UK Libraries’ Updated Operations, Services for the Spring 2021 Semester
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 11, 2021) — With the the university's Spring 2021 semester underway, University of Kentucky Libraries is excited to share updated services for the spring semester.
While many operations from Fall 2020 remain in effect for the new semester as we continue to confront the COVID-19 pandemic, UK Libraries is offering several new virtual programs and resources to help students, staff and faculty locate digital materials, enhance their research skills and connect with peers across the university.
Campus Library Facility Hours and Operations
Hours and seating capacity are still reduced at each of UK Libraries’ seven locations to allow for more regular cleaning and to provide space for proper physical distancing. Group study and meeting rooms remain unavailable at this time, as well as commonly shared items such as public computers, dry erase markers and erasers, cables and similar materials.
Grab-and-Go, a low contact alternative for in-person browsing and borrowing, is still available. To return physical materials, please use the designated book return outside your nearest UK Libraries’ location.
The UK Libraries Dean’s Office in the William T. Young Library is open to the public 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday for the spring semester. Open seating is available at Young Library, the Medical Center Library, the Lucille Caudill Little Fine Arts Library and the Science and Engineering Library.
The Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) has extended operating hours for the spring and is now accepting appointments Monday-Friday. The Education Library and the Design Library are continuing to operate by appointment only for the spring.
A quick reference guide to UK Libraries’ current schedule is available on its Hours at a Glance page. For information on Law Library access, visit the UK Rosenberg College of Law’s website here.
Face Masks and Physical Distancing
CDC-approved face masks or coverings are required in all public areas in accordance with UK’s campuswide policy. Even while seated at a study location, visitors are asked to continue wearing their masks and to maintain a minimum distance of six feet from others.
UK Libraries is continuing its Healthy Behaviors Honor Roll throughout the spring semester to recognize students who are doing their part to protect the campus community by masking up and practicing physical distance while inside the library. Prize bags will be given out all semester to those who participate in the Honor Roll program, and eight lucky winners will have the chance to choose from an Amazon Echo Dot, a Hydro Flask Water Bottle, a Presto Ceramic Waffle Maker or a multicolor moon lamp.
Online Programs and Services
As a reminder, UK Libraries electronic resource collections are available to UK faculty, staff and students anywhere, anytime. With your linkblue credentials, access the following:
Thousands of digitized primary sources are also available through the SCRC:
- ExploreUK
- John C. Wyatt Lexington Herald-Leader Photographs
- Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History
- Notable Kentucky African Americans Database
Librarians are still online to answer your questions seven days a week through UK Libraries’ chat service (“Ask Us”). Online appointments and instruction sessions with UK Libraries’ academic liaisons may also be scheduled. Students looking for after-hours assistance can find research help with UK Libraries’ Undergraduate Peer Tutor Interns’ virtual appointments and drop-in hours.
Accessing digital resources and building digital projects are also made easier with UK Libraries’ spring webinar series. Join Medical Center librarians for virtual research workshops to learn more about Endnote, PubMed, Web of Science and more, and Digital Humanities Librarian Jennifer Hootman for Digital Open Lab Webinars to learn more about how to enhance digital projects using CreateUK.
UK Libraries will also be hosting several virtual events throughout the semester including Trivia Nights, the UKY #BLM Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon, the King Library Press Virtual Lecture Series and more.
For a full list of UK Libraries’ events, visit its Featured Virtual Events page.
As the premier research library in the Commonwealth, UK Libraries provides ever-expanding access to quality information resources, teaching and learning programs and services, and excellent learning spaces. More information about UK Libraries can be found on its website.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.
In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.