Los Lunas Public Library and Museum innovate during COVID-19 pandemic

LOS LUNAS—In the interest of keeping the community connected, the village of Los Lunas Public Library and Museum of Heritage & Arts are taking new measures to provide useful online resources and programs during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the physical facilities remain closed to the public, employees are taking innovative steps to deliver services.

The library systems are web-based, so they are accessible to staff from home to assist patrons and work on collection maintenance. Updating library cards, video tutorials and children story hours are being held remotely.

“Our staff has gone into overdrive to find new ways to deliver the services our community has come to depend on,” said Library Director Cynthia Shetter. “Folks can be sure we will continue to innovate to keep us connected during this time of uncertainty.”

The library and museum are maintaining an active online social media presence using Facebook as a primary platform. The addresses are facebook.com/loslunaslibrary and facebook.com/loslunasmuseum.

“Even during crisis, we remain inspired to seek new ways to build community and continue to learn,” added Shetter.

Public library highlights include:

• Expanded online access to audio, ebooks and magazines;

• Cataloged books that had been purchased or donated from home;

• Coordinated with Facebook to provide 20 Macbooks for area students;

• Held first Story Time with Stephanie and Catherine’s Corner, where books are read to children on Facebook with suggestions of snacks and crafts to go along with the story;

• Posted two-part videos on Facebook of At Home with Ronda, where she teaches people how to prepare and plant potatoes. Also a video on cleaning the yard and an alternative to burning leaves;

• Staff created video tutorials on how to access Mango Languages, then posted on Facebook;

• They are developing an online gaming platform that will debut soon;

• Meditation music created and edited by staff member Manuel Mora;

• Posting on Facebook of free ebook and movie sites;

• Posting on Facebook of free exercise videos from YouTube and our local gyms;

• Posting content that supports home-schooling and that will be of interest to Facebook users.

Museum highlights include:

• Downloading pdfs of the Valencia County News-Bulletin and creating a reference tool for obituaries and articles of historical interest for our archives;

• Created an online tutorial and posted on Facebook on how to access HeritageQuest, an online genealogy database that is accessible with a library card;

• Established a digital presence to highlight the current exhibit via Facebook;

• Researched local history and posted photos and biographies of local and state interest;

• Set up an online Quarantine Art Show to help record this historical pandemic event;

• Researching German POW camps and World War II for future exhibits and presentations;

• Researching and posting on Facebook content that is of interest to patrons;

• Researching and preparing for the New Mexico Navy Exhibit set for June.

The library and physical museum locations will remain closed until further notice and according to the guidelines of local and state government health officials. For more information visit loslunasnm.gov.