Special Interest Group Archive: Resource Sharing 4/28/2020

Resource Sharing SIG 4/28 

• If you’d like to receive news from Southeastern, you can sign up at: https://mailchi.mp/senylrc/news 
• We have a lot of great webinars coming up, as well as our (virtual) annual meeting on June 5th. (https://www.senylrc.org/upcoming) 

• Have you seen dramatic changes in the volume of requests? 
  • One library is seeing a large reduction in ILL requests. They think it is due to librarians not being able to do bibliographic instruction. (Librarians typically highlight ILL services during instruction.)
  • Another found that ILL was one of the few library services that didn’t see any dramatic reductions. 

• Is anyone accessing their print resources? 
  • Most libraries are not currently scanning physical items. 
  • However, there are a few ILL libraries that have been accessing their print resources occasionally. 

• Is anyone having issues with ILLiad?
  • It has a tendency to crash at least once a day. 
  • It can be difficult to figure out where the source of the issue is (OCLC v. institutional issues.) 

• Requests coming in from students: 
  • It can be a challenge having to explain to students how ILL is working. However, this is a similar issue to when libraries were in person. (People have a tendency to see it as magic.) 

• Any challenges working from home?
  • Hard to get students things as quickly as before. They don’t know exactly how we get materials so they don’t know exactly what the issue is. 
  • It’s not the service level they’re used to, which can be frustrating. 
  • Students are also making requests for items that are only available in print. It’s hard to know that the items are actually available but not accessible. 

• What will it look like to open up?
  • Concern is: if we’re one of the few people who are open, it could cause an overwhelming amount of requests. 
  • How is it going to look (how many staff will come in a day, how will people stay apart, what are the other logistical issues?) 
  • Some are considering curbside pick-up for faculty and students. 
  • It might be a good idea to have a library drop-off box at the residence halls (some students are being allowed to come and pick up their belongings). 

• How are people spending their time as ILL workloads decrease? 
  • Cleaning e-resources and holdings. 
  • Coursera course: Copyright for Educators and Librarians (https://www.coursera.org/learn/copyright-for-education) 

• RapidILL has a covid-19 pod that people can join. 

• How are public libraries planning to re-open?
  • NY Library systems trying to coordinate opening efforts

• IMLS has recently partnered with a research organization to study how the virus works. The hope is to create recommendations for librarians: https://www.imls.gov/news/covid-19-research-partnership-inform-safe-handling-collections-reopening-practices-libraries 

• Methods for keeping materials and library spaces safe: 
  • Isolating books for a set period of time Reducing the amount of circulating books 
  • Implementing recommendations from NEDCC (https://www.nedcc.org/free-resources/preservation-leaflets/3.-emergency-management/3.5-disinfecting-books) 
  • Some computers are really close together. One suggestion was to put dividers between computers. 
  • One library put “out of order” signs on every other computer. You can also take away chairs for the computers. 
  • Potential issue: a lot of students will just take chairs or keyboards from other computers. 
  • Putting a plastic barrier at the circulation desk, or plastic barriers in between. 
  • Are there issues with the costs of implementing safety measures? 
  • If there are shortages with masks and other materials, is it right for libraries to be using them? 

• Budget cuts -  how long is it going to be possible to order books and materials for students as needed?
  • Some libraries have been told not to do any spending. 
  • The cost of e-books can be quite high. 

Next SIG scheduled for May 26th, 10-11 am.