Wash Your Hands

Wash. Your. Hands. Lather up with soap and scrub for 20 seconds. Be thorough. Rub the backs of your hands as well as the front, interlace your fingers and pull them through, soap up each thumb with the opposite hand and lightly scratch your fingernails against your palm. (NPR)

Time

The easiest, safest, and most inexpensive disinfectant is time. The Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) recommends a 72-hour quarantine of collection items as the safest and most effective way to disinfect them after handling by staff and patrons.

Disinfect

If you want to disinfect your library materials once you’ve got them home, use 70-percent isopropyl alcohol or any other mild household cleaner to wipe down the outside of the items. Just a few seconds with an alcohol-based cleaner is sufficient.