[Academic] Library opening hours

[Bengt Eliasson]

Dear All

Please find below a statement from the Library about opening hours, where it is expected that the Library will open on a Saturday from 7th November 2020.

Best wishes,
Bengt

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Library Opening Hours

The current Library opening hours are available on the Library website: https://www.strath.ac.uk/professionalservices/library/openinghours/

We hope to start offering Saturday opening (9am until 5pm) from Saturday, 7th November 2020.

It’s worth noting that whilst some other University Libraries may appear to have longer opening hours, many have fewer seats than we have managed to offer. Some have not opened at all due to their size and distancing rules and some are restricting access to specific groups of customers, e.g. PGs or academic staff only. Others require staff and students to pre-book sessions which are time limited and frequency limited within the same week. Our approach in the Andersonian Library has been to keep access as simple and straightforward as possible – every category of Strathclyde user can enter at any time within the opening hours and as many times as they require.

Library staff continue to provide Click and Collect services and Postal Loans to those students who cannot attend on campus. Library staff also offer online support to all staff and students who are using our electronic resources.

Since there is only very limited teaching taking place on campus, and the Scottish Government advice is to work from home wherever possible, extending Library Opening hours would appear to be contradictory. We are working with the University and the Students' Association to understand this position better.

We recognise that there are some specific categories of customer, such as part-time students who would welcome an evening/weekend extension, and this has informed our planned Saturday opening from 7th November.

Note that due to the Covid-19 restrictions the Library is open for solo study only, there is no group study allowed, the Library should not be considered as a social space and unfortunately peer support cannot be facilitated.

The Library’s opening hours are now additionally informed by the non-compliant behaviour of some customers i.e. the incidence of non-compliance, not following the social distancing rules or not wearing face coverings, is having a direct impact on the safety of staff and other students. At this time we don’t feel that we can safely open the library with the lower number of staff we would normally have in the evenings.

The Library has signed up to participate in the ‘Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Scheme’, whereby staff or students with a hidden disability can choose to wear branded items with the sunflower logo to let other people know that they have a hidden disability. Lanyards, badges, wrist bands etc. will be available in the Library.

It is anticipated that Catering will open the seating area only in Flava café on the ground floor of the Curran Building from the 9th November (dates and opening hours to be confirmed). Plans are to have 16 spaces, socially distanced, to allow students to eat their lunch. Catering staff will be on hand to ensure social distancing measures are observed and tables are cleaned between uses.

We need to balance service provision with risks to staff and students, and trust that this proposed extension of Library Opening Hours will assist with your students' study.

29th October 2020


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Bengt Eliasson
Department of Physics
University of Strathclyde
John Anderson Building
Glasgow, UK,
G4 0NG

tel: +44 (0)141-548-4272
e-mail: bengt.eliasson at strath.ac.uk<https://nemo.strath.ac.uk/owa/redir.aspx?SURL=3-_APz0zvbOHPfP9BPYdG0QfOFJ1rtlPw5LiF_qBIq3H3nDWjF7WCG0AYQBpAGwAdABvADoAZwAuAHYAaQBlAHUAeABAAHMAdAByAGEAdABoAC4AYQBjAC4AdQBrAA..&URL=mailto%3ag.vieux%40strath.ac.uk>
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