by Jamie Brandenburg
Our library staff members are chronicling their experiences living through a pandemic. If you keep a daily journal of your experience, consider donating it to Swem's Special Collections when the crisis has passed.
Name: Jamie Brandenburg
Title: Public Services Assistant
Department: Circulation
How has your work changed during the pandemic?
I spend most of my time at work at the circulation desk assisting patrons with checking out materials as well as with research questions. With the library being closed I am helping the research staff monitor the library chat as well as working on some online circulation projects. This has changed my work drastically but I am still able to interact with patrons and provide assistance in accessing materials, it's just all online!
What are your challenges?
Access to our materials has been limited since moving online, however we have been working diligently to add online materials to our online collection and ensuring we can work to provide our patrons with what they need.
What has surprised you?
In moving from the physical library to the online library I have realized just how many online resources we have. We have also been so fortunate to have companies open their online resources to us and have many of the textbooks that are used by our students online with free access through the bookstore!
What do you miss most about being in the library?
I miss my co-workers! I work with not only the circulation staff but also other student employees and the research staff and I miss all of them and the collaborative work we do on a daily basis.
Anything else you'd like to share:
I want to remind everyone that we are alone together and will get through these rather trying times! Please reach out to us via chat if we can in any way help to ease some stress related to the end of the semester and we will work to help you in any way we can!