CHMA checks in with Diane Keeping of the Ralph Pickard Bell Library.
By Meg Cunningham
The Ralph Pickard Bell Library is a vital academic resource for researchers, students, and Mount Allison faculty.
When campus shut down to essential services only, the library had to shut its doors temporarily.
While the building remained locked, university librarian Diane Keeping and her staff kept right on working.
They focused on their virtual library project and providing researchers with digital materials.
D: There are some faculty and students who rely very heavily on our physical collections. So during that time between March and June, it did create some challenges for those researchers, because they weren’t able to access the materials. Now we’ve provided as much assistance as we possibly could, under the circumstances, helping them find either electronic versions of those resources or maybe electronic alternatives in some cases, but that’s all that didn’t always work for every circumstance.
Keeping says the moment she and her staff could reenter the premises, they set to work on their curbside and lobby pickup service.
D: When we were able to get our staff back into the library, our number one priority was to get some sort of a service in place to get access to our physical collection again, so on the 17th we put together our curbside or a lobby pickup service. People can make requests by emailing us at circ@mta.ca or by filling out a web form on our website, or by placing a hold for the item in our library catalog. And when we get that request, our staff will retrieve the books from the stacks. Check them out so you put them on the table in the lobby wrapped in paper with your last name and your first initial on the spine. And then we will notify you when the books are ready for pickup. And then people can drop by and pick them up and go on their merry way. And they’ve designated dropping days or Tuesday and Thursday from nine until noon. But people can also arrange to pick up at other times or days of the week, if that would be better for them. And health and safety obviously is at the forefront of our thoughts. So we do have safety measures in place. So we asked that there would only be one person in the lobby at a time and hand sanitizer is available in the lobby for people to use. And our staff are also wiping down the door handles and other service surfaces once the patrons leave. And when books are returned, we do have a 72 hour quarantine in place. So all of the returned books are placed in quarantine for three days before they’re circulated again or put back into the, into the stacks.
The service is very popular, with over 175 items checked out since June 17th.
Keeping’s biggest concern, aside from providing library and archival materials, is with the well-being of her team.
D: I’ve got my team here at the Library, the library staff and the librarians as well. So as the leader of this, this group, I have to keep them informed as well. This is a scary time for everybody. Just the fact that we’re going through a pandemic. It is scary. There’s a lot of change going on here. We don’t really know what’s happening and, you know, her family’s going to be healthy going forward and how is this all going to affect us individually and as a town and as a university certainly created a lot of stress. So, in a leadership position, you want to try to help your team cope and stay healthy, both physically and mentally. They’re always at the forefront of my mind. And, you know, I’m hoping that they’re managing Okay, through all of this. I guess that’s really been my biggest priority as a university librarian is keeping myself informed, keeping my team informed and just ensuring the health and safety of everybody.
She has been in contact with other libraries in the region and Atlantic Canada to discuss how they are each operating under COVID-19, and what their plans are for the fall.
These discussions will be used in conjunction with research to determine how the library will operate in the future.
D: We’re constantly getting new information about, about this virus. And there’s actually a large scale project going on with a company called OCLC, and they’re doing research with a laboratory in Ohio, actually. And they’re looking at how the virus survives on various materials, circulating materials in libraries. So they started phase one where they looked at DVD, hardcover, and softcover books. So they’ve done the analysis and they’re actually collecting data. So they have concluded that 72 hours is actually the safest time to be doing the quarantine on those materials. So that’s great. They’ve gone into phase two, and they’re looking at other types of materials that you see in a library, so archival folders and children’s books and different types of materials. So they’ll have more information released later in July. They’re also collecting a lot of information from various libraries about the reopening plan. So that’s all being collected and put on their website as well. We’re all monitoring that research project very closely right now. So as they collect more information, we’ll adjust our plans going forward and are always looking at what the university policies are as well.
Student access to the building remains unclear.
M: I’m curious as to what the library services are going to look like for students this fall, will they be able to actually go into the library? Or will it all be sort of distance or mostly online?
D: We’re still developing plans for the fall, as I mentioned earlier, we had a partial opening of the library as of June 16. So as of that date, we’ve been able to get some library staff back into the library and what we’ve been doing aside from setting up the curbside pickup service, we’ve also been doing an inventory of all the spaces in the library and the furniture and starting to do measurements to see what what is our maximum occupancy in this field. When considering the two meters, six foot physical distancing requirements, so how many people can we get in this space safely? So once we understand what our occupancy level is, we can start thinking about the logistics involved with maintaining traffic flow. There will be some access to the library. Yes, for sure. And in the fall, I’m just not quite sure what that’s going to look like exactly at this point in time. But we do recognize that our students who are going to be on campus are going to need a place to go to study. So that’s where we’re going to try to do what we can to help.
M: New Brunswick is currently at the yellow level, and it looks like we’re going to be at the yellow level until we get a vaccine and you and I both know that there’s no real answer as to when that’s going to happen. Is the library prepared to operate under the yellow level for a prolonged period of time, possibly a year perhaps longer?
D: We’re going to do what we need to do.
She is excited to share that the library recently became the only university library outside of Nova Scotia to become a member of Novanet.
Live help chats will be available for students through the Novanet system if she and the other local librarians are unavailable.
Keeping reassures that librarians are still working hard to provide their services to the community, and will be available whenever possible.
D: We will be here. And as we always say, at the library we’re here to help, and we’re certainly going to do whatever we can to help our students and our faculty.
