Access Service Departments are dynamic units that often thrive in an ever changing environment. This became more apparent as libraries across the world faced the outbreak of COVID-19. The Access Services Department of one mid-sized academic library was one of a handful of libraries in the state that remained open to serve patrons on campus. This case study will address the challenges Access Services faced during COVID-19 including concerns about patron and staff safety along with the sanitation of physical materials and spaces was balanced with the need to provide access to equipment, physical collection, and library support.
Are library privacy rights under assault again?Possibly. A new administration in Washington is sending signals that heavy-handed federal guidelines concerning library data may be on the way again. After the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington DC, a group of librarians known as the Connecticut Four stood up to onerous provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act, a brave feat but one of relative anonymity.In this new era, do libraries need a face or a campaign to elevate the fight for privacy in the eyes of the general public? This paper will argue "yes," and conclude with some thought on how such a campaign might manifest itself.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.