An empty Coralville Public Library on the first Monday of closure during the pandemic, March 23, 2020
Dublin Core
Subject
Description
A view of the Coralville Public Library from the Circulation Desk in the rotunda, past the Reference Services area to the fireplace at the end of the corridor.
The following statement is from Laura Crossett, the creator of this image and the Adult Services Coordinator at Coralville Public Library: "I’ve been working closing Monday nights at [circulation] for seven or more of my almost ten years at CPL. March 23 was the first Monday we were closed to the public, though we were still working at our desks. I was there with Andrew Wittenmyer, and I took this photo on my phone because it was so strange to see all the tables empty and no one standing at the reference desk and to hear the hush. Later that night I posted it on Facebook, commenting that I made a closing announcement because I couldn’t bear not to, even though no patrons were there to hear it.
Our normal closing announcement goes “The time is 8:30 pm and the Coralville Public Library is now closed for the night. We will reopen tomorrow at 10 am. Have a good night and thank you for your patronage.” I don’t remember how I altered it exactly, but I remember though many people have tried to make me laugh while doing the closing announcement, this was the first time I came close to crying, because we wouldn’t be opening again in the morning, at least not as usual, for who knew how long."
The following statement is from Laura Crossett, the creator of this image and the Adult Services Coordinator at Coralville Public Library: "I’ve been working closing Monday nights at [circulation] for seven or more of my almost ten years at CPL. March 23 was the first Monday we were closed to the public, though we were still working at our desks. I was there with Andrew Wittenmyer, and I took this photo on my phone because it was so strange to see all the tables empty and no one standing at the reference desk and to hear the hush. Later that night I posted it on Facebook, commenting that I made a closing announcement because I couldn’t bear not to, even though no patrons were there to hear it.
Our normal closing announcement goes “The time is 8:30 pm and the Coralville Public Library is now closed for the night. We will reopen tomorrow at 10 am. Have a good night and thank you for your patronage.” I don’t remember how I altered it exactly, but I remember though many people have tried to make me laugh while doing the closing announcement, this was the first time I came close to crying, because we wouldn’t be opening again in the morning, at least not as usual, for who knew how long."
Creator
Laura Crossett
Source
Publisher
Coralville Public Library. Coralville Digital History Library.
Date
March 23, 2020
Contributor
Rights
Educational use only, no other permissions given.
Format
jpeg
Language
English
Type
Coverage
Coralville, Iowa
Citation
Laura Crossett, “An empty Coralville Public Library on the first Monday of closure during the pandemic, March 23, 2020,” Coralville Digital History Library, accessed April 25, 2024, https://coralvilledigitalhistory.omeka.net/items/show/331.
Comments