documenting and mapping covid-19 responses by ceal libraries

Journal of East Asian Libraries Journal of East Asian Libraries

Volume 2021 Number 172 Article 3

2-28-2021

Documenting and Mapping COVID-19 Responses by CEAL Documenting and Mapping COVID-19 Responses by CEAL

Libraries Libraries

Ryuta Komaki Rikkyo University

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BYU ScholarsArchive Citation BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Komaki, Ryuta (2021) "Documenting and Mapping COVID-19 Responses by CEAL Libraries," Journal of East Asian Libraries: Vol. 2021 : No. 172 , Article 3. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jeal/vol2021/iss172/3

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Documenting and Mapping COVID-19 Responses by CEAL Libraries Documenting and Mapping COVID-19 Responses by CEAL Libraries

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DocumentingandMappingCOVID-19ResponsesbyCEALLibraries

RyutaKomakiRikkyoUniversity

Introduction

COVID-19, an infectious disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, was firstreported in late 2019, then as an outbreak of unusual pneumonia cases. It subsequentlyspreadtodifferentpartsoftheworldtorapidlybecomeaglobalpandemic,disruptingthesociallifeofbillionsthroughouttheworld.Schoolsandlibrarieswerenoexceptiontothis.AccordingtotheInternationalFederationofLibraryAssociations(IFLA),librariesinmorethan 100 countries and regions have been affected by the disease, ranging from partialservicedisruptionstofull,nation-wideclosures,andschoolsystemsinatleast52countriessawafullshutdown,alongwithschoolanduniversitylibraries(InternationalFederationofLibraryAssociations2020).

InNorthAmerica,U.S.PresidentDonaldTrumpdeclaredanationalemergencyonMarch13, 2020 (Taylor 2020). Around this time, the first wave of colleges and universitiesannounced transitions to online-only instruction and exams (e.g., Harvard UniversityannouncedthattheirclasseswouldbemovedonlineonMarch10,Higgins-Dun,2020).ManystatesandlocalmunicipalitiesintheU.S.andCanadahavesinceissuedvariousformsoflocaland state-wide shelter-in-place and social distancing orders, further affecting academiclibraries’abilitytooperateinfullcapacity.Whiletheserestrictionsonsociallifearebeingadjustedfromtimetotime,fewhighereducationinstitutionshavefullyreturnedtoface-to-faceinstructions,noruniversitylibrariestoin-personservices.

Whileas-it-happenssurveysandanalysesofsuchclosuresandreopeningeffortshavebeen conducted by professional associations and research organizations such as theAmericanLibraryAssociation(ALA)(AmericanLibraryAssociation2020)andIthakaS+R(IthakaS+R2020),theCEALcommunitymaybenefitfromanarchivingprojectthatfocusesonthechallengesuniquetothefieldofEastAsianlibrarianshipratherthanfrominformationaggregatedattheinstitutionallevel.Tothatend,thispaperpresentsanongoingprojecttodocument, in real-time, how academic librarieswhere CEALmembers are situated haveresponded to COVID-19 and discuss the information the author has gathered thus far.Beyondthesefindings,theauthoralsointendstodevelopfurthertheprojecttomakeitaninteractivedigitalplatformtogathercommunitycontributionsandoralhistoriesofthoseinthefield.

Background

Thisprojectbuildsonrecenteffortsandexperiencesofarchivistsandlibrarianstodevelopas-it-happensandcommunity-sourcedarchivesofsocialmovementsandnaturaldisasters,such as the Occupy Archive (https://occupyarchive.org/), Documenting the Now

Journal of East Asian Libraries, No. 172, Feb. 2021

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(https://www.docnow.io/) and Japan Disasters Archive (https://jdarchive.org/). ManyresearchlibrariesanduniversityarchivesacrossNorthAmericaarealsobuildingreal-timearchives documenting the effects of COVID-19 on their local and academic communities(Groves2020).

