Returning to Work at The Met’s Watson Library

The front door of Watson Library after being closed to staff and public for four months. All photographs by the author unless otherwise noted

Due to increasing concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, Watson Library closed to staff and visitors on March 11, 2020. When we left work that evening, I don’t think any of us knew what to expect of the months to come. I know I personally assumed that we would be closed for a week or two until things “blew over.” I never would have imagined that we would all still be reeling from the effects of the pandemic nine months later.

The COVID-19 closure represents the longest and most extensive shutdown in the history of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We all faced huge adjustments in working from home. It was incredible to see the library staff pivot their priorities and workflows to accommodate this new world we were all living in. However, when the time came, we were more than ready to return to a certain extent of normalcy. After months of complete closure, the Museum reopened to select staff starting in July with the hope to reopen to the public soon after.

Another shot of the front door of Watson Library after being closed to staff and public for four months

I had desperately missed The Met, my job, my coworkers, and my routine during quarantine. When the opportunity arose to be one of the few library staff allowed back onsite, I jumped at it. During the months we had spent away from the Museum, the library had continued many of its normal operations, which included ordering new books. What this meant for us was that there was a months-long backlog of new books to be opened, received, and shelved. When the four staff members who were approved to return to work arrived on the morning of July 21, the amount of material to sort through was overwhelming.

Months-worth of packages waiting to be opened

Our first day back onsite, we found the Library exactly as we had left it. My empty coffee mug stood where I left it on my desk. My poor desk plant had seen better days (RIP). Our hold shelves were still full of books checked out to patrons back in March. It was a bizarre time capsule of life before the pandemic. Even the floral arrangements that the library gets every week were still there and, frankly, very well preserved.

Three surprisingly well-preserved floral arrangements

After several trips to the loading dock to collect the huge sum of deliveries we had received, we were able to get to work opening and sorting packages. We turned our reading room into a triage station where we sorted incoming items into categories including periodicals, auction catalogs, special purchases, regular purchases, and mail. It took the four of us the entire week to make sense of all of the incoming items and get them prepped for receiving. While this task felt monumental, it was only the beginning. During the closure, we had asked many of our vendors to postpone shipping our orders until we were open. Once we returned to work, we gave the vendors the go-ahead to start sending these orders. This ensured that we had plenty of work to keep us busy for weeks to come.

Shown here is Watson Library staff member Daisy Paul and a single day’s worth of boxes to recycle.

Since that first week back in July, library staff have processed and received approximately 3,500 books. Considering the reduced staff that has been able to return to the library, that is an incredible amount of receiving. Though the Museum was able to reopen to the public on August 29, Watson Library has remained closed to both Museum staff and outside visitors. Only library staff are allowed in the space. This has caused us to get creative with the ways we are servicing our users.

Early in the pandemic, a number of staff collaborated to create an Ask-a-Librarian chat box that has been added to the library’s catalog. In addition, as more staff have been allowed to work onsite, we have started doing curbside pickup where we page books and prepare them for a socially-distanced pickup for Museum research staff. We have also started a document delivery service for Museum staff, fellows, interns, and volunteers where we scan selections from books and periodicals and send them digital copies. This allows us to provide research services to staff who are unable to physically return to the Museum. Additionally, we have resumed providing scanning services to libraries around the world via interlibrary loan. We are currently unable to physically loan books, but we are able to provide digital scans of books in our collection. This is great for maintaining productive and friendly relationships with other institutions in a time where it is very easy to feel separated from others.

In case you were wondering how many stamps it takes to mail a package from the Ukraine, it’s approximately this many.

I’ve only been able to scratch the surface of the work my colleagues have been doing over the last nine months. I’m so very proud of the work that has been done both remotely and in person to maintain the level of service we are used to providing for our patrons. I know I’m not alone in saying that I look forward to a time when things are able to return to something resembling normalcy and we are able to see all of you in person again.