The University of Maryland Libraries will move into Phase 1 of reopening on July 13, 2020. Phase 1 is a preparation phase with no public access to buildings and no in-person services. The Libraries' many services, instruction sessions, and resources will continue to be available online.
Progression to Phase 1 is based on state/USM plans to ease restrictions, and new guidance and protocols in place regarding staff/faculty safety, facilities readiness, etc. This initial phase includes:
- Digital delivery of physical materials-based course content and Interlibrary Loan (ILL) faculty and graduate research requests
- No public access to buildings; no in-person services
- Preparing spaces and services for later phases of reopening
- Analyzing spaces to determine optimal use for Phase 3
- Most library staff/faculty and students continuing to work remotely
- HathiTrust's Emergency Temporary Access Services (ETAS) will continue to be available online, due to the lack of access to physical collections.
A skeletal crew of library staff, faculty, students will be working on site. Staff numbers will be kept to a minimum during this phase to increase safe physical distancing and de-densification of functions. Teams will also be working in rotating shifts to minimize disruptions if any cases of COVID occur.
Progression to Phase 2, which will include curbside pickup of physical materials at McKeldin Library, is tentatively scheduled to begin on July 27.
See the latest updates on the Libraries' website at: https://www.lib.umd.edu/about/coronavirus-updates