We have never needed books more than we need them now, and book people are working to get them to us. Authors have moved their book tours online, trying to reach readers through podcasts and virtual-meeting platforms. But for independent bookstores, none of these efforts will matter if readers don’t buy their books locally. Already so many book store employees have been laid off that this spring the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, which helps booksellers in financial distress, received more requests in five days than it did in all of 2019.

Amazon is delaying book shipments to prioritize other items, but shuttered bookstores are nimble enough to respond to this crisis in a variety of ways — including free shipping, door-to-door delivery and curbside pickup, depending on the store and the restrictions on its community. Some shops already offer online sales, and they are perfectly positioned to get books to you quickly. Last weekend Parnassus Books in Nashville posted a Facebook photo of two giant piles of packages, outgoing orders that are helping to make it possible for the store to keep paying its employees even with its doors closed to the public. And Powell’s Books, the legendary store in Portland, Ore., announced that it had rehired more than 100 full-time employees to respond to a surge in online orders.

If you don’t have a nearby independent store, you can find the closest one at Bookshop.org. Bookshop was designed as an alternative to Amazon, offering discounted prices and a way to support independent bookstores at the same time. The site even has a section of recommendations by New York City booksellers laid off during the pandemic.

Buying print books locally is the best way to support both authors and bookshops, but there are other ways to help, as Jonny Diamond, editor in chief of Literary Hub, pointed out in a recent essay: buying audiobooks from Libro.fm, which supports independent bookstores; taking to social media with book recommendations, especially of works by authors whose book tours have been canceled; buying gift certificates to give stores a cash infusion right now, when the doors are closed; starting a virtual book club.

Social media platforms are full of posts by people, even lifelong readers, who say they find it too difficult now to concentrate on anything longer than an article or even a tweet. I feel scattered, too. But during this pandemic, I have found myself falling in love with books all over again, the way it’s possible to discover an entirely unexpected and wonderful aspect of your beloved, even decades after you first fell in love.

As distracted as I am in these darkening days, I have never felt more desperately the need to turn away from screens, the need to slow down and immerse myself not in breaking news but in the timelessness of the printed page.

Margaret Renkl, a contributing opinion writer, is the author of the book “Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss.”

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