March 16 commemorates an essential element promoting citizens’ participation in promoting and protecting democracy: Freedom of Information (FOI).The FOI Day emphasizes the people’s unimpeded access to information about the state so that citizens can better understand how governments work and thus, be more vigilant in monitoring and participating in governance as partners of public servants and other stakeholders in pursuing the public good.FOI distributes power among the people, as well as creates pressure for government to be more transparent and accountable to citizens for its transactions, especially in making policies and spending public funds.Legislation passed to establish FOI strengthens democracies, particularly in the empowerment of a well-informed and critical citizenry that can demand that the politicians they elect will use public office and public funds to serve the public good.Libraries, especially public and school libraries, are institutions that uphold the FOI right, recognized as a human right by the United Nations.During the pandemic, libraries are among those severely affected in delivering essential services of providing information to the public due to the need to implement health protocols that seek to reduce or eradicate the risks of transmitting the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).Through the Facebook page of the Cebu City Public Library (CCPL), one can track the centrality of this institution in the Cebu community. Not only is it the recourse of students and professionals undertaking research, the CCPL serves as a community hub, drawing civic groups and volunteers as partners of the Cebu City Government to promote literacy through storytelling and read-aloud sessions, Braille lessons, sign language, foreign languages, and digital literacy, among others.Before the pandemic, youths on a tight budget and other citizens with an unquenched love for reading and learning found in this public library the essential quiet space that required no entrance fee or expensive cup of coffee to have the solitude to study and think.The CCPL was the first public library in the country to offer 24/7 services with adequate security to citizens, closed only on legal holidays. In an Aug. 1, 2019 post on FB, the CCPL uploaded a photo of the library jampacked with citizens of all ages at 3:15 a.m.The CCPL’s Basa Kabataan Movement reached out to barangays, even remote ones, to hold storytelling sessions at daycare centers.The pandemic affected the CCPL, with the library opening to the public only on four weekdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in March 2020 until the library finally closed on May 9, 2020 during the community lockdown. With civic groups and volunteers, such as the Basadours, the library continued its Basa Kabataan program through storytelling and read-aloud sessions using videos and online tutorials.On Sept. 8, 2020, the CCPL re-opened, with changes made to accommodate health protocols. Users had to be aged 22-59 years. One was required to make an appointment a day before using the library. Only 20 people were allowed to use the library at a time. Bringing personal books, gadgets, and bags is discouraged to minimize risk of infection, according to the CCPL’s post on library protocols.Prioritizing researchers using the library references, the CCPL currently encourages students and reviewers to stay home and minimize risks to themselves and library staff. On Nov. 18, 2020, the library posted on social media that it installed eight air-conditioner units, renovated the Braille Room, and bid out P3.5 million worth of software with eight new computers, interactive bulletin board, and P1 million worth of e-books.The Cebu City Government and the Cebu community should partner again to revitalize the CCPL into becoming the communal hub it used to be while co-existing with the exigencies created by Covid-19.