Public Library Responses to COVID-19

As a sector, Canadian public libraries responded quickly and often creatively to the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking stock of innovations developed in a time of crisis, such as this one, is strategically important because these innovations not only help reveal immediate priorities but are likely to inform future ones. In this article, I attempt to contribute to the dialogue around both the responses to the pandemic in 2020 and the significance of these responses for the future of public libraries. In the first part of my analysis, I review a sample of initiatives public libraries across Canada developed in response to the pandemic. In the second, I examine the implications of these developments for the future work of public libraries. Primary among these, is the need for public libraries to leverage the success of virtual programming and services without sacrificing the ability to deliver their in-person equivalents or access to their spaces. In conducting this review, I adopt an explicit equity stance that regards the COVID-19 pandemic as, among other things, an opportunity for libraries to "retool our thinking, practices and policies" (Aldrich, 2020a, p. 14) in order to improve services for socially excluded populations, as well as for traditional users. I begin, however, with two notes on methodology. First, in researching this article I relied on professional publications, library sector forums, and library websites, as well as blogs, and social and legacy media from 2020 as my primary sources. Second, given the vast amount of information and sources available, this analysis should be