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Avon Grove Library opened up to the public with face masks, hand sanitizer, and physical distancing in mid-July. (Avon Grove Library/Facebook)
On paper, people paid a million fewer visits to the Chester County Library system in 2020. The 60% drop is not a surprise to those working in the county’s 18 libraries, given ongoing coronavirus mitigation efforts, but they say those numbers only tell part of the story of the past year.
Megan Walters, director of the Kennett Library, said people came in droves almost as soon as a two-week closure was announced mid-March.
“We were basically second on the list for people’s priorities,” Walters remembers. “They went to the grocery store and then they came to the library to stock up on books.”