Friday, July 17, 2020
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.
