The COVID-19 Fall Semester: Looking Beyond 2020

Sponsored by Taylor & Francis

Recorded on 11/30/2020
Posted in The Authority File

Episode 169

As the fall semester and 2020 come to a close, what does the future look like for our libraries, colleges, and world? What new practices or workflows will we keep, and which will be abandoned come 2021 and beyond?

Sarah Copeland, director of desks and patron experience at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, voices her concerns over staff burnout once normal working functions return. Lauren Magnuson, head of collections, delivery and access at the California State University San Marcos, predicts that her library’s cost-per-use model will come in handy when the inevitable cuts come next fiscal year. “A cancellation in one area saves money, but then there’s costs in other areas, and so that’s really the challenge there, is that how do we make the cuts in a way that is totally sustainable?”

In this final episode, Sarah and Lauren explain what pandemic-related policies they’ll be happy to say goodbye to, and their pie-in-the-sky hopes for next semester—expand contactless pickup, please! They chat about the sustainability of current staffing models, the empowerment their libraries have found on campus, and the tough decisions that must be faced next year.

About the guests:

Sarah Shippy Copeland
Director, Desks and Patron Experience
University of Tennessee Chattanooga

Lauren Magnuson
Head of Collections, Delivery and Access
California State University San Marcos

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

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