ItalsobuildsuponthesurveysoflibraryresponsestoCOVID-19carriedoutbyHinchliffandWolf-Eisenberg(HinchliffandWolf-Eisenberg,n.d.),ALA(AmericanLibraryAssociation2020),andtheCouncilonEastAsianLibraries(CEAL)TaskForce for theCreationof theCEAL’sStatementonCollectionDevelopmentandAcquisitionAmidtheCOVID-19Pandemic(Rocha 2020) earlier in the pandemic, and intends to capture longer-term, more area-specificinsightsbasedonpersonalmemoriesandexperiences.HinchliffandWolf-Eisenberg(2020a,2020b,2020c)openeda surveyonacademic libraries’ reactions toCOVID-19onMarch10,receivingresponsesfrom213librariesinthefirst24hours(HinchliffandWolf-Eisenberg2020a).Accordingtotheauthors,while58%oftheinstitutionsthatrespondedtothesurveyhaveshifted toonlineor remote instruction,about60%ofacademic librarieswerestillopeningregularhours,andabout85%allowedpatronstoaccessprintmaterialswithnochangestopoliciesduringthatperiod.Referenceservicesremainedunaffected(i.e.,offered both in-person and by phone/online) at 65% of the institutions, althoughmanyimplementedmorestringentcleaningprotocols(mostcommonlyplacinghand-sanitizersforpatronuse,providedat80%ofthelibrariesresponded).

HinchliffandWolf-Eisenbergalsoanalyzedtheresponsestheyreceivedinthenext48hours(2020b)andaftertendays(2020c).TheyreportthattheperiodbetweenMarch13andMarch14(i.e.,thenext48hours)sawasharpincreaseininstitutionstransitioningtoonline instruction, from 58% to 82% (the latter survey received 194 responses). Theproportionoflibrariesofferingnormalbuildinghoursdecreasedfromabout60%to36%,whilereferenceservicesshiftedmoretowardsvirtualdeliveries.About40%ofthelibrariesthatrespondedstillprovidedaccesstoprintmaterialsasusual,althoughthisperiodalsosaw7%ofthemsuspendingcirculationofphysicalmaterialsentirely.

Theirdiscussionofthe10-daytrends(2020c)isbasedontheanswersprovidedby253institutionsthatreturnedtothesurveytoreportupdates.Theauthorsfoundacontinuingshift to fullyonlineandremote instructionand that49 (about19%)of the libraries thatinitially reported their buildingwas open as usual in their first responses changed theirstatustoclosed.Accordingtotheauthors,ittookanaverageof5.4daysforthoselibrariestomovefromfullyopentofullyclosed.128librariesmovedtheirreferenceservicestoremoteenvironments, whereas 97 institutions reported closing access to print materials. Avisualizationof academic library closures from thisperiod (up toApril 6, 2020, buildingclosuresonly)canalsobeviewedon“Covid-19AcademicLibraryClosuresinUSandCanada”(Murgu2020).

ALAconducteda surveyof libraries’ responses toCOVID-19 fromMay12 toMay18,2020,receivingresponsesfrom3850public,K-12,academic,andotherlibrariesfromall50U.S.statesandtheDistrictofColumbia(AmericanLibraryAssociation2020).Mostnotably,about62%ofthelibrariesrespondedwasfullyclosedtopatronsduringthisperiod,with26%open for curbsidepick-up, 11%openwith other restrictions in place, andonly 1%


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remaining fully open (American Library Association 2020, [4]). 47% of the respondentinstitutionsreportedtheydidnotknowofthedateofreopeningtothepublic,while37%expectedtoreopeninJuneorJuly.

