The county is getting ready to reopen Sarnia-Lambton's libraries, museums, the art gallery and archives to the public.
Visitors haven't been able to go into the sites since they were closed March 17 by a provincial order to help contain the spread of COVID-19.
Cultural Services General Manager Andrew Meyer said access to the facilities will still be limited when they start reopening in September.
"We've been actively planning over the last few weeks to prepare our sites to welcome the public back safely, including things like physical distancing measures, we are set up for contact tracing purposes, we want to collect visitor and patron contact information in the event that we do have an issue that we need to work with Lambton Public Health to do contact tracing," said Meyer.
While you still won't be able to browse the library spaces, curbside pickup will be expanded to include up to 16 Lambton County library locations, and 15 of those locations will also offer public computer access, Wi-Fi, and in-person reference services with a scheduled appointment.
Mallroad Library will continue to offer curbside pickup only.
A library card will be required to access each branch, which will assist with COVID-19 contact tracing if needed.
"Come September, all the staff that were on indefinite layoff starting back in March, will return to work with the exception of our student pages and casual staff," Meyer said.
The museums and archives will require visitors to either book an appointment or get a timed entry ticket, online or by phone, in advance.
"This will allow us to collect contact information, as I mentioned, in preparation for contact tracing purposes, but also to ensure that we can space out visits so that patrons can physically distance and so that staff can appropriately manage the site."
Enhanced cleaning and disinfecting of equipment and high-touch surfaces are planned for all of the facilities.
Visitors will also be asked to wear a mask and come another time if feeling unwell.
Further details, including specific dates for site reopenings, can be found here.
