Dear Placentia Library District Patrons:

Starting today, we will quarantine all returned items for four days. These items will not be available for checkout until after the quarantine period. Rest assured your records will not be impacted by this process. All fines and fees are waived through March 31, 2020.

As promised, we want to give you an update on the COVID-19 situation. Currently there have been 17 coronavirus cases in Orange County -- eleven are travel related, three person to person spread, and three community acquired. As of yesterday morning there have been no reports of coronavirus-related deaths in Orange County.

There is an overabundance of information out there. We encourage everyone to conduct their research thoroughly, and fact check all information. Some fact check steps include:

• Check the credentials – Is the author of the information a specialist in the field? Conduct a quick Google search on the author to verify his/her credentials.
• Look for bias – Does the information appear to lean toward a certain opinion?
• Verify the source – Research the cited sources contained in the article.
• Check the dates – Use the most current information.
• Look at the urls – Example, what looks like an .edu or .gov domain, followed by a .co or “lo” is likely a fake or deceptive site.
• Verify the owner of the website posting the information. You can verify this information at either www.whois.domaintools.com (there’s a fee for this service) or www.whois.icann.org.
• Use common sense – If what you’re reading is too good to be true, sounds odd or has multiple typo or grammatical errors, then the information may not be factual.

Speaking of information overload and misinformation. Many of you may have read an article in the Orange County Register yesterday about the availability drive-through coronavirus testing at Placentia Linda Hospital (PLH). We contacted PLH this morning and this information is incorrect. The article is being retracted.

We wish you a safe St. Patrick’s Day and while you’re enjoying your corn beef and cabbage, or Irish stew, you might want to consider downloading these e-content:

• Crafts for a St. Patrick’s Day book
• How to Catch a Leprechaun book
• St. Patrick’s Day Murder audiobook
• St. Patrick’s Day Party Jam or St. Patrick’s Day Celtic Tribute recordings

We currently have over 60 e-content of St. Patrick’s items you can check out. A Placentia Library District card is required to check out library materials. If you don’t have a card, we are open for you to come on by and to sign up for a card. We are experiencing an exponential increase in requests during this time. We are thrilled you are sharing the love of reading with your family.

Sincerely,

Jeanette Contreras

Library Director