Crazy. Bewildering. Momentous. A “time of great confusion.” These are the words that come to mind for Berkeley and Oakland public librarians when thinking about March 2020, the month that changed their jobs.
Before Berkeley Public Library, or BPL, branches closed down last March, supervising librarian Dan Beringhele said he and his colleagues initiated various cleaning protocols, including cleaning all surfaces around the library. When news came out about the severity of the COVID-19 virus, Beringhele originally believed the library would be closed for a quick two weeks. Those two weeks then turned into three months.
It would not be until mid-June that the majority of Beringhele’s staff could return to the Tarea Hall Pittman South Branch building to carry out modified library services.