Nora Mishanec is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media libraries in Greene and Columbia counties are now open for contactless curbside pick-up. Library buildings remain closed, but patrons can order materials by phone or email and schedule a time to retrieve the materials in person. Online resources, including classes, audio books and e-books have remained available during the pandemic, but the shutdown prevented readers from accessing new material until curbside pick-up was initiated in late June. Contactless pick-up has been successful, so Columbia County libraries are now expanding the service from four days a week to six because of high demand, said AnnaLee Dragon, chairwoman of the Columbia County Library Association and director of the Kinderhook Memorial Library. Greene County libraries are banding together to share safety and staffing ideas as they ease into curbside pick-up, said Maureen Garcia, director of the Mountain Top Library in Tannersville. The libraries have put disinfecting routines in place to keep librarians and the public safe. In addition to regularly disinfecting work spaces, staff members have set up stations to allow returned books and other materials to sit untouched for 72 hours before being returned to the shelves, Garcia said. Traces of the coronavirus are not detectable on library materials after three days of quarantine, according to researchers at the Battelle Memorial Institute in Ohio. Librarians have adjusted their services throughout the four-month closure, offering WiFi access in library parking lots, holding reading activities online and easing the registration process for library cards. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.