WEBVTT
1
00:00:01.500 --> 00:00:16.400
Okay, so we are recording. So today is October eighteenth,
2021. This is a recording of an oral history interview between me, India
Pasiuk and Beth Marhanka. Am I pronouncing that correctly?
2
00:00:16.400 --> 00:00:17.200
Yep, that's right.
3
00:00:17.300 --> 00:00:25.800
Perfect. This interview is taking place via the TheirStory
program. Beth, do I have permission to record this interview?
4
00:00:25.900 --> 00:00:26.600
Yes, you do.
5
00:00:26.900 --> 00:00:34.300
All right. Thank you. So let's get into it. So can you tell
me a little about yourself?
6
00:00:34.900 --> 00:01:00.400
Sure. So, my name is Beth Marhanka. I am the head of the
Gelardin New Media Center and the Maker Hub at the Georgetown University
Library. I have been at Georgetown for 24 years. I started as a reference
librarian and also the web coordinator for the library and then I moved
into the role as the head of the New Media Center in 2001.
7
00:01:01.800 --> 00:01:06.200
When did you start working -- What year did you start
working at the Georgetown Library?
8
00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:11.000
I started working at Georgetown University Library in
January of 1998.
9
00:01:11.100 --> 00:01:21.800
Okay. Thank you. So what would you say are the most
important things that someone should know about you?
10
00:01:22.600 --> 00:01:49.800
Oh my goodness about me? Well, I love libraries! I have
always loved libraries. From the time I was a little kid through high
school, through college, I just gravitate to libraries. Even when I'm off,
I end up visiting libraries for some reason. We'll be in Maine, or North
Carolina, or California, and if I pass a library, it's like, bzzt! I gotta
check it out.
11
00:01:50.800 --> 00:02:23.423
I had a -- I was on sabbatical a few years ago. How many
years ago now, seven years ago? Yes. And I visited, can't remember how
many, about thirty libraries just to see what was going on, mostly in
academic. But in public libraries, and it really confirmed for me that this
is a really noble profession that I feel -- it's my calling and proud to
be, uh, proud to be a professional librarian.
12
00:02:23.423 --> 00:02:30.100
Outside of libraries and visiting libraries, what do you
like to do for fun?
13
00:02:31.000 --> 00:03:01.700
Aw, I love to hike and bike, kayak, and read and watch
films and movies, and let's see -- I've got two kids. My son is a fourth
year at UVA. They, they say, first year through fourth year. So he's a
fourth year at UVA. And my daughter is a freshman at James Madison
University. So my I guess that's probably my next most important role in my
life.
14
00:03:02.700 --> 00:03:19.900
Wonderful. I'm kind of surprised that, uh, I know AU has
faculty/staff privileges for their students [children of faculty and staff]
to attend the university. How did your both of your children end up in
schools in Central Virginia? If I may ask.
15
00:03:19.900 --> 00:03:35.400
Well, we're Virginia residents, and my son did get into
Georgetown, but it was going to cost significantly more. So, Georgetown
benefits, they pay for 67% of the tuition at Georgetown, which is still
significant.
16
00:03:35.400 --> 00:03:35.754
Yeah.
17
00:03:35.900 --> 00:03:45.900
It was going to end up costing about 40,000, you know, out
of our pockets to come to Georgetown, but they also contribute to going to
other schools.
18
00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:46.546
Oh okay.
19
00:03:46.900 --> 00:03:53.900
And they pay, and I think it's like thirty-seven percent
-- I can't remember exactly the percentage, but it's towards anywhere else.
20
00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:54.600
Oh, great.
21
00:03:54.600 --> 00:04:30.015
So it's costing us, Like, I don't know, 14,000 a year to
send him to UVA. And since you got into both and they're like -- the
ratings are so close -- I think Georgetown is like 24th and UVA's 25th?
Yeah, it just makes sense for him to just go to UVA and he loves it! He's
been doing great there. And then my daughter wasn't interested in
Georgetown, you know -- it's like -- since I've been here through their
entire lives, they kind of think of it, I know this sounds crazy, but sort
of, as our Community College. It's our local -- yeah, and it's my place,
and it's that doesn't have that grand reputation for them. (laughs)
22
00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:43.154
One more of more personal question. What it is -- so you
mentioned you like hiking, so what's your favorite place to hike?
