The University has announced a set of significant operational changes, beginning Wednesday, March 18. Key among those changes are the fact that Library locations are no longer open to the public. Closing these spaces serves two essential purposes: 1) most importantly, it protects members of our community from the spread of COVID-19 by discouraging in-person social engagement; 2) it allows Library staff to focus on supporting distance learning and teaching through scanning, consultation, and collaboration with other units across the UVA community.

The Library’s key priority at this time is to help ensure that courses, which begin to convene online tomorrow, run smoothly. In the coming weeks, we intend to expand our attention to research continuity, as finding a “new normal” will be essential for most activities that previously took place in person at UVA.

Key items to be aware of at this time are listed below. These are expanded upon in our Library Resources FAQ.

• ANY member of the UVA Community can select “Request LEO Delivery” in Virgo, which will initiate a request process for full or partial scans of Library materials.
  • Additionally, instructors can use the Instructional Scanning Service to receive materials through Collab and/or to digitize physical items currently on reserve.
    • Instructors who possess an item that needs scanning can drop it off at the Ivy Stacks book drop. Be sure to label it with your name, course, and section(s) of the text needing digitization.
  • If you are a student and need course materials, like a textbook, please work with your instructor to make a request so that we can avoid duplication of effort.
• Items currently on hold shelves can easily be retrieved for scanning. Simply email 4leo@virginia.edu with the transaction number and the pages you need scanned.
  • For a very limited time patrons may pick up items currently on Hold at various libraries. Please reply to the book pick-up notification email to make arrangements to pick up no later than 5 pm on Friday, March 20. After this time, Holds remain available for scanning as described above.
• All Library fines have been waived. Due date for all items has been pushed to May, 2020 (and will be pushed again if needed).
• Subject liaisons and Library specialists are hard at work to provide teaching and research assistance.They can provide support such as:
  • Locating online resources to facilitate distance access,
  • Identifying open educational resources,
  • Assisting with lesson modification based on time or proximity constraints,
  • Providing advice for synchronous or asynchronous instruction,
  • and much more.
  • Find your subject liaison now.

We appreciate your patience as we work together in this rapidly-shifting environment.

Questions? Use Ask a Librarian chat or send an email to library@virginia.edu any time.