Prioritizing your safety this semester at TWU Libraries

Welcome Texas Woman's University Community!

During the summer months, the TWU Libraries staff have been busy preparing for your return to campus and we are excited to see you. We will continue to put safety first, so you will see some changes to the libraries that differ from previous semesters. Let’s begin with our physical items such as books and course reserves. These items remain available; however, you must request that a staff member retrieve them for you. This greatly reduces the amount of interaction between individuals within more confined areas of the library. The course reserve items will need a library staff member to assist with necessary scanning for these materials. The electronic and other short-term checkout items such as calculators, laptops, book carts, phone chargers, etc. will be removed from circulation. Based on accepted quarantining protocols, we cannot safely make them available to you at this time. We are working on finding a safe solution to make these items available again as soon as we can.

If you have visited the library recently, you have seen that we implemented social distancing for our computers, printers and study tables on the first and second floors of Blagg-Huey in Denton and at our campus libraries in Dallas and Houston. This layout will remain in place for the Fall semester. We ask that you keep the movement of furniture to a minimum. This is a shift from our normal “make yourself at home” philosophy. Again, we put safety first and ask that the furniture layout remains within compliance of CDC guidelines. In addition to creating socially distanced spaces, we are providing face masks, for individuals without one (while supplies last), available at the Information Desk and hand sanitizer throughout public areas. We also ask that you enjoy food outside of the library to minimize the need to remove face masks.

We understand that with the blend of face-to-face and online classes that scheduling conflicts may occur. For those that need a quiet place to participate in an online class, we are providing a limited number of computers with web cams available. You are able to reserve those areas by contacting the Information Desk.

The library team is what truly makes our libraries special and we are all enthusiastically awaiting your return, ready to assist you. The staff, including your librarians, are available virtually for instruction, questions and research assistance. A list of librarians and staff can be found on the libraries’ website www.TWU.edu/library or you can stop by the Information Desk.

We are all learning to navigate through these challenging times but there is nothing more important than your safety and success. As the semester progresses, please voice your concerns and challenges to me or the library team so we can help. Texas Woman’s is a wonderful place to be and the library staff is here to ensure that you have all the resources needed to make your dreams a reality.

Let me reiterate that there is no road map for the upcoming academic year, but I can speak for my entire staff by saying that we are committed to your success. I encourage you to connect with us via our website, Facebook page, Instagram and our online suggestion box. We will keep you informed of changes to our services, hours and policies while remaining open to your suggestions.

We are so glad that you are back on campus. I wish you the best of health, happiness and success in the upcoming semester. If there is anything you need from your library team or have questions, we are all available to you.

With warmest wishes,

Suzanne Sellers

SSellers1@twu.edu 
Dean of Libraries
Texas Woman’s University