Fewer seats and social distancing will make Mugar and other campus libraries safer for patrons.

Libraries

Nine Things to Know about BU Libraries This Fall

Picking up books and studying in the library will be different

Libraries are a vital organ in any academic body. This fall, Mugar Memorial Library, its branches, and individual school libraries have opened, will open, or won’t open at all according to various schedules and conditions; for those that are up and running, returning Terriers will find a few changes, visual and otherwise, from the pre-pandemic routine of taking out books and articles to finding a quiet spot to study. University Librarian K. Matthew Dames outlined the changes in a recent email to undergraduate and graduate students. Here are nine takeaways.

You need to swipe to get in.

Mugar Memorial Library welcomes students, faculty, and staff daily, from 8 am to 11 pm, this fall. But you now must swipe your BU identification card in the machine at the entrance to get in. “This system will help us properly manage the de-densification efforts that are integral to maintaining the safety of the BU community,” Dames says.

Other libraries have varying schedules.

• BU’s Law Libraries are open Monday through Friday, from 8 am to 8 pm; closed weekends.
• The School of Medicine’s Alumni Medical Library is open Sunday through Friday, from 7:30 am to 6 pm; closed Saturday.
• The School of Theology Library is open Monday through Thursday, from 8 am to 8 pm, Friday, 8 am to 4 pm, Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm; closed Sunday.
• Pardee Management Library (595 Commonwealth Ave.) will reopen September 14. Hours are Monday through Thursday, from 8 am to 7 pm, Friday, 8 am to 6 pm, Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm, and Sunday, noon to 8 pm.
• The Science and Engineering Library (38 Cummington Mall) will be closed most of the fall; it will be open November 30 through December 19, during final exams. The hours then will be Monday through Thursday, from 8 am to 7 pm, Friday, 8 am to 6 pm, Saturday, 11 am to 6 pm, and Sunday, noon to 7 pm. BU Libraries will decide on any other opening come January.
• Both the Pickering Educational Research Library (2 Silber Way) and the Stone Science Library (675 Comm Ave) are closed for the academic year because of the logistical difficulties of operating during the pandemic. BU Libraries will review the status of these two libraries next May.

Touchless pickup.

Stacks are closed this fall as a hedge against infection. Need a book from one of the libraries? Search for and request it online at BU Libraries 2 Go. You’ll receive an email notice when your requested items are available. You can also request items via interlibrary loans that BU Libraries don’t have and BU can provide digitally.

It’s not your imagination: seating capacity has shrunk.

There are fewer seats, especially during peak hours, as capacity has been reduced to protect against spread of the virus. Furniture has been rearranged to lessen density, and you’ll see plexiglass barriers in service areas to protect patrons and staff.

Rules of the pedestrian road: follow libraries’ traffic signs.

They’ll direct the flow along floors, stairs, and elevators.

BU’s pandemic protection protocols apply at all libraries.

That means masks on at all times (libraries are supposed to be quiet, after all) and observing social distancing with other patrons.

If you need help with that research paper…

go to Ask a Librarian to chat, text, phone, email, or Zoom via appointment.

People aren’t the only ones quarantining.

All library materials that have been returned or are circulating will be held in quarantine for three business days before being returned to circulation to lessen the possibility of people being exposed to COVID-19.

One more hedge against Terriers getting COVID-19.

BU Libraries’s facilities are closed this fall to the non-University public.