CEAL’sTaskForcefortheCreationoftheCEAL’sStatementonCollectionDevelopmentandAcquisitionAmid theCOVID-19Pandemicconductedaone-weeksurveyamongEastAsiaarea specialists in July2020as itprepared for the “Council onEastAsianLibraries’(CEAL)StatementonCollectionDevelopmentandAcquisitionAmidtheCOVID-19Pandemic:in Collaboration with the North American Coordinating Council on Japanese LibraryResources(NCC)andtheSocietyofChineseStudiesLibrarians(SCSL)”(Rocha2020).Rochareports that 45 respondents from at least 27 institutions from the U.S., Canada, and theUnitedKingdomparticipated in thesurvey.Of the42respondentswhoresponded to thequestion on whether their libraries are implementing or reformulating a collectiondevelopmentpolicyshifttowardselectronicresources,28(66.7%)saidyes,12(28.6%)saidmaybe,andonly2(4.8%)answeredno, indicatingastrongbudgetaryshift towardsnon-physical resources. As East Asian studies (and other area studies) resources are not asreadilyavailableinelectronicformatasEnglish-languageresourcesinNorthAmerica,theTaskForceandtheCEALExecutiveBoardsubsequentlyissuedastatementcallingformorebalancedpolicyandbudgetaryapproachestoavoidaknowledgegap inthosespecializedcollections.1

ResearchorganizationssuchasIthakaS+Rcontinuetomonitoruniversityandacademiclibraries’ reopening plans (Ithaka S+R 2020).While their reports offer valuable insights,thesetendtodocumentandanalyzeaggregateddataorsamplemoregeneralizablecases,necessitatingcommunity-basedeffortstogatherandpreserveas-it-happenedinformationthatismorerelevanttothefieldofEastAsianlibrarianshipinNorthAmerica.Moreover,astheauthordiscussesfurtherbelow,aretrospectivecollectionof“as-it-happened”datawillbecomeincreasinglydifficultas timepasses. In thecontextofCOVID-19responses,manyinstitutions are using continuously updated web pages to post their announcements,deletinginformationastheybecomeobsolete.Tomitigatesuchaloss,theauthorattemptedtogather asmuch time-codeddata aspossible for thisprojectduring theperiodofmid-Augusttomid-September2020.Theauthoraimstousethecollecteddatatoshowtrendsinthe CEAL libraries’ COVID-19 responses and create a foundation to build a collaborativedigitalvenue togathercommunitycontributionsandpersonal storieswith thehope thattime-codeddatawillaidpeople’srecollectionoftheevents.

Dataandmethod

Forthisstageoftheproject,theauthordefines“CEALlibraries”asthosethatreporteddataeitherasa“U.S.University”or“CanadianUniversity”tothe“CouncilonEastAsianLibrariesStatistics2018-2019ForNorthAmericanInstitutions”(DollandLiu2020).Thisdefinitiongenerated a list of 43 academic libraries. This list excludes institutions that report theirannualstatisticsasnon-universityentities,suchastheClevelandMuseumofArt,LibraryofCongress,andNelson-AtkinsMuseumofArt.Alsoexcludedarethoseacademiclibrarieswithdedicated East Asian librarian positions that did not report their statistics. The authorintendstoincludethoseandotherinstitutionswhentheprojectisopenedtothecommunity.


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Theauthorthenwenttoeachinstitution’smainlibrarywebsiteandmanuallyscrapednews items, updates, and announcements related to the library’s COVID-19 responses.2Whenannouncementsdidnotappearonlibrarywebsitesorwerepostedonacontinuouslyupdatedpagethatoverwroteoutdatedinformation,theauthorscrapedthroughthelibrary’ssocial network site (SNS) postings for time-stamped updates announcements or itemspostedontheirsystem-widewebpagesforconfirmation.

