Welcome to our latest email newsletter. As always, we appreciate you letting us take the opportunity to tell you about all the things going on at the AU Libraries and we especially appreciate your generous support that makes everything possible.
Summer often looks like a quiet time at the Libraries from the outside, but on the inside we are a hive of activity.
New carpet has been going down on the first floor. The logistics it takes to move a range of bookshelves, put down carpet, and return the range to its place is staggering. We worked feverishly to ensure that that project was complete before students returned on August 16.
Our Innovation and Research Commons has almost completed its first year of operation and continues to add capabilities. We’re even sharing the I&RC with the local community. In the fall AU Libraries is starting a pilot project that will let local high school students see what is possible with the cutting-edge technology in the I&RC.
Like every year, AU Libraries was an active participant in Camp War Eagle freshman orientation – which this year returned to an in-person format. Due to pandemic protocol group-size restrictions, there were 14 Camp War Eagle sessions instead of the regular 10 for the more than 5,000 freshmen that will start in the fall. Subject specialist librarians talked with parents at the Academic Panels while Libraries personnel greeted students and gave them their first contact with an academic library at Tiger Tables information sessions.
I am sad to note that as I write this the university has had to reinstitute its masking protocols due to the rapid spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19. Rest assured that no matter what protocols we must work under, we will continue to serve the students and researchers that depend on AU Libraries.
Once again, thank you for your support and we hope you will visit us in the libraries.
Shali Zhang
Dean of Libraries
