After months of remote learning for students globally, universities across the world are beginning a new method of teaching for the upcoming academic year.

We asked our Specialist Librarian panel how their institution and role has adapted to meet challenges in these unprecedented circumstances.  

Has the pandemic changed the way you now operate? If so, do you think this has been a positive change?

University in England  

We’ve reduced our staff working hours, which was more budget related than directly from the pandemic but it had a knock-on effect. We moved a lot more online – expectation is “info at point of need” rather than always having to ask.

I do feel making more resources available online with remote access is a positive move.

University in Australia

The focus has moved to online.  While we had, particularly in relation to the collection, become a major online service delivery library, the major changes have been for reference and training. 

All training of clients moved online and in addition we used the remote working time to increase staff skills with digital tools and environments. There has been increased teaching into online course embedding digital literacy into curriculum.

On the positive side staff capabilities have increased, our digital collection had grown (particularly textbooks), research support has increased and the quality and extent of online training from the library has increased.

University in India

We have completely changed the ways of providing the services. I don’t think there is any positive change except we have migrated all the library services online and strengthened the remote access facilities.

University in England

Yes, but the negative aspect has been the inability to access the millions of print copies shelved inside the library, but a positive outcome are the new Click and Collect and Scan and Deliver services, which have allowed the collections to be available again, albeit in a more limited way than pre-COVID. The Scanning service is incredibly valuable, and will be maintained into the future.

There is going to be a new Accessibility team (positions currently advertised) which will substantially improve library services for disabled students, especially the print-disabled.

Students can now drop books off at different book drops and libraries, rather than having to return books to the library they borrowed it from, so this is an improvement from a user point of view.

Budgets are being re-focused to prioritise electronic provision, in the short term this is necessary, but longer term how will this re-focusing be maintained, what will be lost in the print provision as a result. eTextbooks are a new focus for us, we are not sure how this is going to practically work and how we will continue to fund provision in future years, if it takes off.

University in China

It sped up the change from print to electronic. In fact, our library has been moving to digital since 2002 but the progress was slow. It is this user behaviour that has transformed the publishing industry.

I believe, there is positive change from publishers side which has sped up their progress to providing online resources due to the pandemic.

University in America

Yes, it has changed the way we operate. I think the change has been a mixed bag of good and bad. Our library always had a clear cleaning plan but we are now forced to be more intentional and it is an easier sell on the whole staff.

The social distancing has made it so the groups who came to “just hangout” do not have a place thereby making the library a quieter place for those needing to a place to study and reflect. Physical copies out of circulation for seven days is not good for print-heavy areas of study.

What has been the biggest challenge from the past 6 months for your library?

University in England

Over the last 4 months of 2019/2020 and going into 2020/21 I have had a non-staffing cut of 20% and the requirement to make at least 10% cut on staffing. Trying to support a much more digital delivery for a humanities, social sciences and arts based institution while facing cuts and enforced reductions on student behaviour.

Honestly this this the most difficult year of my professional life. It is bringing opportunities but the biggest challenge is bringing the staff along with it – staff who are exceptionally traditional in their worldviews.

University in Australia

Keeping staff informed and morale up through so many challenges – we have had bushfires, closure due to smoke, hailstorms (over half of our staff lost their cars – the storm was intense) and COVID-19. It has been a terrible year.

University in England

The shut down and lack of access to print caused a huge demand for ebooks, swamping the small team. Staffing was quickly expanded to enable us to cope but huge demand continues into the new academic year, so we are having to organise the workflows differently.

New collection development policies were drafted to reflect the new situation, there are still tensions regarding buying e to support teaching and learning and to support research.

University in China

The biggest challenge has been transforming the services from face to face to virtual, the lack of digital resources, the gap in what’s available in print and as an ebook, and staff re-arrangement.

University in America

Navigating the constant changes – no day is the same and policies are regularly tweaked based on reports, state mandates and university policy. In the midst of navigating the shifting landscape, it has been tough to find the time to inspect said shifted landscape and implications for the future operations of an academic library.

Share your experiences with us at @cambridgeuplib or reach out to discover what support we can offer you at library.marketing@cambridge.org

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