Dear Students,
Due to the rapidly changing landscape with the COVID-19 pandemic and concerns about interstate transportation, we have decided that Carroll needs to move to learning at a distance as soon as possible. Therefore, the majority of our courses will be offered fully online effective with our Tuesday, March 17th test. We will not resume in person classes at the end of the week and will reevaluate this decision after the Easter break. If you need help with your technology, please do not hesitate to contact CCIT by calling the HELP DESK (406-447-4357) or using WebHelpDesk through the Okta portal.
Once, again, I am sorry for what feels like whiplash. I think we are just learning how to navigate this very new world. Take care of yourselves and if you need anything don’t hesitate to contact me.
Cathy Day
Vice President for Academic Affairs
Library Update
Below is a communication from Elizabeth Karr, our Library Director
In response to COVID-19, Corette Library is making the following changes effective today, March 16, 2020 until April 9 (Easter Break) to maintain as much library support as possible without risking the health and safety of our community.
We are restricting public access to the library facility from now further notice. Access and services will be provided to Carroll students, faculty and staff only. We are also not checking out our physical materials to the public until this same time.
We are no longer placing new Interlibrary loan (ILL) requests for physical items for Carroll students/faculty/staff to borrow from other institutions, nor are we lending our own physical items to other institutions (i.e. no ILL requests for print books). Many academic libraries across the country have either closed completely or suspended their physical item loaning (and borrowing) services and as a result, it has become more difficult to borrow their physical items, such as print books. Our staff do not have the capacity, or the ability, to thoroughly sanitize physical materials for immediate use nor do we want to help spread anything to our community, or our lending partners.
If you have interlibrary loan material from another institution that will be due from now to April 13, we are requesting extensions of your items to the Friday we are back to in-person classes (April 17). Most academic libraries are accommodating these types of requests.
We are restricting public access to the library facility from now until Sunday, April 12, outside of any events/classes that are still being held in-person through other departments. We are also not checking out our physical materials to the public until this same time.
We are not lending out headphones at this time.
Additionally, any late fines on Corette Library materials accrued from now until April 17 will be waived.
What resources are still available? A LOT!
- Corette Library subscribes to hundreds of electronic journals and we have thousands of e-books in our collection that are accessible 24/7 to you wherever you are. You can access these, and our streaming video database (AVON), through the library catalog. If you are off-campus, you will be directed to log into Okta (if you are not already) before being automatically redirected to the electronic resource you chose. If you have any trouble accessing one of our e-resources, please let us know so we can assist you.
- Carroll students, faculty and staff can still use and check out Corette Library's own physical collection of books and DVDs, including course reserves. We are wiping down physical items returned from the Carroll community and from other institutions; materials from other institutions will be quarantined (and not available) until Easter Break.
- We will still place interlibrary loan requests for digital materials. We cannot borrow entire e-books because of licensing restrictions, so we recommend you request individual book chapters (you are limited in how many chapters you can borrow through ILL). Electronic journal articles are fairly easy for us to borrow.
- Librarians will work with you on finding alternative resources for any print sources you need this semester. Please email or call us (libstaff@carroll.edu; 406-447-4340). If there are no alternatives, we can look at purchasing individual print or electronic titles, as our budget allows; for anything print purchased for you, you would need to pick this up at the library (we are not currently mailing library materials to anyone at their home address).
- Librarians also continue to be available for one-on-one reference and research help through email, telephone, or Zoom, or Zoom instruction for faculty who request this for a class. If you have a preferred virtual meeting method (such as G Hangouts), please email us and we will try to accommodate your preferred platform. We love helping our folks access the resources they need so please reach out!
- You can still get whiteboard markers for use in the library: we are not checking out the whiteboard kits as we don't have a way to properly clean the containers, but we can lend you a marker and a whiteboard rag/eraser when you come in. Just ask at the circulation desk.
Library Hours
We are keeping our current hours until we hear back from our student workers later this week and learn more about how many students intend to return home during this period. As of today, we have no plans to close our building to students, faculty or staff; however, I anticipate our hours could potentially shorten a bit.
Further Changes & Updates
The Library website will be kept up-to-date with any further changes (hours, interlibrary loan lending, etc.).
Library staff created a guide listing all changes to library procedure and practice which will also be kept updated; this guide provides additional information on how to access library resources and support virtually.
We know this is a difficult time and want our community to know that library staff can still work with you on any research assignments you have, or classroom instruction you want. Contact us to get started today: libstaff@carroll.edu or (406) 447-4340.
Thank you for your support and understanding. We wish everyone a healthy next few weeks and look forward to seeing you all after Easter Break.
Sincerely,
Your Library Team