March 14 and 15 FOPAL Sale Cancelled

The Board of Friends of the Palo Alto Library has been closely monitoring news of the coronavirus in order to do what may be prudent for the health of our volunteers and sale attendees. On Tuesday, the Santa Clara County Public Health Department "warned residents over 50 or in poor health to avoid large public gatherings. County officials said people are progressively more vulnerable to the disease as they age and if they have other health problems. And because the disease is primarily spread through contact with infected people, they urged people at highest risk to avoid events like parades, sporting events and concerts where many people sit or stand close together." (John Woolfolk, San Jose Mercury News, March 3, 2020) The vast majority of FOPAL's volunteers are well over 50 and the same is probably true for our customers. The sale, especially on Saturday usually has a high concentration of people in very close proximity to each other. Therefore we reluctantly decided to cancel our sale scheduled for March 14 and 15, which includes Main Room, Bargain Room, Children's Room and both later free nights.

Our donation room will remain open for its regular hours, Monday through Saturday, from 2-4pm. However, we urge all donors who show any signs of illness to delay making donations until they are symptom free. We need to protect our volunteers who handle these donations. You may also be able to hold off donations for a time since without the sale, our donations will probably surpass our storage capacity.

Thank you for your cooperation and we hope to see you in April as long as conditions improve.

 
Public Safety Announcement

FOPAL's Volunteer Office is encouraging all community service volunteers to help keep our community safe by preventing the spread of respiratory viruses including COVID-19 by staying home if sick, use hygiene best practices including washing your hands, covering your cough and calling your health practitioner before going to the hospital if you have COVID-19 symptoms.

Simple everyday ways you can help limit the spread of respiratory viruses:

Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands.

Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with 60% alcohol if soap and water are not available. (FOPAL volunteers, you'll find hand sanitizers all around our three rooms.)

If you are sick, to keep from spreading respiratory illness to others, you should:

Stay home when you are sick.

Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.

Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects or surfaces. (FOPAL volunteers, you'll find gloves and surface sanitizers in the Sorting Room.)

The City of Palo Alto has an in-depth webpage with more details and updates daily, including the new guidance from the Santa Clara County Public Health Department to protect the most vulnerable in the community, such as those 80 years and older and those with pre-existing health conditions. For details and daily updates check: cityofpaloalto.org/Coronavirus. You can also sign up for alerts at: cityofpaloalto.org/newslettersignup.

 
Library Closings in March and April

If there are any, they're not on the event calendar yet. We might expect a Spring Day holiday on or about Sunday 12 April, there was one such on Sunday 21 April 2019.

You can find out about closings and other Palo Alto Library events on the Library's event calendar. Check it out, it has filters that let you select a date range, library branches, types of events, and other things. Wide desktop browsers will show these filters on the left of the window; narrow browsers will show a "REFINE" that can be clicked to reveal filtering options.

 
Friends Bookstores in Mitchell Park, Downtown, and Rinconada

Please drop by the Friends Bookstore located inside the Mitchell Park Library, Downtown Library, and Rinconada Library, and open during library hours. They are restocked regularly with a unique selection of books for all ages and interests.

 
Suggestions?

We're always eager to hear your suggestions for ways to improve our book sale. Please email us at suggestions@friendspaloaltolib.org.