Posted 2:06 p.m. Thursday, May 6, 2021
Reflecting on a year of the pandemic
Greetings,
With the semester coming to an end, I cannot help but reflect on how much has changed in the past year. Over the last two decades, academic libraries have put forth great efforts to develop collaborative spaces, provide vast collections of resources in many formats, and create services that empower, engage, inspire, and support teaching and learning. Despite the pandemic’s many disruptions to normal campus life, Murphy Library continues to carry out these efforts regardless of the unimaginable circumstances in which we found ourselves over a year ago.
The work and dedication from library faculty and staff in the last year have allowed us to maintain many of our regular operations and services while also adapting a number of them to the restrictions that resulted due to the pandemic. We reconfigured spaces, created new procedures, and transitioned services to online formats all while working to create a user-healthy environment. I would especially like to thank our entire Access Services unit, including Scott Pfitzinger, Liz Bass, Dirck Nagy, Dwayne Webb, Terry Stika and the many student workers, all of whom were on the front lines and made it possible for us to keep the library open and functioning at a high level.
Murphy Library is proud to be able to offer its resources and services in new ways in order to keep users, as well as library personnel, safe and healthy. As we all continue to navigate this pandemic, please visit the Murphy Library COVID-19 FAQ page for any updates.
As we look forward to next fall, if all goes well, Murphy Library hopes to return to a more normalized in-person experience of spaces, services and resources. Despite the many changes that have occurred, the one thing that Murphy Library strives to maintain is our commitment to helping students succeed in their academic endeavors. We will continue doing so, no matter what the future may look like.
I, along with all the faculty and staff at Murphy Library, hope everyone is continuing to stay safe and healthy.
Very sincerely,
John Jax
Murphy Library Director