Having a safe and sanitary children's area of the library is at the forefront of librarians' minds. Cleaning regimes may be difficult to notice by the public, as these procedures often happen outside of public view. So how does CPL keep the children's area clean? Here are our cleaning protocols:
- General cleaning: The children's area (and the entire library) are serviced by our night-time maintenance crew, who dust and disinfect all desktops and other hard surfaces, mop hard floors with disinfectant, and vacuum carpeting every evening. Our daytime library staff also spot clean as needed throughout the day, and the night-time crew follows up on any matters that need extra attention. Furniture may be removed from public use if it has suffered an unfortunate accident, until it can be cleaned and is once again user-ready.
- Manipulatives: Like our countertops and other hard surfaces, these wall-mounted items are also cleaned on a nightly basis.
- Puppets: Our puppets are misted with isopropyl alcohol (an antibacterial liquid) each time they are returned to the library. Additionally, our puppets are sent out to be sanitized three times a year.
- Storytime Kits and Youth Kits: We monitor these items when returned and clean as needed.
- Storytime and ABC Time toys: We only use plastic and other hard items that are easily disinfected after each session.
For those occasional incidents that merit it, we have bio-hazard tools ready to bring out at a moment's notice to handle "tossed cookies" and similar issues.
CPL wants everyone to enjoy a clean and germ-free library, and we hope that our patrons contribute to this environment by engaging in safe and hygienic behaviors during their library visits.