OSKALOOSA — Like many public institutions, libraries suffered during the lockdown stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Oskaloosa, however, things are starting to look up again.
The Oskaloosa City Council heard a report from Oskaloosa Public Library Director Marion Gaughan during their regular meeting Monday night. She told the council that COVID had a major impact on library usage during its heyday, but that in the years since, numbers have and continue to climb once more.
“It hurt,” Gaughan said. “Libraries really got whacked. It was a hard time for us, but you will see that we are in that slow progression back to pre-COVID numbers. We’re very excited about that.”
In 2018-19, the library experienced a…
