Following pandemic closures, the San Diego Public Library is reopening 14 branches Tuesday for in-person services, adding to the 12 that had opened back in October with COVID-19 restrictions.
Misty Jones, the director for public libraries in the county, says capacity limits are still in place.
“So we’re at 50% capacity and there's no mask required as long as you are vaccinated, but for safety reasons anyone that is not vaccinated we are asking to wear a mask.”
She says some of the reopening delays had to do with employee shortages.
“A lot of it had to do with just the state and county guidelines and capacity limits. We also had a lot of staff that left during the pandemic so we had to do a lot of hiring to get back open,” Jones said.
City Heights-Weingart Library Branch Manager Uyen Tran says she can’t wait to start seeing familiar faces again.
“So obviously we miss them because they are very essential to our services, but we are very excited. We have our summer reading program we’re hoping that now that we’re back in person we can reach more youth,” Tran said.
The College-Rolando Branch is one of the libraries that has been open, but Tuesday they reached a new milestone toward normalcy.
The branch hosted its first in-person story time featuring a pride theme to celebrate San Diego’s PRIDE month.
Libraries across the city will be hosting similar PRIDE events throughout the month.
Jones says they’re working to have all 36 library branches opened and fully operating by September.
“Especially with computer use and the digital divide a lot of people did not have access anymore. We really are so thankful we are able to reopen and give that service back to the public,” she said.
Branches that reopened Tuesday are:
Allied Gardens/Benjamin
Balboa
Carmel Mountain Ranch
City Heights/Weingart
Linda Vista
North Park
Otay Mesa-Nestor
Pacific Beach/Taylor
Paradise Hills
Rancho Penasquitos
San Carlos
Scripps Miramar Ranch
Tierrasanta
University Community
Library hours are 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
