Sharon Scanlan
Many of us remember that on March 14, 2020, everything in SaddleBrooke shut down for the pandemic lockdown. At DesertView Library that day, in three hours, we checked out 554 books and DVDs. I remember it very well, because I was the volunteer on duty! Every volunteer who stopped in that morning was put to work!
On May 22, 2020, we reopened the DesertView Library for the Big Return Day. Fifteen hundred books were returned that day! All had to be quarantined for three days. The SaddleBrooke TWO staff and board had approved opening the library two days a week for a few hours to provide curbside service under the portico, which the SaddleBrooke One Library had pioneered in April. Without the support of the SaddleBrooke TWO Patrol, this wouldn’t have happened. They opened and closed the DesertView building each day we were open, since the Fitness Center hadn’t reopened. On days that we expected to be very busy, like the Big Return Day, Patrol managed the traffic in the parking lot.
A group of dedicated volunteers managed curbside service for several months during one of the hottest summers ever in SaddleBrooke. Everything had to be quarantined when it was returned, per the American Library Association guidelines. Eventually, we moved to opening by appointment for patrons in late 2020, and we fully reopened in April of 2021.
All of the volunteers have very fond memories of this bright time during the dismal pandemic lockdown. We were happy to provide books and DVDs to our loyal patrons and also to be together as a library family.