-- Contributed

The wait time for popular books and other library materials has been reduced in part thanks to new ultraviolet ray book sterilizing machines that arrived at the Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County. Donna Straney, library assistant at the Main Library, is shown using one for returned library materials. The sterilizers were purchased with money from the CARES Act funding. The state’s Office of Budget and Management distributed funds to Ohio’s public libraries. Each PLSJ branch will have a machine to sterilize library materials that are returned, including books and DVDs. Before the sterilizers arrived, the library quarantined returned items for three days. Now with the sterilizers, items only take 30 seconds to a minute.