We are wrapping up what is certainly one of the strangest and most difficult semesters in living memory. I am proud of the way the staff of the SU Libraries has stepped forward to help our students, whether the students were here on campus or studying from home at a distance. In these articles, you will see some of the ways we have served students, adapting instruction and other services and promoting safety.
Since March, we have focused our efforts on making our materials and services as accessible as possible to our patrons, despite the limitations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. When the building closed in March, we prioritized access to course materials and sought short-term solutions to keep our faculty and student patrons connected to these resources. We managed to move online nearly 100 chapters from course materials to support students in spring and summer classes.
The SU Libraries offer a variety of instructional services that help students learn how to locate, evaluate and use information. With so many courses taking place partially or fully online, it may be more important than ever for students to know all the ways the SU Libraries can help them with their research.
We are fortunate that our SU Libraries’ special collections, the Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture, has three collections specialists, including archivists Jennifer Piegols and Ian Post and exhibits curator Melinda McPeek. Since moving into its home on the fourth floor of the Guerrieri Academic Commons in 2016, the Nabb Center has hosted several hundred classes from a variety of disciplines.
Arianna Gomez is a senior from Laurel, MD, who will graduate in May 2021. She is majoring in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) in the Fulton School of Liberal Arts. Arianna likes this program because “it allows me to help people find their voice in a different language. I love learning about various cultures and helping people find the right words for what they would like to express, and majoring in ESOL encompasses both things.”
The SU Libraries support students in doing research for papers and a variety of other assignments and activities. We place student research posters around the Guerrieri Academic Commons to showcase their work. This past academic year, we decided it was high time that we also acknowledge their work in another way: by awarding a research prize.
Even with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic during the spring 2020 semester, the SU Libraries remained committed to supporting Salisbury’s student-artists through our awarding of the Library Art Prize. The Library Art Prize is awarded regularly to a graduating Bachelor of Fine Arts senior, where the student’s artwork is purchased from the annual senior art show and added to the Libraries’ ever-growing permanent collection of artworks.
In recent years, archivists have become more intentional and even aggressive about collecting materials relating to current events and about actively contributing to the generation of knowledge rather than just sitting back and waiting for donors to donate collections.
The staff of the SU Libraries works closely with many academic faculty to teach students information literacy skills – that is, how to find, evaluate and use information. In 2014, we started a program to recognize Information Literacy Partners of the Month, honoring usually three or four per year, despite the name. Librarians nominate faculty based on their willingness to work with us to teach information literacy skills and to teach creatively.
Like the rest of the Salisbury University staff, we spent a good bit of the summer planning how to make our part of campus as safe as possible for our students and staff. Here are some of the ways we have tried to do that.