“The pandemic is a tremendous challenge for librarians and people worldwide. Yet the crisis is an opportunity to start anew. During this pandemic, providing services remotely requires new ways of working and new models of development. This can be an opportunity to plan, act, and develop comprehensive strategies to adapt to the digital and artificial intelligence era of the future.”

Dr. Xin Bi, Library Director, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University Library

Like most services around the world, libraries have been managing and adapting to new ways of working during these unprecedented times. In this blog post, librarians from four institutions across Asia share with us how the pandemic transpired in their countries and the ways their libraries continue to operate and provide services to their users.

Our contributors:

Dr. Bablu Sutradhar, Librarian, Indian Institute of Technology  Kharagpur

Diana Chan, University Librarian, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Dr. Vernon R. Totanes, Director, Rizal Library, Ateneo de Manila University

Dr. Xin Bi, Director, Centre for Knowledge and Information, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University Library

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When it all began

The COVID-19 situation unfolded across the world at different periods of time. Libraries across China and Hong Kong first felt the impact of the pandemic during the Chinese New Year – a major holiday that many looked forward to.

Diana Chan: While we were celebrating the Chinese New Year in late January, the Coronavirus attacked Hong Kong. Then, the 4-days holiday turned out to be three weeks of confinement and working from home. We came back to work in March and were later requested to work from home till the end of April.

Dr. Bablu Sutradhar: We have been working from home since 20 March 2020 and expect to do so until the present situation improves.

Moving work home – the good and the bad

Within a very short period of time, librarians adapted to new work environments to meet the surge in demand for digital library services and resources. Kudos to the continuous investments made into building strong and robust digital libraries, most librarians are able to connect with their users and maintain “business as usual” as much as possible, with the help of digital communication tools like Zoom and Teams.

Dr. Xin Bi: Librarians are connected online with one another and with patrons seven days a week through various channels (emails, LibChat, Zoom meetings, BigBlueButton). We are proud that most of our services including e-resource access, information literacy education, and reference and research support services have not been affected.

Dr. Bablu Sutradhar: This is a new type of working experience for us. Due to the availability of Internet access, digital resources, and other digital library services, our team has been successful in providing remote access to resources, research support and other teaching and learning services. We have also created a huge pool of resources on COVID-19 to share with researchers across India via the National Digital Library of India (NDLI) portal.

Even though working from home is now the new norm for most, this transition can be more complex for some who experience blurred lines between working and calling it a day, and others who face less than desirable working environments at home.

Dr. Vernon R. Totanes: Most of us are able to work effectively from home, but those without stable internet connections or the necessary equipment are not always able to do so. Those who are in charge of special collections that require physical handling of printed materials are often unable to serve the needs of their users.

Reopening Libraries and Life Moving Forward

Amidst maintaining existing services and resources, librarians have begun putting social distancing measures and plans in place to resume operations gradually in the safest way possible.

Dr. Xin Bi: Our library building has been closed for almost 3 months since the Chinese Spring Festival national holidays. It was officially re-opened for staff and Ph.D. students on 20^th April 2020. Staff who return to campus must complete the ‘Staff Health Self-inspection and Epidemic Prevention Commitment Letter’ online within 24 hours before accessing the campus.

All undergraduate and master students will receive online education through Semester Two AY2019-20, and will not return to campus this semester.  This requires us to shift the focus of our work to the provision of online resources and services, ensuring that we can fully support all learning, teaching, and research activities at the university.

Diana Chan: To disinfect the library, we have done early spraying of the entire building with an anti-microbial coating. Only part of the Library was opened with about two-thirds of seats moved away to maintain social distancing. Patrons were requested to put on their facial masks the whole time they spend in the Library.

Life may not be returning to what it used to be for a while, but librarians are definitely thinking of new ways to improve and review the services they provide to support research, teaching, and learning activities.

Special thanks to our contributors for sharing their insights and experience with us. Tell us what this period of time has been like for you in the comments section below.