23
00:04:43.700 --> 00:05:30.600
Oh wow. Well, in Virginia, I'd say Old Rag. I know that's
probably what most people would say because it's a great hike. I love
Acadia National Park in Maine. Um, I really got into hiking and Iceland. I
was an exchange student there. So there's some really wonderful hiking
there and just beautiful scenery. Yeah, I don't know. Oh! The White
Mountains are awesome. There's, there's wonderful places to hike. I went
hiking in Prince William Forest yesterday, which is, you know, close. It's
only half an hour for my house and it was wonderful. So there's great
hiking everywhere. I hiked in Japan. Kumano Kodo, the pilgrimage and that
was beautiful too. Yeah. There's great hiking everywhere.
24
00:05:31.700 --> 00:05:36.800
Sounds like you had quite a few Adventures! I also like to
hike so I'm like writing these down over here.
25
00:05:37.300 --> 00:05:43.800
Oh really? I could probably about that for a good hour to
tell me your favorite hikes.
26
00:05:44.400 --> 00:05:47.823
I will! (laughs) How about about the end of the Interview,?
I'll give you my favorites.
27
00:05:49.800 --> 00:06:01.600
All right, so you talked a little bit about how you feel,
felt called to libraries from a very early age. What made you decide to
start working in libraries? What did when did you decide to make it your
profession?
28
00:06:01.800 --> 00:06:24.799
You know, I don't think I ever would have thought to go
into libraries when I was younger. I-- I don't know if things were
different when I was growing up or maybe just in my family. I'm a first gen
college student, and It was more of a, You'll go to college and you'll
whatever so succeed, but there was no real (unintelligible).
29
00:06:25.300 --> 00:06:53.838
So, I went to school and did well in school, but not,
wasn't, didn't have any kind of focus. I -- you know -- had, I don't know,
four different -- moved around to four or five different majors and then
ended up with an English Lit major, and then I had minors in philosophy,
women's studies, and art. So, very solid Humanities background, and
basically prepared to do almost nothing when I graduated (laughs).
30
00:06:55.400 --> 00:07:53.500
So, and I ended up getting a temp job in a federal library
and liked it and they said, Hey, maybe you should consider library school,
and will pay for it! I thought, that sounds pretty cool. And -- I also, one
of my jobs in the library was checking in periodicals. And we would get the
Chronicle of Higher Education, and I would, you know, go to the end, they
show all the different jobs and at the time I thought, well, maybe I'll be
a professor at a university. Maybe I'll teach English, because that was
what I had studied. There would be like one job for English professors in
the United States and there would be ten jobs, ten library jobs. I thought,
hm, that's interesting. Maybe -- maybe going into libraries would be a
safer career move. So it got the library degree, and got, you know, a great
job at Georgetown, and just never left because it has -- it has been a
wonderful career.
31
00:07:55.200 --> 00:07:58.515
What was the Federal Library? Where, that temp job started?
32
00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:49.800
I started at the Federal Judicial Center. They're located
right next to Union Station, and their mission is to educate judges,
federal judges and their staff. I was in the library there and, you know,
worked with the folks that were teaching the judges and the staff. And I
got to do -- it was a really small library, maybe four of us? So I did, you
know, check-in. I did legislative histories, shelving. This interlibrary
loan in the day when I would go get to go around DC to pick up books. So I
would go to like the Justice Department and pick up items there. So I was
basically a runner for a part of my time. But I also did I learned how to
catalog and do legislative history. So it was very like low level to high
level, all over the place. It was good experience.
33
00:08:51.900 --> 00:08:53.500
Where did you go for library school?
34
00:08:54.400 --> 00:09:03.300
I did one class at Catholic and then I realized the price
difference between Catholic and Maryland (laughs) and then ended up going
to finish up in Maryland.
35
00:09:03.700 --> 00:09:09.315
Thanks. So was that Federal Library job your first job out
of college?
36
00:09:11.500 --> 00:09:35.100
It was. Yes. It was my first job out of college and then
after the FJC, I got a job at the Northern Virginia Community College, and
their library in Annandale. And that was wonderful, I loved it. I was a
technology assistant but I got to do reference work. So I was on the desk,
but I also took care of their computers doing desktop stuff, and I created
their first website and their first online tutorial.
37
00:09:35.300 --> 00:09:36.515
Oh my gosh, that's amazing!
