Readers return books at a self-service machine placed at the entrance of Baotou Library, on March 25. [Photo/Baotou Daily]  

Baotou Library in Baotou, in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, was reopened to the public on March 25, according to a report in the Baotou Daily.

In order to avoid gatherings, the library should be entered by appointment and the number of people admitted to the library is limited to 500 people per day.

Visitors must make an appointment in advance on the WeChat public account of the Baotou Library, scan the QR code for registration and wear a face mask and have their body temperature taken. Then visitors can then enter the library by showing their health code.

Elderly people who do not use WeChat can enter the library with their ID card and should have their temperature measured.

Visitors wanting only to return books do not need to make reservations and can return them at the self-service machine installed at the entrance of the library.

At present, the library is only open for book borrowing and returning services on the first and second floors, the disabled readers service center on the first floor, the newspaper reading and study area on the third floor and the local literature and Mongolian area on the fourth floor.

The 24-hour self-service library is temporarily suspended. Public welfare movies, lectures and other activities are temporarily unavailable.

The curator Gao Yubo said that the library disinfected all its books before reopening. After disinfecting the books returned by readers every day and ventilating them for three days, the books will then be sorted and made available for borrowing again to the public.

In addition, the library has purchased large-scale book disinfection equipment, which will be put into use in the near future.