Because academic libraries use various communication strategies and channels, andbecauselanguageandtagsusedfortheseannouncementsvariedconsiderably,theauthordidnotutilizeautomatedcollectionmethods.Thedatacollectionwasdonefrommid-Augustto mid-September 2020. The current dataset is up to date with most libraries’announcements up to the second or thirdweek of Septemberwhen the fall semester orquarterhadbegunatmostofthoseinstitutions.3

The collected web, blog, and SNS posts were recorded on spreadsheets along withgeolocation codes (approximated from the library’s physical address), timestamp (year,month, and date), and, where possible, a permanent link to the original post.When thetimestampofthepostandthedateofservicechangeweredifferent(e.g.,apostaboutfutureplans),theactualimplementationdatewasusedasthetimecodeasmuchaspossible.Thepost’stimestampwasusedasaproxydatewhentheactualimplementationdatecouldnotbedeterminedfromthecontentofthepostitself.Theauthorthencodedeachpostforthefollowing three categories: reference,material access, and space.Reference refers to anyreferenceservices,includinghelpdeskactivitiesandresearchconsultations.Materialaccessis for what types of library resources were available to patrons and if they had anyrestrictionsassociatedwithaccess.Spacereferstotheavailabilityofthelibrary’sphysicallocationsasstudyandcomputingspaces.

Forreferenceservices,eachpostwascoded“virtual”or“hybrid.”Theauthorcodedthepost as “virtual” when the post announced that help desk activities and researchconsultationsweregivenexclusivelythroughan“AskaLibrarian”system,chat,email,videoconference, and other remotemethods. The “hybrid” codewas given to those posts thatannounced the availability of physical service locations or in-person consultation in anyform.BecausemostCEALlibrarieshadbeenofferingatleastsomeformofvirtualreferenceand consultations pre-pandemic, the author decided not to use “in-person” as a code toindicate a return to the normal level of service.While the author is aware that the pre-pandemic “hybrid” services and current “hybrid” servicesmay lookdifferent (suchas animplementationofdigital-firstapproachesor in-personservicesbeingrestricted to thosewithreservations),forthepurposeofthisprojectanyshiftstowardstheface-to-faceservicearecodedas“hybrid.”4

For material access, the author coded the posts with the following three codes:“available,” “available-limited” and “digital.” “Available” refers to print materials beingavailabletopatronswithlittletonorestrictions,whereas“available-limited”wasgiventoannouncementsthatmentionedthepresenceofsomeformofstricterlimitations(suchasnobrowsing).Thepostswerecoded“digital”whenonlyelectronicresourceswereavailable,or,evenwhenprintbookswereannouncedasaccessible, theyhadtobedeliveredasdigital


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scans. (“No” isnotusedasa codebecausenoneof theCEAL librariesentirelyhalted theprovisionoflibraryresources,printanddigital).

Note that, as such, these codes gloss over variations between each library’s effort toprovide physical materials while protecting the health of patrons and the library staff.“Available-limited”inparticularcoversseveraldifferentmeansofprovidingaccess,suchasa digital-first approach, self-service check out, in-person check out, curbside pickup,contactless pickup, mail delivery, and combinations of some of these. Such variations,however, aremostly due to different university andmunicipality policies and guidance,staffinglevels,aswellasthephysicalarrangementofthelibrary’sopenandclosedstacks,anddidnotnecessarilyindicatedifferencesinthespiritoftheservice.Theauthorthuscodedanyannouncementsthatreferredtotheavailabilityofprintedmaterialwithsomeformsofdistancing as “available-limited.” Likewise, schools that are coded “available” for thiscategory may still have quarantine policies for returned books, suggesting that theircirculationserviceisnotyetbacktothepre-pandemiclevel.

Theauthorused“available,”“available-limited”and“no”tocodeforthephysicallibraryspaceavailability. “Available”means that the librarywasopentopatrons foraccesswithlittle to no restrictions, evenwith social distancingmeasures and face covering policies.“Available-limited”isusedforcaseswithstricteraccessprovisions,suchastheexistenceofreservation systems, rigorous checking of university IDs, requirements to shownegativeCOVID-19testresults,andlimitedbuildinghours.“No”meansthatthepostannouncedtheclosureof the librarybuilding,with the exception in some cases, of areasdesignated forpickinguprequestedprintmaterials.

