Both D.H. Hill Jr. Library and James B. Hunt Jr. Library are open this semester. However, new precautions, including a reduced capacity and the implementation of new safety measures, are in place to protect students, faculty and staff. All patrons are required to wear a mask inside both libraries, and library access is restricted to those with a Wolfpack One Card.
To ensure that the libraries remain a safe space for studying, Chris Tonelli, director of external relations for NC State University Libraries, said all group study rooms have been converted to single-study rooms, and there is signage and decals all throughout the building, which tell students how far apart they need to stand from each other.
Many of the libraries’ services, like textbook lending, audio and video technologies and general expertise, are still available; the only difference is that it is being done remotely, according to Tonelli
The library is also taking extra measures to prevent the spread of germs when sharing materials, according to Nyawira Nyota, a fourth-year studying foreign languages and literature and mechanical engineering, as well as a student employee at D.H. Hill Jr. Library.
Nyota said there is a station set up with hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes and free disposable masks for people to use at library entrances, and the library staff is also isolating textbook returns and wiping books and technology down between lenders.
“I would recommend that students make use of the resources that are there — there’s so many resources,” said Nyota. “I take wipes to go — I have a little ziploc baggie that I put a couple of wipes in.”
Because intensive safety measures are time consuming and resources like textbooks are limited, Nyota said students should plan ahead for what library resources they will need.
“Scanning has definitely gone way, way up,” said Nyota. “It’s definitely much easier now to submit a scanning request, but it also might take a little bit longer just because there’s so many of them happening.”
In terms of crowding, Nyota said that there are fewer students in the library since the reopening, and for the most part, students sit by themselves rather than in groups. There is a limit for the amount of occupants in the library at any given time, but according to Tonelli, the staff does not anticipate reaching the maximum occupancy.
“There’s a capacity per square foot, like there is in every building, and we recently got new software and gate counters to make sure we’re not approaching that number,” said Tonelli. “The good thing about the library is that it’s got a ton of square footage.”
Tonelli also said the goal is not to punish students, but to help make sure everyone has a positive experience, even though the library, and campus as a whole, looks much different than it did before.
“Campus committed to bringing students back, and therefore, I think we felt as long as we could do it safely, that we needed to provide a space for them to study, get some of the expertise they needed,” said Tonelli.
Tonelli said that any changes in the libraries’ policies will be communicated both in physical spaces and through all of the libraries’ social media platforms, and he encourages students to stay up to date.
Visit the NC State Libraries’ website to learn more and stay up to date with what the libraries are doing to keep the community safe.
