A local community has lost its library branch.
Laura Emery, the CEO of Eastern Counties Regional Library, says evolving insurance requirements, accessible service needs, and new public health protocols made it too challenging to continue service at their Port Hood branch.
Emery tells The Hawk there were ongoing issues, but COVID-19 proved to be too much.
“A lot of our operational pressures and our insurance requirements have escalated over the last four or five years, but the pandemic just took it right over the edge,” she says. “That was the tipping point where some things that we had been trying to work with, (we) just couldn’t anymore, and it’s unfortunate.”
Emery says the branch was open 10 hours a week.
She says Port Hood and area residents with a free library card can still borrow books, DVDs, and other library collections by mail, or at the Alexander Doyle Public Library in Mabou.