Theauthorthenvisualizedthedatausingchartsandmapsforanalysis.Themapandthecodeddataareavailableonhttps://sites.google.com/view/covid-19-responses-by-ceal-lib.MembersoftheCEALcommunityareencouragedtosubmitadditionsandcorrections,aswellastheirstoriesviahttps://forms.gle/NfAJShrTZ7JBQJFN7.

Analysisanddiscussion

Fortheanalysisof thetime-codeddatacollectedso far, theauthordividedthetimeafterMarch 2020 into four periods: the period of initial response up to March 25, springsemester/quarter(March26throughMay),summersemester/quarter(JuneandJuly),andfall semester/quarter (August and September). The earliest dated post collected for thisprojectisfromMarch12,2020,fromSUNYBinghamton(sinceupdatedwiththeinformationfortherestofthespringsemester,butstilltimestampedMarch12).ByMarch25,allCEALlibrariesinthestudyhadmadeatleastoneCOVID-19responseannouncement.Theauthorthen created a snapshot chart and map for the end of each period. The visualizationspresentedbelowthusrespectivelyshow1.thestateofeachserviceateachCEALlibraryaftermostuniversitiesandacademic librarieshavebracedup for theCOVID-19emergency,2.changesimplementedbytheendofthespringsemester/quarter(orlackofthem),3.changesimplemented by the end of the summer term/break, and 4) changes introduced for thebeginningofthefallsemester/quarter.


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PeriodfrominitialresponsetoMarch25,2020AnationalemergencywasdeclaredintheU.S.onMarch13(Taylor2020),andcollegesanduniversitiesbeganmovingtheirinstructiononlinebeginningasearlyasaroundMarch10(see,forexample,Higgins-Dunn2020).SimilartowhatHinchliffandWolf-Eisenberg(2002c)observedintheiranalysisofthe“first10-day”responses(their“first10-days”wastheperiodof March 11 to March 21), most CEAL libraries also shifted their reference services toremote-onlyandbeganrestrictingaccesstoprintmaterialsandphysicallocations.

Thesnapshotsbelow(Figure1,Figure2,Figure3)showthatbyMarch25,mostCEALlibraries have moved their reference services and research consultations online (42, or97.7%;1missingdata;seeFigure1),suspendedcirculationofprintmaterials(38,or88.4%;seeFigure2)andclosedorsignificantlyreducedaccesstotheirphysicallocations(closure:39,limitedavailability:3;seeFigure3).Thosethatstillprovidedprintbookstopatronsdidsothroughself-checkout,paging,ormaildelivery.Thelibrariesthatdidnotfullyclosetheirphysicallocationslimitedentrytofaculty,studentsandstaff,significantlyreducedopeninghoursorhadbothrestrictionsinplace.

Figure1.ThestateofreferenceservicesinCEALlibrariesasofMarch25,2020.

Mapdata©2020Google,INEGI.

Figure2.AvailabilityoflibraryresourcesatCEALlibrariesasofMarch25,2020.



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Figure3.Availabilityofstudy/readingspacesatCEALlibrariesasofMarch25,2020.

Mapdata©2020Google,INEGISpringterm,March25toMay31After initial responses, most CEAL libraries did not change their reference services orbuildingaccesssignificantlyduringthespringsemester/quarter.5Whileafewadjustments(suchasextendingchatreferencehours)weremade,alllibrariescontinuedtoofferremote-onlyreferenceservices(43,or100%;seeFigure4).

Librariesthatofferedlimitedaccesstoprintmaterialscontinuedtodoso,andsixmorelibraries started offering some form of request-and-pickup or mail delivery (Figure 5).HathiTrustbeganacceptingrequestsfortheEmergencyTemporaryAccessService(ETAS),whichalloweddigital,onlineaccesstothelibrary’sprintholdings,onMarch31,expandingoptionsforthoseCEALlibrariesthatareHathiTrustmembers(HathiTrust2020).Forthepurposeofthisanalysis,thelibrariesthatsignedupforHathiTrustETASwerestillcoded“digital,”unless theyalso startedpickupormaildeliveryofprintbooksduring the sameperiod.Morelibrariesmovedtofullyclosetheirphysicallocations,exceptfortwolibrariesthatcontinuedtoallowlimitedbuildingaccess(Figure6).

Figure4.ThestateofreferenceservicesinCEALlibrariesasofMay31,2020.



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Figure5.AvailabilityoflibraryresourcesatCEALlibrariesasofMay31,2020.


Figure6.Availabilityofstudy/readingspacesatCEALlibrariesasofMay31,2020.

Mapdata©2020Google,INEGI.Summer,June1toJuly31Thebeginningofthesummertermorbreakdidnotseeanysignificantchangestoreferenceservices. All 43 of the CEAL libraries continued to offer remote-only reference andconsultations(Figure7).Manylibraries,however,restartedaccesstoprintholdingsduringthis period, almost flipping the limited availability/digital-only ratio. By the end of July,partial access to print collections has expanded to 33 libraries, while nine institutionscontinuedtoprovidedigitalanddigitizedresourcesonly(Figure8).Astheauthordiscussedabove, libraries adopted various formats and branding for those services, including in-personpickup,curbsidepickup,contactlesspickup,grab-and-go,and“librarytakeout.”Still,no significant changes were observed regarding building closure. While two additionalinstitutions reopened with appointment-only access to library spaces, one librarytransitionedtofullclosure(Figure9).

Figure7.ThestateofreferenceservicesinCEALlibrariesasofJuly31,2020.Mapdata©2020Google,INEGI.


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Figure8.AvailabilityoflibraryresourcesatCEALlibrariesasofJuly31,2020.


Figure9.Availabilityofstudy/readingspacesatCEALlibrariesasofJuly31,2020.

Mapdata©2020Google,INEGI.Fallterm,August1tomid-SeptemberManyCEALlibrariespartiallyreopenedtheirphysicallocationsasstudyandreadingspacesin preparation for, at the beginning of, or during the fall semester/quarter, as moreuniversitiesreturnedtoin-personorhybridinstruction.In-personreferenceandresearchconsultation,however,didnotseemtoreturntoasmanyinstitutions(Figure10).Whiletheyreopenedbuildings,many librariescontinued tooffervirtual referenceandconsultationsthroughemail,chat,andvideoconference.Threelibrariesstartedtoprovideatleastsomereferenceservicesinin-personformats.However,evenatthoseinstitutions,theyareeitherlimited to general reference (consultations with subject librarians still being handledremotely)orrequirereservations.

Correspondingtothereopeningoflibrarybuildings,morelibrariesresumedcirculationofprintcollections(40,or93%;seealsoFigure11).Someinstitutionsalsostartedtoallowpatrons to browse their collections (2, or 4.7%). However, those schoolsmay still havespecificsafetymeasuresinplace,suchasself-checkoutproceduresandquarantinepoliciesforreturnedbooks.Onlyonelibrarycontinuedtoofferdigitalresourcesonly.

Asforaccesstophysicalspacesforreading,study,andcomputing,forthesecondandthethirdweekofSeptember,atotalof31institutionshavereopenedtheirbuildingsinsomeform (Figure 12), up significantly from three in the summer period.6Most libraries thatreopened still required appointments to enter the building and use the study space andlimitedaccesstolibraryspacestofacultyandstudents.Somelibrariessetbuildingquotasinsteadofusinganappointmentsystem.


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Figure10.ThestateofreferenceservicesinCEALlibrariesatthestartofthe2020fallterm.


Figure11.AvailabilityoflibraryresourcesfromCEALlibrariesatthestartofthe2020fallterm.