38
00:09:36.600 --> 00:10:15.500
It was really fun, really amazing experience because when
I was in library school, it was like the late. When was that shoot, late
90s, so I guess I there between 95 and 98? No, 97. 95 and 97. And so --
when -- This was the beginnings of web development, so I learned HTML,
which gave me like the skill (laughs), a really important skill. So that
was what people needed at that time was were websites. So I did web
development at NOVA and then that was why they -- that's probably why I got
my job at Georgetown.
39
00:10:16.200 --> 00:10:20.876
Okay, so you went direct-- So you went from the Judicial
Center to NOVA to Georgetown?
40
00:10:21.100 --> 00:10:21.800
Exactly.
41
00:10:22.200 --> 00:10:31.600
Great. So have you -- are you a DC, local? Have you lived
in this area for most of your life, or did you move here at some point?
42
00:10:31.900 --> 00:11:07.354
Yeah, I grew up in this area. I went to Oakton High
School, lived in Fairfax from the time I was maybe, I guess four, on and
off until now. I was born in Thailand. My dad was doing (unintelligible),
but then we came back when I was about a year and a half. And then been in
Northern Virginia, for all that time. My mom worked for the federal
government. She was at the White House for years, and the Peace Corps, and
Arlington County. I'm a DC -- the DC region is my has been my home most of
my life.
43
00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:34.000
Wonderful. I may come back and ask you some questions about
the broader region later, if that's okay, and how it's changed over time.
Just because I personally find that fascinating. But to kind of zero in on
the Georgetown Library. What are the biggest changes that you've noticed
between when you first began working for Georgetown and say the end of
2019?
44
00:11:35.200 --> 00:12:27.361
Okay, so, pre-pandemic changes? You know, I think they're
always (pause) looking to, you know, make the most out of the resources.
They're renovating different areas of the library. So when I first started,
the AV Department was down on the first floor of the library, and they
renovated the good half of the first floor. And it became the Gelardin New
Media Center. And they asked me to be the interim director when they were
looking for a director. So that was a big change and just really the focus
on the technology and digital media resources for students and faculty. So
that was like in the, you know, I guess the early 2000s that was a big
change.
45
00:12:27.361 --> 00:13:03.800
Then they renovated, the Booth Family Center for Special
Collections. That's been, oh gosh, how many years now? Probably eight years
now, so that was you know ten, twelve years later. They really focused on
the Booth Center because these were specialized areas that the university
really cared about. So, that was another, big change was with the
renovation of the, well, the donation from the Booth family and the
renovation of that area. So, I say those were two of the big, big changes
in the library itself.
46
00:13:08.100 --> 00:13:20.000
Kind of moving into kind of immediately pre-pandemic.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, how would you describe the library's role in
the Georgetown University community?
47
00:13:22.300 --> 00:14:51.500
I think it's probably similar to most academic libraries
where, you hear it often on the campus, and I really do believe that, I
think it's a Gathering Place for -- mostly for students. You know, that
need to do work together, that it isn't just specifically, you know,
personal recreational, more around academics. So it's the, the place
outside of the classroom where people come to either work together, or for
reflection, for quiet, to -- just to get things done. And that was -- you
know -- either that could be studying, researching, writing papers. And
then in the in the New Media Center, it was producing, not just consuming
media, but also producing media. So yeah, that is is super important. Also
for self-initiated learning. I think the libraries, that's what we do,
right? We're here for people to learn and grow, and, and on their own with
self-initiated, right? It's not just from above, or from a professor saying
do this, which we provide those resources too, but it's anything that you
want, you can find through the library. So I feel like that's, that's our
primary, our primary role.
48
00:14:53.800 --> 00:14:57.400
What would you say is your part within that role?
49
00:14:58.600 --> 00:15:43.200
You know I feel like (pause). So libraries to me were
about shared resources. And for -- you know, in the United States, it's
been almost two centuries of mostly sharing books. And that's where, you
know, people think of books, but for me, the last few decades, it's, you
know, of course books, super important for people to have access to, to
print materials and books. And then databases and articles, and primary
resources, and all that kind of stuff. But the focus of my career over the
last twenty years has been on other shared resources on technology.
