Academic Librarianship in the Age of COVID: Fall Is Coming

Sponsored by SAGE Publishing

Recorded on 08/12/2020
Posted in The Authority File

Episode 149

Like gathering storm clouds, the looming fall semester is on every student, teacher, and librarian’s mind. Articles, webinars, and discussion threads have exploded around the singular question: What’s your fall reopening plan?

Linda Van Keuren of Georgetown Medical, Sally Gibson of Missouri Western State, and Kat McGrath of the University of British Columbia have adjusted their services and physical space to give students what they need quickly and efficiently. Whether it’s a closed-stack model, one-person-per-study-room rules, or ramping up virtual chat services, there will be little dilly-dallying among the stacks this September. However, they predict after years of trying to shepherd students into their libraries, it will be a strange 180 to ask their patrons not to linger.

In this second episode, Van Keuren, Gibson, and McGrath break down their own institutions’ fall reopening plans, how the library has adapted to support student and faculty, and perhaps most importantly, how the heck they are feeling about all this rapid change.


About the guests:

Linda Van Keuren
Assistant Dean for Access & Resource Management
Georgetown Medical

Sally Gibson
Library Director
Missouri Western State

Kat McGrath
Renewals and Collections Librarian
University of British Columbia


Enjoy the episode? Check out the others in the series: