The University Libraries faculty and staff believe a successful semester begins when faculty and students partner with the Libraries. With several remote and virtual support options available, the Libraries are positioned to support user needs during these dynamic and uncertain times. As a result of the ongoing pandemic, things will look different this semester when visiting the Libraries.
“With the Fall semester underway Libraries users should become familiar with new policies and protocols for operation,” University Libraries Associate Dean Linda Kopecky said. “Due to the pandemic, we’ve had to modify how we do things in order to maintain a healthy and safe environment for users visiting the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center, DeLaMare Science and Engineering Library and the Savitt Medical Library.”
To learn more about what is new and different tune in to Checked Out!, the University Libraries official podcast. In this short episode hosts Sasha Soleta and Sean Busey talk about what users can expect when they visit the Libraries.
“With new hours of operation, face coverings required, and no more eating or drinking in the Libraries, we want to be sure the campus community knows what to expect,” Sasha Soleta, co-host of Checked Out! said. “Many things have changed due to COVID-19, but the Libraries is well positioned to support students, faculty, and researchers.”
University Libraries Checked Out! Episode 9.5
Sean and Sasha have a quick conversation about some of the new rules and policies meant to keep students, staff, and faculty safe in the UNR Libraries.
Face Coverings Required
Face coverings are required to enter any of the Libraries locations, and at all times while visiting. It is important that users wear their face covering properly. Face coverings should cover the nose, mouth and chin. Face coverings are required when using group study spaces, even if a user is studying alone.
New Hours of Operation
The Libraries provide access to the crucial resources and services the campus community depend on. Due to the pandemic, users need to be aware of varied hours of operation. For the most current hours of operation information, please visit the hours page on the Libraries website.
The Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center will be open Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. – 10 p.m.; 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. on Friday; closed Saturday; and open Sunday from Noon – 10 p.m.
The DeLaMare Science and Engineering Library, located on the University’s Quadrangle, will be open 7:30 a.m. – 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 7:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Friday; closed Saturday; and open Sunday from Noon – 8 p.m.
The Savitt Medical Library will be open 7:30 a.m. – 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 7:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Friday; 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Saturday; and Sunday from Noon – 8 p.m.
The Jon Bilbao Basque Library is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, but appointments are encouraged. Special Collections and University Archives Department is open by appointment. Teaching & Learning Technologies and the Instructional Design Team are working remotely, but virtual support is available.
No Eating or Drinking in the Libraries
At this time there is no eating or drinking allowed inside the University Libraries. Due to the campus-wide face covering mandate the Libraries ask users to refrain from eating inside our locations. Outdoor seating is available on the Knowledge Center’s patio, as well as inside the second floor Rotunda located off of the Breezeway across from Bytes Café .
Health and Safety Top Priority
The Libraries Building Operations Department has added a new “member” to its staff, Operational Pre-emptive Improvised Eradicator (OPIE).
“OPIE is able to sanitize a floor in about 30-minutes and will be used on most surfaces,” Alden Kamaunu, manager of Building Operations for the Libraries said. “OPIE is able to blanket surfaces in a fine mist thus allowing it to dry quickly while eradicating viruses and other harmful bacteria. In fact, OPIE will be working tirelessly throughout the day to ensure staff and patrons are as protected as possible. Feel free to say hello when visiting.”
Printing, Access Services and Research Services
Printing in the Libraries has changed slightly. Print jobs can now be picked-up from any printer in the Libraries building. At this time no cash transactions are being made. Users are asked to load their Wolf Card with funds to cover printing and other Libraries expenses.
Contactless pick-up at lockers is available when retrieving Knowledge Center materials. Users may also pick things up from the Access Services Desk located on the second floor of the Knowledge Center. At this time Anatomy Models are not available for check-out, however the collection is available online.
The Libraries will not be offering on-site course reserves for the Fall semester because of the need to quarantine books between uses. Electronic reserves remain available 24/7. The Libraries can also scan a “fair use” portion of reserve materials, making them accessibly available through WebCampus. Please contact Deirdre Adams-Buckley directly at dadamsbuckley@unr.edu or contact reserves@unr.edu for assistance.
