Sarasota County Libraries have become a hub for the creation of 5,000 cloth face masks for Sarasota County's essential employees. The county's six Creation Stations each have sewing machines and crafting areas that library staff can safely use to create the masks. The libraries are joining the effort of other government departments to help keep the county's essential workers protected throughout the COVID-19 pandemic; the goals is for each county employee to have two masks. Supplies have been donated by Joann Fabric, Walmart and CreativeBug, with further supplies funded through FEMA. Librarian Jamie Naylor of the Jacaranda branch is leading the project, and library staff hopes to complete 1,500 masks per week. The libraries' Creation Station equipment and the training of library staff is part of a gift from Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation.