July 21, 2021
UW Libraries Reopening Status Update
updated 8/31
We very much look forward to reopening Libraries spaces in the fall, and our teams are hard at work to make that happen. After being closed for nearly 18 months, there is A LOT happening behind the scenes at the UW Libraries- both remotely and on site to ensure the Libraries are ready to reopen this fall.
Staffing and hiring: Like many public-facing service organizations, the pandemic caused a monumental reduction to Libraries human resources. In addition to many staff and Librarian positions that need to be filled, the Libraries can’t open in any capacity without a significant student workforce. We are actively recruiting now; however staffing back up to pre-covid levels will take time and some services/hours of operation will be limited until we can adequately hire and train new employees for these open positions. This time period leading up to fall quarter is critical for hiring, onboarding and training while also maintaining curbside pick-up, interlibrary loan and facilitating space preparation for fall.
Maintaining HathiTrust Emergency Temporary Access Service (ETAS) has been essential for hybrid and remote learning during the past academic year. On August 20th, when summer quarter is done, our staff will immediately begin the complex process of deactivating ETAS, involving multiple changes to over 1.7 million records in the Libraries Search. Libraries staff will be working non-stop (including weekends!) to complete this process in time for fall quarter reopening. The Libraries check-out process will not function properly until this transition is 100% complete.
Access: While we transition these records, ETAS will remain “turned on”, which allows our UW community to have maximum access to materials (online resources and physical items via curbside and ILL lending) during this time. After summer quarter ends, the majority of students will still be off campus, therefore this remote access remains essential and will deliver the best possible access to materials until the Libraries reopens. With curbside check-out, interlibrary loan, individual study at the Research Commons, and support from subject librarians for all units, the Libraries is able to facilitate requests for the majority of our users.
While Libraries staff manage the ETAS transition, they will simultaneously be working to hire and train new staff and student employees in order to prepare all 16 UW Libraries for reopening in the fall.
Preparing spaces: Bringing students, faculty and the public back into spaces that haven’t been used for such a long time–takes time. While our Libraries facilities teams have done an amazing job maintaining thousands of square feet of spaces across campuses throughout the pandemic (thank you!), there is still a lot to be done for example, moving furniture; cleaning staff and public areas and updating and testing computing equipment. This is happening in nearly every space across the Libraries in order to create the best possible experience come fall.
Not the same Library (better!) – While most Library employees have been and will continue to work remotely through September 10 (per UW telework policy), we have been continually working to design new programs, teach online classes, and bring the best of online & hybrid learning to the UW user community. Thanks to this investment in trying out new models and approaches, we are looking to make changes that allow us to provide more equitable, open and accessible multimodal services. From our physical spaces to our virtual services– expect to experience the Libraries in new ways this fall.
Our Libraries staff is a community within a community. Our employees are students, teachers, caregivers and counselors of all kinds – together forming one Library across three campuses (and an island). Our teams have worked tirelessly over the pandemic to provide our users a continuum of service while learning how to navigate remote work from home and all of the challenges of the past year. Along with our entire UW community, the experience of teaching and learning online has encouraged new ways of working that will bring innovative solutions to our research and learning services for the future.
Thank you for your patience, understanding and support as we continue preparation for fall. We know you miss the Libraries, and we miss you, too. We are excited to see you in September!
Until then, continue to ASK US if you need help or have any questions.
###