Finally, the Libraries ask users to keep study tables to two people or fewer, while maintaining social distancing.
Research help is available via the Research Help Desk located on the second floor of the Knowledge Center. Help is also available via Zoom, phone and chat.
Changes in the @One
At this time personal printing is not available. The Dynamic Media Lab and Dataworks Lab are open with a limited number of computers available. All classrooms located on the first floor of the Knowledge Center are sanitized between classes.
About the University Libraries
The University Libraries embrace intellectual inquiry and innovation, nurture the production of new knowledge, and foster excellence in learning, teaching and research. During each academic year, the Libraries welcomes more than 1.2 million visitors across its network of three branch libraries: the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center, the DeLaMare Science and Engineering Library and the Savitt Medical Library. Visitors checked-out more than 80,000 items and completed more than 2 million database searches.
Sasha: Hey, Sean.
Sean: Hey, Sasha.
Sasha: This is kind of weird, 'cause, like, I don't, have anybody to thank for the intro.
Sean: This is one of those weird episodes. For T.V. fans out there, this is like the bottle episode where it's only the core people, with one thing going on. Minimize the production. That's what this is. We're doing something a little different today that's kinda weird already.
Sasha: Yeah. Especially 'cause we haven't identified ourselves. Um, as always, I'm Sasha. **Laughing**
Sean: **Laughing** I'm Sean. Uh, welcome to Checked Out, the University of Nevada, Reno Libraries and TLT podcast. Today though, we're talking...it's a little different how we're doing it, but we're talking about something very important and probably at the front of everybody's minds as the new semester begins.
Sasha: Basically, we know you guys love us here at the library. You love hanging out with us in-person. And we're here to tell you how we're doing it safely this semester.
Sean: Exactly.
Sasha: With our special COVID restrictions!
Sean: Yay!
Sasha: **singing**
Sean: All the precautions going into reopening.
Sasha: Uh-huh.
Sean: Fun stuff.
Sasha: I've been back in the building since July. Sean is still working remote.
Sean: Yeah.
Sasha: A lot of the students are working remote as well, but for those of you who want to come by...**laughing**
Sean: Yeah. **laughing** I mean, I would like to come back, believe it or not, so I think we should talk about the things that are gonna help make it safe enough to do so.
Sasha: Yeah, guys. We want Sean to come back into the building, so we have to make it safe for him.
Sean: Yeah. Yeah. It's all about me.
Sasha: Mhm. Don't mess this up for Sean, guys.
Sean: Yeah. Think of me when you're wondering, "Should I wear my mask?" Think of me.
Sasha: So I guess the first big thing that happens- that's happening when we're coming back and that we're back now - masks are required.
Sean: Yes.
Sasha: Everywhere.
Sean: Yes.
Sasha: All the time, you should be wearing your mask.
Sean: Yes. No matter who you are.
Sasha: Uh-huh.
Sean: It's not about you. You wear your mask to help protect others. Don't be that- don't be that person. Just don't. Wear your mask.
Sasha: Don't kill somebody's grandma because you were uncomfortable.
Sean: Right? And don't be one of those people with your little fake laminated cards. "I have an exemption." Those don't exist.
Sasha: Also, don't be one of those people who lets your nose be free. Like no, dudes.
Sean: Yeah. Wear your mask-
Sasha: Your nose has to go under there, too.
Sean: Yeah. Wear your mask, wear it properly, and wear it all the time.
Sasha: Just- I don't know. Put a little perfume in there and you don't have to smell everybody now. You can just be like, "Mmm. I'm in my own lovely-smelling world in my mask." Uh, also, when we come to the whole mask on all the time, you know what that means, Sean. No stuffing our face with Port of Subs at the library anymore.
Sean: But where am I gonna smell sandwiches that are surprisingly pungent?
Sasha: Um, you're gonna have to go to the Joe or you're gonna have to eat outside. Actually, though, it looks like...um...the Rotunda area in the Knowledge Center has been designated as an eating area. So you CAN eat just there. But I don't want to be walking around on those upper floors smelling Panda, guys. 'Cause one, I'm trying to diet. I don't need that in my life. And two, you're not supposed to be eating up there.
Sean: You will be told to go elsewhere.
Sasha: Mhm. I will eat your food if you are eating on the floor. I will take it. Yeah.
Sean: Let's do alternate rules where we get to decide the punishment.
Sasha: Uh-huh.
Sean: In this case, if you break the rule, we get your food and/or drink to do whatever we please with. And, the container it's in. What's that? You don't want to buy a new Tupperware? Better not push it.
Sasha: You know, I love me some fancy snaps.
Sean: Yeah.
Sasha: Um, so that's the mask stuff covered. We're also very much encouraging - and telling you to social distance. Six feet, everybody.
Sean: Yeah... All the time.
Sasha: Yes. 'Cause, you see, the thing is, I'm up in the stacks walking around. I don't know if the person that's sitting next to you is your roommate or your significant other. I don't want to have to tell you six times to move.
Sean: Yeah.
Sasha: And you probably don't want to hear it!
Sean: Yeah. There- we are taking the stance that we can't afford to take a chance, so we're going with safest practice and assuming none of you know each other, you're all strangers, just stay six feet apart. That's it. It's that easy.
Sasha: I mean, I don't like people that much, so it's kinda great so I can always be like, "I'll be over here."
Sean: I still wanna get the giant Bubble Boy thing and just walk around literally bumping people out of the way. Six feet, guys. Six feet.
Sasha: So, as I said, I'm back, so my department's back, but not all our departments in the building are back, so we still have instructional design, is still gonna be remote, so you know the ways to contact them through our two episodes we had with them.
Sean: Yeah.
Sasha: And then, Basque. The Basque library and special collections are also by appointment only. So you do have to contact them if you want to access their collections. Just a heads-up there. You're also gonna see some differences in hours because we need time to clean is basically why I'm saying we're closing a little bit earlier. Also, guys, you gotta get some sleep, man.
Sean: Yeah. Occasionally.
Sasha: Mhm.
Sean: I mean, tell the freshmen out there that's not what class is for.
Sasha: Yeah **laughing**
Sean: But the people that work at the library, they tend to go home and rest in between, you know, sanitizing. And sanitizing takes time and effort.
Sasha: Yeah. So, our new hours for the Knowledge Center specifically are Monday through Friday, 7 am to 10 pm, so no more midnight- no more burning that midnight oil. Uh, Friday, 7 am to 7 pm, Saturday we're actually going to be closed, which is a new for everybody.
Sean: Yeah.
Sasha: But go out there, guys. Have fun. You know what? I'm saying this. You guys can take the day off.
Sean: Yeah!
Sasha: Take a nice study break.
Sean: Yeah. Schedule your time a little differently. Or study elsewhere. It's not that hard.
Sasha: Yeah. Give yourself some "me" time. Do a facemask, get your nails done, it'll be great. Get some "you" time in on Saturday. Then come in on Sunday at noon and you can study from noon to 10.
Sean: And look better, from the sounds of it.
Sasha: Yeah. You know. Priorities.
Sean: Yeah. **Laughing**
Sasha: Um, and just to let you know, all the desks are going to be staffed a little bit less during these hours, but most of the desks like the Access Services Desk and the Research Services desk, they have doorbells, and their phone numbers posted, so if you do need to get in contact whit them and they're not directly at their desk, ring that doorbell. We love it. I'm like a dog back here when I hear the doorbell ring. I'm like **gasping** Who's there? **Laughing** It's pretty exciting for me.
Sean: *Laughing** and she starts barking. It's pretty- it's a fun sight to behold
Sasha: So then, once you're in the building, you know, you're wearing your mask, you're not eating food, you're drinking with a straw.
Sean: You're six feet away.
Sasha: Six- yeah, you're six feet away.
Sean: Yeah. Six feet away from everybody.
Sasha: You're only getting into the elevator with three people. If there's more than three people, just be like, "Nah. I'm good."
Sean: Yeah. Don't care if they're your roommates.
Sasha: We wanna keep you guys safe.
Sean: Don't care if they're your roommates.
Sasha: Yeah.
Sean: Three at a time.
Sasha: And maybe, you know what? you need some time apart from your roommates. Give that elevator ride time to think.
Sean: I've had roommates before that- no. Use the elevator ride. Long-term sanity.
Sasha: Uh-huh. And so you might be thinking, well you guys were talking bout how you're sanitizing things, but how? How are we sanitizing things?
Sean: Yeah.
Sasha: Well, our building manager has come up with quite the little device. **Laughing**
Sean: It's like the action movie's answer to sanitization equipment.
Sasha: His name is Opie.
Sean: Yeah. This is like- this is movie number like 14 in the Die Hard series. It's Die Hard: Coronavirus.
Sasha: Uh-huh. So, occasionally, you will see our building miners pushing around a little cart with Opie in it. It makes quite the racket, I think. Sorry guys. **Laughing**
Sean: **Laughing**
Sasha: He doesn't have a silencer yet. Um, and he just wanders around cleaning all the public areas - places like group study rooms get cleaned a couple times a day, that sort of thing. Speaking of group study rooms, guess where you also have to wear your mask.
Sean: Group study rooms?Sasha: Group study rooms!
Sean: Wow!
Sasha: Yeah!
Sean: That was - I went out on a limb there. I had no idea.
Sasha: And I would like to call them more "Group buddy rooms" because **Laughing** we're actually limiting the amount of the people that can be in each of those rooms. So the larger rooms, you can only have two people in. So you're the best bud. And then the smaller rooms are just for single use, just because it's a tiny space. We don't want you guys swapping them germs.
Sean: Yep. It's that easy. The Knowledge Center has always been for group work, but if you have a big group and you insist on breaking social distancing rules, go elsewhere.
Sasha: Yeah. I hope the teachers are not making you guys do group projects during this time.
Sean: Uh...
Sasha: Seems, like, weird, right? They are?
Sean: Yeah.
Sasha: Aww...
Sean: Yeah. But it's a Zoom thing, or online thing.
Sasha: Yeah.
Sean: A change in the procedures. So...
Sasha: All right. Let's talk about my favorite desk, Sean. Do you know what my favorite desk is?
Sean: Uh, the desk of a cold case detective?
Sasha: Yes. But only in comedy crime shows. Right now, my favorite desk is the one I work at, which is the Access Services desk. So who, I mean, I'm really the best person to tell you about what's going on there. Although, not really.
Sean: Eh...
Sasha: It's probably Molly. Molly knows everything.
Sean: Yeah. Yeah. Molly!Sasha: Molly!
Sean: Molly!
Sasha: She probably can hear me, too. Um...**Laughing*
Sean: **Laughing** She's gonna knock on the door and be like, "You called?" **Laughing**
Sasha: "Hey!" So, the research help desk, which we are going to be talking to next episode, you'll hear about how they can help you contactlessly...that's a word I'll go with. And how they can help you through Zoom, phone, but they are also available at their desk. They have a nice plexiglass barrier like all the service points on campus do.
Sean: Yep.
Sasha: We are also offering as a desk, contactless pickup for page books, like plus books, any kind of books you want, we can put in a locker for you, and you don't even have to, like, see our pretty faces. Although...
Sean: That easy.
Sasha: Yeah. It is. I don't know why you wouldn't want to see us, but if you don't, you can go downstairs in the @One and have a locker all nice and ready with your books, but we also are still offering pickup at the desk, too. So, this is a...this is a big one, though, guys. We are not accepting cash anymore.
Sean: I mean, there is that big coin shortage, so...
Sasha: Yeah. We're doing our part!
Sean: It's very rare. Yeah. It's very rare for anyone, nowadays, to be accepting cash. But especially with the whole disease thing, cash is on the way out.
Sasha: Mhm. Uh, the future is now, guys. So we're also, unfortunately, unable to do anatomy models because of the way we'd have to clean them. Uh, we don't want to hurt the model. We don't want to spend two hours sanitizing every model after every checkout. And we're also not doing hard copy reserves for basically the same reason, unfortunately.
Sean: Yeah.
Sasha: So...sorry, guys.
Sean: Yeah. Tell your professor, "Use electronic reserves." Or to be merciful.
Sasha: And then the other thing you might notice me coming into the building, a lot of our computers are without their mouse and keyboard because we actually had to cut down the amount of computers available to you guys just in order to keep the number of people in the building down to a safe, manageable amount.
Sean: Yeah.
Sasha: So you're seeing a little bit less computer action up on the floor down in the @One. I think those are kinda like all the major ones.
Sean: Yeah. I think so. Um...
Sasha: Not to like info dump on you guys, but...
Sean: Yeah. No. it's important. These are important points to make. The more people that hear them, the better. I would summarize it as common sense. Don't be selfish. Be considerate of others. And just, you know, think. Uh, state organization, state mandate, wearing your mask, um, you know, don't...don't put other people at risk because you're selfish. Don't do it.
Sasha: Yeah. And like, we understand, like if you're...if you just...I had a girl the other day and her mask broke on her and it was so she was just like "Oh my God, my mask broke." And she was covering her face and being very polite about it.
Sean: Yeah.Sasha: You know, we understand. This is hard. Going through this is difficult. A mask can break sometimes. Just come to one of the desks. We'll be able to help you out.
Sean: Yeah. Sasha: Things happen.
Sean: We're not monsters.
Sasha: And we understand that. Yeah. We're not monsters. Well, Sean is. But I'm not a monster! **Laughing**
Sean: Eh, you're more of a goblin. But you know, we're not unreasonable, which is the point. these are very reasonable safety demands. And you know, of course, we're gonna work with you and try to, you know, be cooperative as much as possible. Don't be the one person that makes the rules get more strict and more harsh because you don't like covering your face for 20 minutes while you pick up a book.
Sasha: Mhm.
Sean: Just make it as easy as possible, be considerate as possible, and it'll all be over sooner. It's that easy.
Sasha: And just, in general, think about it this way: Would you rather go to one party for 20 minutes without a face mask and then have to live at home with your parents for the next year because we had to shut down, or would you rather keep your face mask on, party your heart out, do whatever you want away from your parents? Just think about it that way. 'Cause if we get shut down, you gotta go back home. And I don't want that for you.
Sean: Yeah. **Laughing**
Sasha: Sean's just thinking about when he was like a freshman in college and if he had to go back to his parents' house mid-semester, "Naw dawg."
Sean: Because of a disease outbreak. Like everything about that hypothetical in my brain is just a, "Nah. Like nope."
Sasha: Like, "Wait, there was a way to stop me from going home but nobody else wanted to do it? Cool..."
Sean: Yeah. Yup. Uh, be the good- be the good people here.
Sasha: Mhm.
Sean: So, I- I think that's about it - uh, the basic rules, common sense rules. Thank you for the run down, Sasha.
Sasha: No problem. Guys, see it like this. We don't have football this season. College football. So this is our football. This is us coming together as a group. **Laughing**
Sean: Yes. It's that easy. there you go.
Sasha: Yeah.
Sean: All right. Uh, what do you think? Time for some NPR voices?
Sasha: I think it's time for some NPR voices. Uh, I think it's just thanking your lovely host which was me, Sasha, and Sean Busey of course.
Sean: Yeah. Yeah. Of course. Don't forget about this other lovely host over here. Um-
Sasha: And then our podcast team.
Sean: Yeah. We have Jazmin Arevalo, Maggie Ressel, Michelle Rebaleati, and Louca Stormer, Jill Stockton, and Joe Gurgui.
Sasha: Episode music, "Better Days" by Louan Wilkstrom, courtesy of Universal Productions Music.
Sean: Uh, until next time, this is Checked Out, checking out. Be good!
Sasha: So we don't have to check out at home! **Laughing**
Sean: Yes! Yes, we would like to record at least one of these in-person. Goodbye.