Figure12.Availabilityofstudy/readingspacesatCEALlibrariesatthestartofthe

2020fallterm.Mapdata©2020Google,INEGI

Conclusion

Asdiscussed above, CEAL libraries responded to the challenges of building closures andsocialdistancingbyofferingdigitalservicesandresourcesandfoundcreativewaystomakeprint holdings available. They are also gradually reopening for in-person and on-siteservices,wheretheirschoolshavealsotransitionedtoin-personorhybridinstruction.This,however,isonlypartofthepicturegleanedfromupdatesandannouncementsfromthemainlibrariesofinstitutionsparticipatinginCEAL.EastAsianlibrariesandlibrarianshavefacedunique challenges. They have devised different services and strategies from thoseannouncedbythemainlibraryandhadavarietyofprofessionalexperiencesandconcernsthatthesedatadonotcapture.7[vii]


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Thedatapresented and analyzedhere are also far from complete, in that theywerenotstrictlycollected“as-it-happened”butsemi-retrospectivelyfromAugust2020.Itwasalsoprocessedandcodedbyasingleinvestigatorwhoseinterpretationofthesituationmaynotmatch that of an insider. However, as mentioned earlier, this stage of this project wasintendedtobeabuildingblockforalargerdigitalarchivingprojectthatwouldcapturetheprofessionalexperiencesofindividualEastAsianlibrariansandthecollectivememoryoftheCEAL community. The data the author gathered and used for this analysis is open andavailableathttps://sites.google.com/view/covid-19-responses-by-ceal-lib.Theauthoralsowould liketoencouragemembersof thecommunitytocontributeadditional informationandcorrections,aswellasindividualstoriesviahttps://forms.gle/NfAJShrTZ7JBQJFN7.

ReferencesAmerican Library Association. 2020. “Libraries Respond: COVID-19 Survey.” AccessedSeptember25,2020.http://www.ilovelibraries.org/sites/default/files/MAY-2020-COVID-Survey-PDF-Summary-of-Results-web-2.pdf.Doll,VickieFuandWen-lingLiu.2020.“CouncilonEastAsianLibrariesStatistics2018-2019ForNorthAmericanInstitutions.”JournalofEastAsianLibrariesno.170:Article4.https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jeal/vol2020/iss170/4.Groves,Kaylyn.2020.“ResearchLibraries,ArchivesDocumentCommunityExperiencesofCOVID-19 Pandemic.” ARL Views, May 14, 2020. https://www.arl.org/blog/research-libraries-archives-document-community-experiences-of-covid-19-pandemic/.HathiTrust.2020.“HathiTrustResponsetoCovid-19.”EmergencyTemporaryAccessServiceforMembersbyRequest,March31,2020.https://www.hathitrust.org/covid-19-response.Higgins-Dun,Noah.2020.“Coronavirus:Harvardmovesclassesonline,tellsstudentsnottoreturnafterspringbreak.”CNBC,March10,2020.https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/10/coronavirus-harvard-moves-classes-online-tells-students-dont-return-after-spring-break.html.Hinchliffe,LisaJanickeandChristineWolff-Eisenberg.n.d.“PublicDocumentofLinks-USAcademicLibraryResponsetoCOVID19Survey.”AccessedSeptember26,2020.https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTUm3ZmNwiYXG6ghLmYYSJ7FbB7vqYhQQaokqne18J68GSLufY6ZHguNi16zJMXl10a0HaiBgROR-R7/pub.-2020a.“AcademicLibraryResponsetoCOVID19:TheFirst24HoursofSurveyData.”LastmodifiedMarch13,2020.https://sr.ithaka.org/blog/academic-library-response-to-covid19/.


