As Harvard College students navigate learning while COVID-19 governs our lives, one might wonder about a key aspect in the school experience: the Harvard Library. When it was open, students could browse the shelves and consult with the librarians about their upcoming research projects. So, what is the library doing now to ensure its availability to students in the current exclusively-online circumstances? Librarians Beate Gersch, head of liaison and organization services, Molly Mclnerney in undergraduate support, and Anna Burgess in library media relations shed some light on the adaptations the library has made in the past months in addition to exciting new features and plans. It turns out there is a lot the library is able to do online, and Harvard students should explore the amazing resources our hardworking librarians made available.
Overall, the library is prioritizing services for students; the usual availability of books and reserves to the public and alumi is sadly, but understandably, on hold. A quick overview of the current services is in order. Since June 30, books are available to borrow through appointment pickup. So if you thought you may never get your hands on the smooth cover of a Harvard library book again, think twice! The library also recently started a borrow direct service to collaborate with partner libraries in hopes of gaining access to more books. Over the summer, they also resumed digital access to printed library materials in addition to course reserves for students away from campus. New modifications include remote research consultations and your virtual librarian friend-making resource: Ask-A-Librarian.
Gersch is happy to describe the success of the online resource: Ask-A-Librarian. The service has been expanded during the pandemic to ensure undergraduates questions will be answered all day, in a timely manner. With longer chat hours and more people on-call, the service has been extremely popular among students so far. According to Gersch, the number of daily chats has more than doubled since last year. The service can be used for any type of book related questions, and if the librarian is not able to provide an on-the-spot answer, the student is assured a follow-up within 24 hours.
The first year librarian service has been around at Harvard pre-COVID, however without physical access to the building, Mclnerney shares: “We are more aware that students need some touch points to the library.” Each first year is assigned their very own first-year Librarian, and these assignments are meant as a personal contact for every first-year student, for every question. Even if your librarian doesn’t have the answer to your question on medieval surgical tools, they will point you in the direction of the expert; your first-year librarian is your connection to the rest of the library. When the preliminary panic of that first research paper hits, fear not, for your first-year-librarian is just one email away.
To further excite the first years, October 5 marked the very first “Library News for First-Year Students” bulletin. Here you will find access to extremely useful workshops such as “End-note Basics” and smart source decisions. These workshops are new this year to give an extra boost to first-years trying to figure out where to start when doing research without a physical library. It’s tough, but not with the help of the able and determined first-year librarian team.
Mclnerney also mentions that peer advising fellows underwent a basic level training on how to navigate the library and its patrons to be armed and ready for their first-year PAFEEs.
The upperclassmen are not left out of the equation. Each department has a library liaison, based on subject expertise. For instance, a history concentrator would get to know the people who are doing instruction and outreach in that department through the library. The liaisons conduct regular outreach including senior thesis writing workshops.
Burgess in communication and outreach adds: “From a communications standpoint, we will reach out to our contacts who run the FAS newsletter and the GSAS newsletter and make sure that is another way of reaching the students.” Gersch adds that through this outreach there is “a lot of content and information sharing so hopefully we reach students and faculty from various different angles.”
Moving forward, everyone is interested in what the rest of the year looks like for the Harvard Library. Gersch explains that libraries have been doing online outreach for decades. Many online aspects of HOLLIS have been in the works even before COVID. “Libraries have long ago gone beyond a space where people come,” says Gersch. They are constantly on the hunt for new experiences for students and “ways to engage users at different levels.” Virtual exhibits were brought up… get excited for what that could look like given HOLLIS’ potential!
More specifically for this year’s logistics, Burgess talks about the library’s three-phase re-start plan. They are currently in the second phase of activation, and the third phase entails physical access to library services. They are not sure when phase three will be able to activate. “Our priority is the safety of our community, and Especially our Harvard staff,” says Burgess. Which, at this time, is all anyone in the University space can hope for.
Something to look forward to is the reopening of Cabot Science Library as a study space for on-campus students! Although it will not be the same as sauntering up to a passing librarian with a question, it is nice to be able to open another space for student access, particularly one as beautiful as Cabot. With all the services and resources that Harvard is offering to undergraduate students at this time, the online opportunities can be quite overwhelming at times. It is clear from my conversation with these three wonderful women that the Harvard library has a clear and calculated approach to make navigating HOLLIS as intimidating as possible.
Lastly, the Library Service Restart Update is a must-know blast about what’s new at the Harvard Library. Sign up for their email list through the website. If you’re in the loop of the important goings-on, you’ll know what’s hot with HOLLIS.
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Kate Tunnell ‘24 (katetunnell@college.harvard.edu) appreciates the hard work of Harvard Libraries!
Photo by Marissa Garcia ’21.