The beep of a hand scanner as books are returned is a refreshing sound at libraries across the state.

For Paul Chapman, who directs Vestal’s library in the Southern Tier, the pandemic was a time to re-think.

“Libraries survive by setting relevant and connecting with our users and patrons and just knowing what the need of the community is,” said Chapman.

Walking into a back room in Vestal’s library, you’ll find overstock of donated books. Chapman would like to see it turned into a book shop for the community.

And when the library did hold a book sale, they made just under $3,000 in short period of time.

“It was a month-long process. We did our first book sale of for year, our spring book sale. We’re going to be doing one each season. We’ll have a summer one coming and hopefully we’ll be bigger and better each time we do it,” said Chapman.

Vestal will use that money to fund a number of new programs. Statewide, libraries like this one were forced to get creative throughout the pandemic.

“We tried to provide the same services that we normally would provide in whatever capacity so what we ended up doing was using our vestibule as kind of an airlock and letting people come in and still check our materials, but in a contactless environment,” said Chapman.

And of course, it’s not just about the books. Libraries have become a hub for those looking to access computers, and that only increased throughout the pandemic.

“People would come and park outside of the building when they weren’t allowed in and actually use the WiFi, either for school, homeschooling, people who just didn’t have that access at time and now we’re just excited to have people back and using the computers,” said Chapman.

So for directors like Chapman, this pandemic has been a realization of just how important libraries are, and will continue to be, for years to come.