50
00:15:43.700 --> 00:17:21.900
So that's meant things like video cameras, iPads,
microphones, lighting. The materials that people need that they might not
have ready access to. Cameras, photo cameras. We see this all the time
where, you know, you need to have really good photos and somebody might not
have access to a good photo [camera]. Now, a lot of people have iPhones,
wonderful, or Androids, whatever, that have cameras, but maybe you can't
get quite great photos or they're not going to have space to create a
video. So, having the access to the equipment, to be able to create this
digital media that is so important today, it equalizes the playing field.
That's what I feel like libraries do best is they give everyone access to
the resources they need to succeed. Then that's extended out to even things
like virtual reality headsets or, you know, we have access to gaming
stations. That may not seem like, it's something that's academic, but it
really, it is. They [university students and faculty] are studying game
now, and the gaming industry is more lucrative, pulls in more than music
and the film industry combined. So, you know, anything in our culture,
there are faculty who are studying this and want to make sure that we are
understanding, you know, the history and the impact that it's having on our
society. So we provide access to gaming consoles and games.
51
00:17:26.599 --> 00:18:15.600
And also with the maker how we opened the maker Hub five
years ago set because we saw people wanted access to 3D printers. So we've
started -- we got a couple of 3D printers back in, what year would that be
2015 I suppose? Then we opened up the Maker Hub in 2016, and now we have
maybe seven 3D printers?A laser cutter, sewing machines, embroidery
stations woodworking tools. And again, some people are like, What, in a
library? Why? Well, again we go back to, you know, providing equal access
to different kinds of resources, so that everybody has that opportunity to
create whatever they can imagine.
52
00:18:17.600 --> 00:18:32.807
That's fantastic. Do you have -- like you've mentioned all
of these incredible technology pieces that you bought for the New Media
Center and the Maker Hub. Do you have like a particular favorite piece of
technology that you've acquired over the years?
53
00:18:34.100 --> 00:19:28.500
Well, I think the laser cutter is probably (pause) the
most powerful. You know, it's expensive. I think we spent must have been at
least twenty. It was between twenty and twenty-two thousand dollars because
it's large. The bed is thirty-six inches, I think. And it can cut through,
you know, wood plastic, and can etch metal. It can just do amazing things.
And it's also one of the favorites of the folks that come in. It's quite
impressive what it can produce. So I even though it's not like what I
gravitate towards, it is like the, it's like the king of the Maker Hub.
54
00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:46.154
I think the VR stations are also pretty cool. That's been
-- you know -- the people get just so excited when you see people for the
first time putting on a headset, it's very cool. I love that.
55
00:19:47.700 --> 00:19:54.400
Are Georgetown students surprised that you have all of
these resources, all this technology.
56
00:19:54.700 --> 00:20:37.392
Yeah. I think that I think that most people really are as
it's become -- you know -- some people if they if they came from schools
that had makerspaces, then I think it becomes sort of like, oh, yeah,
that's just expected. But if people aren't familiar with makerspaces then
they usually are pretty, pretty surprised, because I suppose this sort of
-- we're in that middle curve where we were, I don't know if Pioneers, but
we were in the in the top in that area. There were some places that have
well, much bigger, better, well funded, but not everybody. He has access to
a makerspace. Do you have them at AU now?
57
00:20:37.700 --> 00:21:08.700
Yes, we do. I've seen the one at Georgetown. It is not as
expensive as the one at Georgetown, but we have a couple of 3D printers,
that's where our poster printer is. We have like a vinyl cutting machine,
embroidery stations, a sewing machine, a wood carving machine -- a Carvey.
I don't know if you're familiar with those? That's the one in the library.
There's a second one in the it's called the Don Myers Technology and
Innovation building, which is not affiliated with us, but it's a larger
Makerspace.
58
00:21:09.100 --> 00:22:50.000
Oh cool. That's great. Yeah, lots of schools have multiple
ones now. That's why we named it the Maker Hub because we wanted it to be
-- there are places around campus that have making facilities, but that we
would be that connecting point. Because I feel like that's kind of what I
do. I've always felt kind of like a matchmaker. Somebody will come to me
and say, Hey I'm wanting to do this, and I might not know how to help them,
but I probably know who does. And then again, when we (unintelligible),
there was a maker space being developed in the physics department, another
one in the bioethics area, another one in Communications, Culture, and
Technology. They were talking about creating one of the business school.
And actually, the one of the Communications, Culture, and Technology, it's
small but it's only for them, it's only for students in that grad program.
