Olin Hours over Winter Break

In response to requests from our patrons, we will be open for limited hours during winter break for Rollins faculty.

Thank you to the 112 full time and adjunct faculty who responded to our recent survey on library hours over the winter break.  About 24% of respondents indicate an interest in using the physical collections during this period and about 43% indicate an interest in using ILL services. We also surveyed Oberlin Group and ACS libraries about their opening hours over the winter break. Approximately 84% of the 36 libraries that responded close for a similar period during the winter break. After discussion with the Provost and the various staff involved we are proposing the following as a pilot this year. After this we can review activity and see what we should do in future years.

  • ILLs will be processed from 9-1pm on Monday 12/22 and 9-1pm on Tuesday 12/23.
  • Circulation Staff will be available 12-4pm on Tuesday 12/23 and on Friday 1/2. On those two afternoons, we will open the gates to the upper and lower floors for Rollins faculty only. Faculty who take advantage of this can browse the collections, bring any books/DVDs for checkout, arrange reserves, and pick up any ILL books on those two afternoons.

A few things to remember:

  • At this point some of the relevant staff have already made travel arrangements etc. So we don’t have complete freedom to set the opening hours this year.
  • The campus Post Office opens for two days over this break – 12/23 and 12/30. However, they make it clear that they only expect USPS deliveries, FedEx and UPS will not deliver.
  • ILL will inevitably slow down for a number of reasons beyond our control:
    a.    Many of the schools with whom we have ILL relationships are closed for all or some of the break, we can’t borrow if they are not there to lend.
    b.    USPS has already announced that they expect mail delivery to slow by, on average, one day during December.
    c.    Many libraries use USPS Book Rate to deliver materials, this is the USPS’ lowest priority and will probably slow down even more.

Again, thanks to everyone who responded and particular thanks to Kristen and to Patti for their flexibility in adjusting their holiday plans.

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