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-2020b.“AcademicLibraryStrategiesShifttoClosureandRestriction:TheNext48HoursofAcademicLibraryResponsetoCOVID19.”LastmodifiedMarch15,2020.https://sr.ithaka.org/blog/academic-library-strategies-shift-to-closure-and-restriction/.-.2020c.“FirstThis,NowThat:ALookat10-DayTrendsinAcademicLibraryResponsetoCOVID19.”LastmodifiedMarch24,2020.https://sr.ithaka.org/blog/first-this-now-that-a-look-at-10-day-trends-in-academic-library-response-to-covid19/.InternationalFederationofLibraryAssociations.2020.“COVID-19andtheGlobalLibraryField.”Libraryclosuresaroundtheworld.LastmodifiedSeptember23,2020.https://www.ifla.org/covid-19-and-libraries.IthakaS+R.2020.“HigherEd’sResponsetoCOVID-19andPlansforReopening:ASynthesisofFall2020CollegeReopeningPlans.”LastmodifiedAugust25,2020.https://sr.ithaka.org/our-work/higher-eds-response-to-covid-19-and-plans-for-reopening/.Murgu,Cal.2020. “Covid-19AcademicLibraryClosures inUSandCanada.”LastmodifiedApril6,2020.https://calmurgu.com/posts/2020/03/covid-19-academic-library-closures-in-us-and-canada/.Rocha,FabianoTakashi.2020.“AReportonPreparingtheCouncilonEastAsianLibraries’s(CEAL)StatementonCollectionDevelopmentandAcquisitionAmidtheCOVID-19Pandemic:in Collaboration with the North American Coordinating Council on Japanese LibraryResources(NCC)andtheSocietyofChineseStudiesLibrarians(SCSL).”JournalofEastAsianLibrariesno.171:Article5.https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jeal/vol2020/iss171/5.Taylor,DerrickBryson.2020.“ATimelineoftheCoronavirusPandemic.”NewYorkTimes,August6,2020.https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-timeline.html.Wang,Chengzhi.2020.“CommitteeonChineseMaterials’InitiativetoAccessFreeChineseStudiesE-resourcesDuringtheCOVID-19Pandemic.”JournalofEastAsianLibrariesno.171:Article6.https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jeal/vol2020/iss171/6.

1 The full text of the statement can be found at https://www.eastasianlib.org/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/CEAL_Statement_COVID-19_FINAL_2020.8.13.pdf.2CEALstatisticsnametwoofthe43libraries,Columbia,StarrEastAsian,andHarvard-YenchingLibry,asindependentEastAsianlibraries.Theauthorisalsoawarethatthereareotherinstitutions(suchasWashington,St.Louis,andpossiblymanymore)wheretheEastAsianlibrariansandcollectionsarehousedinanindependentlocation.Forthisstageoftheproject,however,theauthorusedtheirmainlibrary’swebsitesasaproxy,withanassumptionthatmostCOVID-19relatedpoliciesareenforcedsystem-wide.3Thedatacollectedinmid-November2020,shortlybeforetheThanksgivingbreakintheUnitedStates,canbefoundonthedata-sharingsite(seebelow).


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4Thisisalsopartlyduetothefactthatthe“nuances”ofthe“hybrid”servicesaredifficulttodiscernfromthebrief updates and announcements posted by the libraries. Some libraries may have prioritized virtualreferencesevenpre-pandemicandthusmaybereturningfairlyclosetotheir“normal”balanceofonlineandin-person transactions,whereas those thatreliedmoreheavilyon in-personservicespre-pandemicare farfrom returning to the “normal.” Since the serviceupdates themselvesdidnotnormally reveal this level ofcomplexity, the author decided not to capture those differences for this part of the project but intends toaddressthosevariationsinlatersurveysand/orinterviews.5Notethatwhilesomeschools’springquartercontinuesuntilmid-June,thedatapresentedandanalyzedhereiscutoffattheMay31pointforallinstitutions.6 Note, however, this does not necessarily mean the reading and study spaces of the East Asianlibrary/collectionsinthoseinstitutionshavereopened.Manylibrariesoptedtoreopendesignatedstudyareasonly.7SomeofthesechallengesandeffortsaredocumentedbyRocha(2020)andWang(2020)printedintheFall2020issue(no.171)oftheJournalofEastAsianLibraries.


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documenting and mapping covid-19 responses by ceal libraries

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