Stephanie Enfinger of the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library passes a bag full of books to a patron outside the library Monday afternoon. The library staff will bring books to patrons’ cars under a new curbside protocol that minimizes contact due to coronavirus concerns.

MOULTRIE, Ga. — “People are happy,” library Director Holly Phillips said. “People are so happy. People are completely out of stuff to read.”

Phillips was sharing the joy of patrons who are finally able to access physical resources of the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library System, even though in a limited fashion.

Monday marked the first day of the library’s curbside pickup and delivery service after two months of closure in response to the coronavirus.

The library has continued to offer its online services, which have been very popular, but it’s not the same thing as holding a library book in your hand.

Under the new protocol, a library patron can use the library’s app or website (mccls.org) to place a hold on books, audiobooks, etc. that he or she wants to check out. The hold is communicated to library staff, who pull the materials off the shelves. When they’re ready, they send an email to the patron who’s requested them. The patron drives to the library and parks one of a handful of a designated spots in the parking lot. Then he calls the library from his cell phone to let them know where he’s parked. A library staffer checks out the items he’s requested and walks them out to his car.

The process can also be done over the phone at 985-6540, but it’s much harder to see what’s available.

The service is available 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day the library is open. As of about 2 p.m. Monday, 13 patrons had been served with five more whose materials were awaiting pickup, Phillips said.

At the moment, only materials housed at the Moultrie-Colquitt County library are available. The library is part of the PINES network, so in normal times a patron could request books from many libraries across Georgia and have them delivered to the Moultrie library for them to check out. Now, though, the state courier service has a huge backlog, Phillips said; patrons can still request the books, but it’ll be weeks before they come in.

Returning the materials is a little more complicated too because of the virus.

The library’s drop-off box has been sealed, and no one but staff is allowed in the building. Patrons with materials have to pull into the delivery area behind the library. A staffer will come out to get their materials.

Those books or other materials are then placed on one of five tables, each labeled with the day of the week that the books came in. Phillips said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidelines that say the virus can’t live on surfaces more than 72 hours, so the library has to quarantine the books for three days. Books brought back on Monday can be put back on the shelf Thursday for someone else to check out.

Phillips said that even before coronavirus, library staff would wipe a disinfectant wipe over a book’s mylar cover if it looked like it needed it. Now, they’ll be more conscientious about wiping them down.

She said she expects the curbside protocol to be in place at least a couple of weeks before the library building itself can be accessed by patrons — and even then there will be social distancing limits such as restaurants and stores have now.

Late fees have been waived through at least June 1, Phillips said.