Photo Provided - Amy Kastigar, the director of the Ohio County Public Library, stands in the library’s Wheeling Room.

WHEELING – The city of Wheeling’s recent allocation of federal pandemic relief money to the Ohio County Public Library will go a long way to improving public accessibility to the library’s treasure trove of programs and materials, officials said.

During the most recent meeting of Wheeling City Council, an ordinance was approved to award the library’s request for $75,800 in American Rescue Plan Act funds. This unanimous vote to support the measure was one of the last ARPA requests approved by the city, which has put a hold on awarding any more funds until city leaders can prioritize outstanding requests and re-evaluate the status of Wheeling’s dwindling pool of pandemic relief funds.

The library’s ARPA allocation will go toward auditorium audio-visual upgrades and a new tablet lending program.

“Improvements to the video, audio and lighting in the library’s auditorium would enable us to make our popular programs – such as Lunch With Books, People’s University and Story Time – more accessible to our residents virtually, while also greatly improving the in-person library experience,” Amy Kastigar, director at the Ohio County Public Library, said. “As we transition to a hybrid of in-person and livestream programming, these technological improvements will allow us to continue to service at-home patrons with the same quality programming experience, as well as to professionally record and archive our programs digitally to make them accessible to everyone at any time in the future.”

According to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Final Rule regarding how the ARPA funds must be spent, community institutions like libraries qualify as “Designated Impacted Industries,” as was noted in the city’s ordinance. Library officials agreed that the pandemic has had a tremendous impact on how their services are utilized, particularly how technology can help bridge the gap between the library’s resources and the community that seeks to use them.

“With improved audio visual capabilities, we also hope to share our programming with local hospitals, nursing homes and schools,” Kastigar said. “Additionally, our public meeting spaces, including the auditorium where these AV components would be installed, are offered to nonprofit organizations at no cost, so they too will benefit from an improved experience while meeting at the library.”

The proposed tablet lending program would offer patrons tablets to check out and take home for a regular lending period of two or more weeks at a time, Kastigar noted.

“Along with the internet hotspot lending program we’re currently initiating, this would expand the library’s existing wifi connectivity offerings beyond the library’s walls and into the homes of residents without existing internet connectivity,” she said.

Library officials thanked the city for supporting these initiatives through the ARPA award.

Kastigar said the Ohio County Public Library has been a cornerstone of knowledge, education and recreation in downtown Wheeling since 1882, and this year will mark the library’s 50^th year of providing services at its current location on 16^th Street.

“Public libraries cannot be stagnant in their purpose or offerings,” Kastigar noted, adding that these new initiatives will help move the library forward in terms of utilizing modern technology to make services more accessible to the community. “For 141 years, the public library has remained a constant source of lifelong learning for the citizens of Wheeling. As Wheeling moves forward in its revitalization efforts, we hope to move forward with the city in our efforts to serve the ever-changing needs of the community.”