The University Libraries will reopen campus locations (Love Library, Architecture, CYT@Food, Engineering and Music) starting on August 17. All library locations, except Math and Geology libraries, will reopen with limited hours which will expand when in-person classes begin on August 24. To check the hours of operation of all library locations including the Adele Hall Learning Commons, visit: https://go.unl.edu/hours-reopen
The Libraries has put a number of safety measures in place to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission by managing the density of library locations and adhering to social distancing protocols.
In order to manage the density of library spaces, all locations will be open only to UNL students, faculty and staff with current NCards. Community users and non-UNL researchers can access the UNL Libraries by appointment only, for example if they have a need to access the Archives & Special Collections, to use subscription electronic resources on site, to use government documents, or to consult with a Libraries faculty or staff member.
The reading rooms for the Library Depository Retrieval Facility (LDRF) and the Archives & Special Collections will be open by appointment only to all users.
Other safety measures include:
· An average of 56% reduction in seating to manage density and promote proper social distancing
· Plexiglass barriers and floor signs at ASKus service points
· Prioritizing online collection access
· Limiting access to physical materials
· Continuing item/book/article delivery (you request, we retrieve)
· Quarantining all materials for at least four days between uses
The Libraries will continue to offer HathiTrust Emergency Temporary Access Service (ETAS) for the fall semester, as it provides access to almost half of our collections to users regardless of their location, an important consideration for providing equitable access to the students and faculty not returning to campus this semester. Maintaining ETAS requires the Libraries to restrict access to the physical collections of anything in our collections that is represented in HathiTrust. This means that book stacks in Love Library and all other library locations will be closed, and no in-library use or stacks browsing will be allowed.
The Libraries will continue to offer our robust digitize-on-demand services, primarily for journal articles, book chapters, or other excerpts needed for classroom use or research purposes. Use our document delivery forms to request any materials not available for immediate online access. We will pull the item for you and either deliver a chapter/journal article electronically or deliver the book to the nearest open campus library for you to pick up.
There are many other ways Libraries faculty and staff can help users including:
· Zoom- and phone-based research consultations and advanced research support
· Teaching partnerships and collaborations for building students' research and information skills
· Research help through ASKus via phone, email, and chat-based
As Claire Stewart, dean of libraries, explains the goal of the reopening plan is to provide the broadest possible access to expertise, collections, and spaces while prioritizing the safety of faculty, staff, and students.
“We understand some of the measures put into place may be difficult, especially limiting direct access to materials on our shelves, but limiting that access minimizes the risk of transmission. More importantly, it allows us to provide more equitable access, keeping the HathiTrust ETAS open for all users whether they are on campus or located in western Nebraska,” said Stewart.
Read the full proposal about the Libraries plan.
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