During Tuesday's Summit County Council meeting, Assistant County Manager Janna Young said County Library Director Dan Compton and his staff worked with technical services to modify and innovate, allowing safe and continuous programming during the pandemic. Early on, the library staff would field phone calls and answer questions. Young said expanded Wi-Fi services into the parking lot allowed access for many.
"Folks could even sit in their cars in the parking lots of the library and be able to work on their laptops. They also created picnic tables and some workspaces outside next to the building. They could do remote printing that way. They did a curbside delivery for whole streets. They shifted all of their programmings virtually online and still offered a lot of robust services.”
The expanded access was critical for families with students who didn't have home internet service when schools shut down.
Compton said he appreciates the support from the council and acknowledged his team's willingness to help.
"There were so many times where they needed people to be on the community concerns line. You know, we had a very short window. We needed people within a couple of hours or something, and I would just put the call out, and we had staff stepping up to handle that. And I was just so impressed with them. They were sewing masks for employees, and we're using our 3-D printer to print masks in partnership with Park City Library and just really cool to get this recognition from the state. And I want to thank all of you for your continued support of the library system."
Several library board members lauded the creativity and commitment of the library staff.
The Impactful Service Award criteria consider eight areas of measurement. According to a letter from the Utah State Library Director, the Summit County Library scored highly in all categories.