26 Association of Research Libraries Research Library Issues 300 2020 which had taken great care to pilot remote teaching, learning, and working capabilities for the vast majority of its nearly 35,000 students, faculty, and staff the preceding Friday, devoted the first few weeks of “alternate” work arrangements to improving the off-site capacities and capabilities of everyone impacted by this transition. Despite these preemptive measures, the sheer volume and all-encompassing nature of these changes posed a range of practical difficulties, particularly for those with limited digital facility and/or a lack of essential hard- and software. Just as challenging were the theoretical and philosophic struggles faced by those who theretofore had relied heavily on in- person, on-site interactions to advance their missions, including not only faculty but also LAM and UML. Fortunately, each unit, to varying degrees, had embraced the “digital turn” well before the global health emergency hastened their fuller moves into cyberspace. For instance, 88% of UML acquisitions were already electronic. In addition, UML has long been digitizing out-of- copyright collections, providing select virtual channels for research assistance, and servicing faculty and students through e-reserve support. LAM’s pre-pandemic efforts were far more modest (as is often the case at academic art museums, compared to their library counterparts), and comprised mainly digital enhancements to extant programs, rather than virtual surrogates or stand-alone enterprises. During the pandemic, UML worked diligently with teams of faculty and academic technologists to seamlessly incorporate online and digital content as well as research guides into the learning management system course sites. They also migrated research advising and peer counseling services to virtual environments by adding videoconferencing technology to their extant array of channels. Furthermore, they “flipped” instruction sessions and workshop programs in order to continue providing in-depth, online training for faculty and students and focused on acquiring e-books. LAM, too, leaned into digital engagement, through new initiatives such as #LoweOnTheGo virtual mindfulness sessions online course
Previous Page Next Page