Freeport Memorial Library

When the New York metropolitan area became the worldwide center of the Covid-19 pandemic, many local businesses and institutions shut down for months. The Freeport Memorial Public Library shuttered for just one week — then, it went into overdrive.

Despite temporarily closing its physical facilities to the general public, the library continued to serve the community in myriad other ways, providing a much-needed respite to the long hours of social isolation and quarantine.

“We always are very attuned to the changes and the population and the changes that people need to make,” Kenneth Bellafior, director of the Freeport Library, told the Freeport Herald Leader. “We're expanding the services that we make available to them so that they can get things in the library and at home.”

These accommodations include curbside pickup for books and library materials, expanded access to virtual book and movie collections, online programming for activities like Zumba, meditation and family genealogy and a temporary moratorium on late fees for library patrons. Bellafiore said the library serves a wide spectrum of villagers, but that older adults and families with young children take advantage most of its resources.

The library reopened the physical facilities on June 15, and these accommodations remain intact. The library is also providing staff with protective gear and safety barriers to reduce the risk of spreading germs, as well as abiding by a government mandate to keep operating capacity under or at 50 percent.

“I'm hoping it's not the new normal,” Bellafiore said. “I'm hoping this is abnormal, and I’m hoping that this passes.”

In the meantime, the Freeport Memorial Public Library remains a pillar of the community. It is a gathering place, an educational facility, a recreation center, a social hub, a digital gathering place and, of course, an invaluable source of information at a time when so much is uncertain. Officials hope to continue providing for the community of Freeport.

“If it makes it easier to provide the services to people, then we will continue to do it,” Bellafiore said.

Ronny Reyes/Herald Above Photo: Ken Belafiore, far left, Lupe Velasquez, Christopher Bisonette and Lee Ann Moltzen have fostered a new, three-part program to help guide immigrants through the naturalization process at the Freeport Memorial Library.