COD librarian, Christine Kickels, has been working at the library for over 10 years and never thought she’d be working for a virtual library. As COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc across the world, for the safety of their students and staff, the COD campus will remain closed to most students for fall semester. 

The library “will continue to be closed physically to students, faculty and staff,” said Kickels. “We will continue to be open online, virtually seven days a week. Any time the library is normally open, we will be staffing all of our desks virtually. Reference, circulation, media lab, they are all taking questions and appointments during those hours.” 

Although the campus will remain closed, a Grab-and-Go service has been implemented. Patrons can check-out items and schedule their pick-up time through the online catalog. Staff working in the library are following safety precautions including wearing a mask and maintaining a safe social distance. They ask patrons to follow the CDC guidelines while using the Grab-and-Go service. To pick up your Grab-and-Go items, meet the staff member who pulled your items at the SRC 2 entrance on the north side of the building.

The COD library is following the recommendations and information provided by libraries nationally, meaning that items checked-out through the Grab-and-Go service will be quarantined for three days before being placed back on the shelf. 

“Students are going to have to wait. You’re going to have to budget your time or work with us,” said Kickels.

Access to online materials has been made even easier. A library card is no longer needed.esources can now be accessed with a MyAccess login and password. App-based programs like Flipster, New York Times Digital and Overdrive are being updated and added to the various resources being offered. 

In previous semesters the study rooms were extremely popular with students, so the library is now offering virtual study rooms. The virtual study rooms allow students to practice using Blackboard Collaborate for presentations or simply to meet up with classmates without sharing personal information.

The library staff understands students are living through an historic and strange time, but they want students to know they are working hard to provide resources to make the online experience easier. The media lab is working with professors to produce video lectures using library materials for student benefit. Anatomy and physiology professors are using the anatomy models in their videos to try and give students hands-on experience.

For more information visit the library website at library.cod.edu/