The art department has like a print shop, but it's only for people taking
printmaking classes. Bioethics, it was going to be only for faculty and
classes. Physics, it was only for people in the physics department. So
that's the whole -- that's the problem with academic departments, is that,
that frequently happens. We saw this with film and media studies with their
cameras, their cameras were only available to students in that program for
the forty students there. Well, what about the other, you know, 10,000,
20,000 people, at the Georgetown campus? How do they get access to this?
And that's why I've always felt super important for the library to have
these resources. If you're not taking that one class, that you can come to
the library and find and get access to the same resources.
59
00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:59.576
Yeah, that's fantastic. I've seen your Maker Hub as well
and every time I see it, I'm just bowled over. It's an incredible space.
60
00:23:00.300 --> 00:23:05.376
Oh that's good to hear! The highlight of my career is
creating that Makerspace.
61
00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:22.323
Well, going into that a little bit. You mentioned that you
were asked to kind of be the temporary head when it was first kind of
envisioned. Can you tell me how that came about and why you decided to take
up that role and move away from reference?
62
00:23:23.800 --> 00:24:35.800
So this is going back, twenty years. Yeah, I loved my job.
I was the web coordinator. Loved creating websites, the design aspect, the
information. I loved being a reference librarian. Just helping people. Then
when they opened up the New Media Center, they needed someone to manage it.
And, let's see. How old was I? (pause) Thirty-three, I guess. I didn't
really have any like, goals to go into management, so it was kind of hard
decision quite honestly, because being a manager, it's a whole 'nother
thing. Telling people what to do, right? And it was a hard decision, like
whether I was even interested in doing that or not. But I decided to --
well -- because I was involved in technology, I think at that time I was
probably the most, maybe, the librarian with the most technology
background. Because we had like an IT department, but there were no
librarians there and they were really focused on, you know, either the
desktop or supporting the catalog.
63
00:24:37.200 --> 00:25:37.000
So they asked me to -- they had a search and they didn't
find anybody to run the New Media Center. And so they said, Hey, do you
want to do this on a temporary basis and see how it goes? And so I said
okay, yes, I'll do that. So I did it for a couple years and then they
offered me the job. And also, I mean it was, you know, you maybe you can
identify with this. I'm not like a super ambitious person. I just want a
good job and I want to do good work. But I took it, and I'm glad that I
did. It was tough, being a manager is not always easy. You have to be the
bad guy and I don't like being a bad guy. But it's it was been a really
wonderful experience and I've loved supervising folks. I mean, I have no
idea how many people -- I mean, certainly and dozens and dozens of staff,
and then students, hundreds and hundreds of students. And I love that
aspect is working with the student employees. That's that was one of my
favorite things.
64
00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:46.000
That's a big part of my job as well. I manage a team of
student employees and that is hands-down my favorite part of the job. Just
working with them.
65
00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:56.500
Yep. In fact, I met up with a student who she worked for
me, all four of her years, and we went biking on Saturday. On the Capital
Crescent.
66
00:25:56.700 --> 00:26:07.823
That's wonderful. I love it. I'll occasionally get like
Instagram messages from students I've supervised in the past. Just giving
me updates, its warms my little heart. (laughs)
67
00:26:09.400 --> 00:26:16.200
So, what year did you, can you remind me, did you start as
the head of New Media at Georgetown?
68
00:26:16.900 --> 00:27:01.054
So the New Media Center, they opened the doors on
September 11th, 2001 (laughs). Not a great day. I wasn't the head then, but
I was still a reference librarian at that point. I remember that day
because we didn't have any TVs down there with cable. And everybody was
like, wondering what was going on. This is pre cell phone, so you couldn't
just find a video on your phone or even on the computer. This was pre
having streaming media. So we were all trying to figure out what was going
on. So that was very interesting, but I started -- it was in December of
that same year, December 2001.
69
00:27:03.500 --> 00:27:17.800
Thank you. Going back to maybe 2019, can you kind of walk
me through your typical day at work? Pre-pandemic, immediately
pre-pandemic.
