.

Libraries across Iowa are taking different steps in reopening. Rosenblum said the Ames Public Library has only opened the lobby to patrons. Libraries in Urbandale and Spirit Lake began the reopening process, but then had to shut down.

“We want to avoid that,” Rosenblum said. “The safety of the people and the library team are important. We hope to move forward. We know people want to get back in.”

Proposed hours for the library – if approved by the board — will be noon to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.

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Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.

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