The Inside Of The Midland Library, Fourteen Months On

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This is a view of the Midland Branch that I was beginning to despair ever of seeing again, looking down the middle of the building as though we were going to find seats at the back and sit in for a few hours.

We didn't get to stay long, and it wasn't nearly enough, but it felt good. Staff dispersal wasn't complete, and we're happy to see a few familiar faces there. Some pieces of our heart have gone on to other branches, or chose to retire, but the pandemic has been a real society-quake, rattling things to the four corners. I guess we'll have to come to terms.

Just before Covid went full-tilt boogie, there was a re-arranging going on here which was scheduled to conclude just as the world went into lockdown. Largely, though, it appears to have been in the children's section; the shelves line the building in the same way, and the computer stations, though not yet in use, are in the same places. 

It took a little poking around to find books of my interest but not much. 

There were tables in the back area, where we usually sat, but they're spread out a little more and not in business yet for those of us who might want to linger long; areas of the interior are corded off. It all feels a work in progress still.

But if this is all possible, could a return to relative normality be so impossibly far off now? I'm certainly hoping it's so. 

More on this story as it develops.
 

A Welcome-Back From The Mighty Mighty Midland Branch of the Multnomah County Library

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Evolution toward a post-pandemic level of open society continues. The Multnomah County Library system has initiated what the call Stage One Reopening.

In April of 2020 we were habituating the Gresham branch due to Mighty Mighty Midland's temporary closure due to a bit of rearranging and re-doing of the interior. Just as that temporary closure was set to expire, the Covid-19 pandemic roared in ... and all library branches were physically closed, indefinitely. 

That was fourteen months ago. And, since then, MultCoLib has gone through some evolutions of its own: the ending of overdue fines (we approve), the institution of a contactless hold pickup protocol (we also approve), and the shuffling about and reduction of staff (we do not approve and are still sorting out our feelings about this). 

However. On 2 June, 2021, Stage One reopening in in effect. For the first time, in over a year, we could go in to the library, our heart we love so fondly. Stage One, for what its worth, is basically this: a limited number of people can be in the building at a time (at this time, Midland's limited to an occupancy of less than ten), and you can browse for up to thirty minutes, or stay up to an hour if you want to use tech, such as Wi-Fi or the branch's Chromebooks (the computer stations are not in service as of yet).

I have some more pix, which I'll share in a subsequent episode. But, for now, enjoy this banner, and the heartstrings, it tugs upon them.

The banner is sincere. The feeling is decidedly mutual.