A new tool on the UGA libraries’ website helps people retrieve books while social distancing.
The Stackmaps tool has been integrated into the GIL Find system on the Libraries’ website, libs.uga.edu. For books available at the Main and Science libraries for checkout, patrons can click “map it” and find a guide that helps them navigate the library stacks to the location of the materials they need.
“With 4.6 million volumes in our libraries, organized via the Library of Congress call numbers system, we know that it can be difficult to find the book that you want among our stacks. This tool helps patrons to find what they are looking for by themselves, which helps all of us maintain social distancing,” Viki Timian, head of access services for UGA Libraries, said of the tool, which launched just prior to the campus closure last spring.
Faculty and students also are encouraged to request that books be retrieved and held for checkout at the circulation desk of the library of their choice. The service, which also is available through the GIL Find system, includes materials from the Main and Science libraries, branches in Art, Music, Curriculum Materials at the College of Education, Owens Library at the College of Environment and Design, and the libraries at the Griffin and Tifton campuses. Additional pickup locations include the Vet Med Reading Room, the Carnegie Library on the Health Sciences Campus and the library on the Gwinnett UGA campus, as well as any library location in the University System of Georgia, if preferred.
The tool and the service are two examples of how faculty and students can take advantage of library services this fall. For more information on how policies and services have adapted due to COVID-19, see https://guides.libs.uga.edu/fall2020.