[Libs-Or] any guidance for library meeting room/study room use during covid?

[Dale Vidmar]

Hi Brian.

We are requiring masks at all times in the building other than for faculty
and staff in their offices. Masks are required in the study room because
other people will be using those rooms. The general public do not have
access to the study rooms in the library.

We are limiting study rooms to one time per day use--although we are
discussing a change to open it more often. Students can reserve study rooms
in advance through LibCal. Cleaning materials are available for students to
clean the rooms before or after they use the rooms.

Our county, Jackson County, has a low vaccination rate and a high Covid
rate, so we have been trying to cope with that and the pressure to open the
library to not only students, faculty, and staff, but to the general public
as well. While we have a high vaccination rate of over 90% for faculty,
staff, and students, the general public is a different scenario with
vaccination rates being somewhere around 50%.

The good side is that when we have had mask mandates, our students are very
considerate and comply. However, as soon as there is a slight opportunity
to forego masks, they are gone. I just would like everyone to deal with the
pandemic in a proactive way, knock it out, and get back to real normal
rather than go into a wannabe normal at the first positive sign at getting
past the pandemic.

It is a weird time to manage a library that is welcoming while trying to
keep everyone safe.

Best to you.

Dale
--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dale Vidmar, (he/him/his <https://inside.sou.edu/qrc/pronouns.html>)
Interim University Librarian
Professor, Library and Information Sciences
Information Literacy and Assessment Librarian
Southern Oregon University Hannon Library; 1250 Siskiyou Blvd.; Ashland, OR
97520
Office: Lib. 328; 541-552-6842
vidmar at sou.edu

"Anything that I ever did that was ultimately worthwhile,
initially scared me to death."
- Betty Bender
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


On Thu, Sep 30, 2021 at 11:16 AM Bryan Miyagishima via Libs-Or <
libs-or at omls.oregon.gov> wrote:

> Our college is back face to face, but still has a majority of class
> offerings online. So our library's study rooms will be utilized by students
> looking for a place to use zoom for their online classes. Just like our
> staff office spaces, our decision for now is to allow individuals to use
> them without masks on. Are there any documents that folks have relied on
> for this sort of usage? We're particularly interested in how much time to
> allow between uses to allow for sufficient air exchange.
>
> Thanks in advance for any wisdom folks might be able to share on this
> topic.
>
> Bryan Miyagishima, LBCC Library
>
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