Editor’s note: This story is part of the annual Mosaic Journalism Workshop for Bay Area high school students, a two-week intensive course at journalism. Students in this year’s virtual program report and photograph real stories under the guidance of professional journalists.
For more than a decade, Aracely Garcia’s work days have been filled with books, library patrons and co-workers. That changed overnight with the shelter-in-place order.
Aracely Garcia, a library assistant for the San Jose Public Library, works at her desk at the Santa Teresa branch library in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, June 18. Garcia returned to the branch after she spent several weeks working remotely after the shelter in place shut down all of San Jose’s libraries.(Image courtesy of Aracely Garcia)
“We closed the building but we still were responsible for doing work at home,” said Garcia, a library assistant at the San Jose Public Library’s Santa Teresa branch. Working at home meant attending staff meetings, taking online training and completing performance reviews instead of overseeing employees and processing materials for patrons.
Garcia, 46, returned to work June 15, but it’s not business as usual. The library isn’t open to the public yet, but Garcia and her co-workers have been processing returns, and sorting and shelving books.
However, Garcia, who has worked for the library for 14 years, is concerned about health and safety. “Working in a public building, you get everyone, any walk of life in that building,” the San Jose resident said. “I was nervous just going into work.”
Meanwhile, the library is continuing to offer public services such as its summer reading program, online storytimes, and online arts and crafts classes.
One big change is that the library is using its equipment in a new way to help during the pandemic.
“We have 3D printers at each branch,” Garcia said. “What the staff did was they created a 3D printer farm at one of the branches and they created face shields with the 3D printers and they created face shields and face masks.”
The library donated thousands of masks and face shields to a number of hospitals and nursing homes in San Jose.
Garcia said the library is still making a difference and serving the community.
“Even though we were closed, they were able to utilize library equipment to benefit other people,” she said proudly.
Sofía Pérez is a rising junior at Summit Tahoma High School in San Jose.
