Bookending a Pandemic and Its Impact on Public Libraries: Policy and Announcement Information Provided by Libraries Throughout the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Response

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study serves as a follow-up on a 2020 study by Wang and Lund that examined the policy changes and announcement information provided by American public libraries during the early weeks of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, using the same list of libraries as the 2020 study to examine how the COVID response evolved over the past two years. Seven types of information were collected from the public libraries’ websites, with the help of the Internet Archive to collect specific dates: frequency of announcement updates, date of start curbside/pickup services, date of reopening libraries, dates of posting vaccine-related information, dates of removal of COVID-19 related information, and dates of reopening face-to-face programs. The findings indicate that the timing of COVID response updates varied based on factors including the size of the municipality in which the public library is located and the political leaning of the municipality’s voters.