Contactless Pickup of Smith Library Books July 15, 2020

Dear staff and faculty:

The Smith College Libraries are now lending Smith-owned books to Smith faculty, staff and emeriti via in-person, contactless pickup. Before coming back to campus, all employees MUST secure approval and complete an online training. Details and instructions are available at https://www.smith.edu/covid19/workplace-employees#return.

Contactless pickup requests can be made through the catalog following normal procedures. Please note, however, that the time to safely process and quarantine books will take a minimum of four to five days. You will receive a notification email from the libraries letting you know when your items are ready to pick up. Your materials will be available for pickup for five business days. Hours for pick up will be Monday-Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Young Library. You will need to use a face covering and bring your OneCard to access the building. In order to ensure physical distancing, you will enter Young Library via the Green Street entrance, which is accessible. See the image and map below. Follow the signs to pick up the bag with your name and then follow signs to the exit.

Full details and instructions are posted on our Library Services During COVID-19 webpage: https://libraries.smith.edu/library-services-during-covid-19

Map of Young Library with entrance and exit marked.

Please note: Findings from tests on library books by Battelle released in late June show there is no trace of COVID-19 on the cover or interior pages of books after 3 days. With guidance from Smith’s medical staff, CIRT and Academic Planning committee members, the library staff will quarantine the books within paper bags for 3 days before they are available for you to pick up. You can follow additional testing results at:https://www.webjunction.org/explore-topics/COVID-19-research-project.html

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at libraryhelp@smith.edu.

Thank you for working with our library staff to implement this service safely.

Susan Fliss
Dean of Libraries