The Oklahoma Department of Libraries (ODL) has awarded a $1,000 PPE grant to Chisholm Trail Museum to help the museum purchase personal protective equipment and supplies to keep staff and visitors safer during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chisholm Trail Museum is one of 64 institutions to receive a grant from ODL courtesy of the federal CARES Act and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). A total of $60,000 was distributed by ODL to address the coronavirus concerns of public libraries, tribal libraries, tribal cultural centers, museums, and historic sites in the state.

Jason Harris, museum director, said the funding will be used to secure additional cleaning materials to meet CDC and state health guidelines, purchase personal protective equipment for the staff, help the museum convert to touchless restroom equipment, provide a sanitation station and more.

“It looks like we may be dealing with this virus for some time, so it’s very important that we follow CDC guidelines as we remain open to the public,” Harris said. “This grant will provide supplies we need to help reduce risk of exposure for our employees and customers as we all continue to learn more about COVID-19 and its health risks.”

“Our mission is to serve our community and its visitors and we want to continue that mission in the safest way we can,” Harris said.

The Museum is currently open to the public Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, occupancy is limited, Harris said.

The museum asks that visitors practice social distancing by staying six feet away from staff and visitors who are not in your party.

The Oklahoma Historical Society currently requires face masks in all public areas.

Due to current COVID-19 conditions and Oklahoma State Department of Health guidelines, all visitors, staff, volunteers, contractors, and vendors are required to wear face masks in public areas of OHS facilities.

In developing the grant, ODL Director Melody Kellogg said institutions were surveyed about any hurdles they might face in returning to service during the pandemic.

The top concerns of libraries, museums and other cultural institutions were a shortage of cleaning supplies and PPE equipment, fear on the part of staff and the public and the challenge of enforcing social distancing and other best-health practices in their facilities.

“We developed the grant proposal to help address these concerns,” Kellogg said. “We were very fortunate in that we were able to provide some funding to all 64 of the eligible institutions that applied.”

The PPE grant is the first of two that will be available from ODL, with funding from IMLS and the CARES Act.

The grants were designed to help the state’s important cultural institutions address two impacts of COVID-19: public health concerns, and the need to breach the digital divide and improve digital inclusion to better serve the public.

“The pandemic has thrown a spotlight on the digital divide in our state and nation,” Kellogg said. “At a time when, for safety reasons, we are depending more than ever on electronic communication, far too many of our fellow citizens don’t have the tools or access needed to take advantage of important services.”

Recipients of the Digital Inclusion Grants, totaling $291,320, will be announced later in July.

A complete list of Oklahoma’s 64 PPE Grant recipients is at: news.oklibshare.org/federal-funding/odl-awards-cares-act-ppegrants-to-64-institutions.