The Hawkesbury Library Service housebound delivery service, which has been provided for many years, will resume from Wednesday, 15 April 2020.
The Mayor of Hawkesbury, Councillor Barry Calvert said this was about getting Council's regular service back on track.
Deliveries used to be made by Library volunteers, and the service was put on hold when they were no longer allowed to work due to the COVID-19 situation.
"Library staff identified 13 house bound library members from their regular 138 cohort. Those selected are especially vulnerable and aged between 70 to 80 years of age," the Mayor said.
"These residents are unique in that they have varying degrees of disability from sight to mobility, and they all have chronic health conditions and with no other family or community support.
"They have requested that the library continues to deliver library material to them during the COVID-19 crisis because reading or listening to audio books are among the few things that they are still able to do. We are glad that we are able to make this possible through our wonderful library staff."
How it works:
- One Library staff member delivers a large quantity of library items, weekly on a Wednesday to a maximum of three different library patrons
- The patrons visited are rotated on a weekly basis
- Library staff will contact each patron before visiting to determine that they are safe and well
- The patron will have books packed and placed outside their front door
- Staff will drop new items off and pick up returns without contact with the library member
- Staff will use gloves and masks to collect and return all items to minimise any risk
- All items loaned will also be wiped down prior to issuing to the library member.
The service will be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure it continues to fall within the legislative requirements of COVID-19. This service is currently limited to already existing house bound members. For more details, please call Hawkesbury Library Service on (02) 4560 4460.
