Washington public library requiring masks in building

The Washington Public Library Board voted unanimously to reinstate a mask requirement in the building during a meeting Thursday.

“Washington County went to high with the COVID numbers, and then I talked to a lot of the other librarians in the state that are around,” interim Library Director Leann Kunz said. “A lot of those have decided to put masks in place in their buildings.”

Kunz said the library board’s main concern was safely keeping its in-person programming.

“We want to do our programs in-person this year, and it’s really important to us to have people in the building,” she said. “The best way to do that safely would be with masks. Otherwise we’d have to go to virtual, which some libraries are doing, but we’d really just like to do in-person.”

Kunz said the full magnitude of the pandemic was heavy on the hearts of library staff.

“We did have two beloved patrons of the library pass away who got COVID,” she said. “That’s been really hard on the staff, and we just really want to protect people and make sure that no more of our patrons are lost.”

While state laws restrict many private and public establishments from implementing mask mandates, Kunz said the library had the necessary authority, despite being a public institution.

“We did consult the law librarian at the State Library of Iowa,” Kunz said. “The Legislature does not really address cities and counties mandating masks on their own public properties … we have looked at all the ways to do it correctly.”