On July 17, all locations of the Knox County Public Library will open on their regular schedules. This move expands library service from its current schedule with eight open locations. There are 19 facilities in the library system, which includes the East Tennessee History Center. The remaining 67 employees who have been furloughed will be brought back to work.

The Library will resume service with provisions in place for the safety and welfare of patrons and staff. In compliance with the Knox County Board of Health Regulation #2020-1, all patrons and staff must wear face coverings inside the buildings except for children 12 years and younger and people with relevant medical conditions. Masks will be made available for those who may not have one.

Each Library has been fully sanitized and equipped with plexiglass sneeze shields at service counters. Available seating has been arranged to adhere to physical distancing guidelines. No public computers will be available; however, every location is equipped with Wi-Fi. The Library will continue to isolate all returned materials for 72 hours to ensure the safe handling of books, CDs, DVDs and other materials. Storytimes, other programs and meeting room use will be suspended until further notice.

“We are very happy to be able to reopen all facilities for our patrons,” commented Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs. “The library provides important services to our community from early literacy to lifelong learning.”

Although the library is not able to offer in-person programs, many storytimes, podcasts and other programs are available online at www.knoxlib.org.