Monday, July 27, 2020

Reminder: masks are mandatory on campus starting today

Effective today, all employees, students, visitors and contractors are required to wear a face covering in common use areas of University buildings. This includes corridors, lobbies, washrooms, elevators and meeting rooms, or in any area where physical distancing is a challenge.

A face covering is defined as “a medical or non-medical mask or other covering, including a bandana, scarf or other fabric that covers the nose, mouth and chin to create a barrier to limit the transmission of respiratory droplets.”

The requirement to wear a mask does not apply:  

• to people who are unable to wear a mask due to a medical condition or disability,
• to children under the age of five,
• when communicating with a person who is hearing impaired and the ability to see the mouth is essential for communication, or 
• when wearing a face covering would create a risk to the wearer related to their work, as determined by workplace safety guidelines.

Masks are also not required in situations where you can maintain a physical distance of two metres between you and other people. Additionally, in teaching environments, instructors can use their discretion to decide whether masks are needed based on the physical layout of the room, course activities and their own comfort level. In work settings, managers will set the expectation with their teams based on physical setup and work activities. 

Managers and researchers can order cloth face masks from Central Stores using the  online stores requisition form (item code 33-0989).  While an account number must be provided on the requisition form, departments and units will not be charged for these items.

You can also bring your own mask or face covering as long as it covers your nose, mouth and chin. Waterloo-branded cloth masks are available for purchase at W Store. 

More information is available on the University of Waterloo's COVID-19 website.

Library provides services update

message from the Library. This article originally appeared on the Library's website.

As the province and campus safely introduce new service opportunities, the Library is pleased to offer the following service updates.

Print Pickup @ Porter (PP@P) is off to a great start with 114 faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students picking up 278 print materials which are not available electronically since the service launched in late June. First in line on launch day was Sam Schott, a masters history student (pictured). Plans are afoot to expand pickup to other campus collections and the Tri-University Group of Libraries (TUG) Annex. The backlog of items ordered and received pre-COVID 19 are being processed by library staff. Requestors of Interlibrary loan (ILL) materials will be contacted about pickup through PP@P as the materials become available. The Milton Good Library at Conrad Grebel University College offers a separate pickup service for items in their collection. 

Preparing for fall instruction

The Library has now resumed scanning from our print collections and from print items supplied by instructors to support course reserve requests. The usual copyright guidelines apply. Contact libreser@uwaterloo.ca or submit your requests online.

Access to digitized unique collections and archival materials

Special Collections & Archives (SCA) has limited access to the rare book and archival collections to provide the following services:

• Digitize materials that support research requests or online course needs
• Answer research questions that require consulting the physical collections
• Prepare for fall instruction

Researchers can submit new research requests to archives@uwaterloo.ca. As access to the collections is limited, SCA staff will discuss the expected timeframe to complete the request with the researcher. Note that SCA remains closed and the materials are not available in person.

Faculty are encouraged to submit requests for instruction support to nick.richbell@uwaterloo.ca.

HathiTrust enhanced temporary digital access to print library collections

The Library will soon launch the HathiTrust Emergency Temporary Access Service (ETAS), which will allow temporary digital access to over 700,000 volumes in the Library’s physical collection. Hathi ETAS allows members of the University of Waterloo community on-demand access to a digital copy for a one-hour loan, which can be renewed if no other user is waiting for access. The Library can loan a digital copy using this service as long as the physical book remains inaccessible, therefore those books available through ETAS will not be available for print pickup.

Wherever your ideas may lead you, you can still depend on us to be your partner in research, learning and innovation. If you have questions about access to the Library, feel free to email universitylibrarian@uwaterloo.ca.

A Wellness Week Challenge for Warriors

Campus Wellness has organized a Wellness Week Challenge that runs from Monday, July 27 to Friday, July 31.

"Looking for a fun and easy way to build healthy routines into your life and practice wellness?" says the note from Campus Wellness. "Take part in the Wellness Week Challenge from July 27 to 31. You could win one of two $50 gift cards to Well.ca or one of two $50 WATCard dollars."

The Challenge will take place on Instagram, with official posts appearing on the @uwaterloowellness Instagram account.

The Challenge is open to registered University of Waterloo students. Participation details are as follows:

• Share a photo of the wellness activity for the day on your Instagram story and tag @uwaterloowellness  
• Comment #UWWellWeek in the original post for that day 
• You will receive a ballot for every day you participate. Participate in all 5 days you get an extra 5 entries in the draw

The event is a collaboration between Campus Wellness, WUSA, and Peer Health Education.

Monday's notes

The Healthy Workplace Committee has released the latest issue of the Healthy Talk newsletter. Among the topics covered in this issue:

• Working at Home with Children;

• An Employer’s Role during the Pandemic; and

• Keeping Active while Working Remotely.

The video recording of the recent virtual Waterloo Innovation Summit Speaker Series event is now available on the University of Waterloo's YouTube channel.