70
00:27:18.500 --> 00:28:59.700
So, in the beginning of 2019, we were in the process of
moving our equipment collection out of the New Media Center up to Access
Services. Which was a really kind of a big deal for us because the
equipment, how many pieces did we even have? I think it was upwards of four
hundred and two hundred like major pieces of equipment. Cameras and
microphones and Chromebooks and so forth. The dean Harriette Hemmasi
[Georgetown University Dean of the Library], had started a year before and
really wanted that equipment collection circulating out of Access Services
or the circulation desk on the third floor of the library. So we were
undergoing that move, that took place in January. So we were in the middle
of you know, just going through that transition of, you know, making sure
people knew where to go, how to support them. So we were kind of in flux
period anyway. And our service desk in the New Media Center closed. So, for
many, many years we opened at eight-thirty in the morning closed, at eight
o'clock at night. So it was very like, supervising students who were
staffing the desk. So we were in a transitional stage anyway. So I would
say it was very different, 2018 versus 2019 because of that closing of the
of the service desk in the New Media Center.
71
00:29:03.100 --> 00:30:04.000
But it was coming into work every day at eight-thirty in
the morning. So all that was still the same. Answering email or people who
came by to ask questions, but we were just more directing them to the
equipment was checked out upstairs. And then we still -- in the New Media
Center we have lots of spaces for digital media production. We have a
multimedia classroom where we teach workshops and then it's open outside of
workshop time. We have a Large Computing area with PCs. There were -- at
one point, there were seventy-five computers there. That had been cut down
through the years, and I think it was in 2019, 2018, where we cut the
number in half. It's just that's changed through the years. I mean, when we
first opened, we would have people standing in line waiting to get a
computer. I mean, it was not unusual to have ten people in line, waiting
for others to get up. And then that just changed as people had their own
laptops. They're still getting used, but not to nearly the extent that they
were.
72
00:30:04.800 --> 00:30:31.200
And then also people don't have computers with the the
space or the RAM to be able to handle a lot of digital media production. So
they're still needed, but just not quite to the same extent that they were.
Then we also have a production studio and editing facilities, and the VR
station and so forth. So we still have spaces to manage, but the transition
of the equipment, moving upstairs really has been a big, big change.
73
00:30:33.400 --> 00:30:39.200
Thank you. What part of your job did you enjoy most during
this period?
74
00:30:40.300 --> 00:30:41.484
During pre-pandemic?
75
00:30:42.400 --> 00:30:43.500
Yes, pre-pandemic.
76
00:30:43.500 --> 00:31:49.454
That's a good question. I would say, probably thinking
about new services. So whether that was, opening up the maker Hub and
trying to envision, like what what do people need. What are those
resources? What are those shared resources that people can use most
effectively, whether they know they want it or not. You know what I mean?
It's not like people were -- we didn't have dozens of people contacting us
saying, We want a laser cutter. I had like, two people who said, It'd be
really cool if we had a laser cutter. I was like, if we had a laser cutter,
people would come. That's always the way I've thought of it. What is that
movie, The Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they would come." That's what
I've found to be the case, not a hundred percent of the time, but like with
the virtual reality, it wasn't like we were getting dozens of requests. But
we built it, and we advertised it, and then people came and were like, This
is awesome, thank you for thank you for offering this!
77
00:31:49.500 --> 00:32:14.700
So, I think it was envisioning opportunities. Keeping
keeping my ear to the ground and my eyes open, whether it's visiting other
libraries, or just seeing what kind of technology or services are being
offered. Whether it's other places, and it might be in libraries, but what
can libraries offer to folks? What shared resources are going to make a
difference?
78
00:32:17.600 --> 00:32:20.100
What part of your job did you find the most difficult?
79
00:32:24.200 --> 00:32:43.800
(Pause) Politics, probably bureaucracy. There's just
competing resources and convincing people of things that seem obvious. But
that can be hard and I'd say that's just not just libraries it's probably
across the board.
80
00:32:46.400 --> 00:32:52.100
So how much stress did your job bring to your day-to-day
life before the pandemic?
81
00:32:52.100 --> 00:34:56.369
That's a great question. You know -- I think, I've been
working just personally on stress in general because I was busy for a
while. I was also the I was the Interim Associate University Librarian for
Outreach and Engagement. No, I'm sorry for Access Serv -- For oh my gosh.
What was it? What was it called exactly? It was for outreach and
engagement, but it included Access Services, Communications, Facilities. So
it was a very -- and I was still the head of the New Media Center. So I was
supervising twelve staff and all that's underneath them. So there was
stress just in constant meetings, and then trying to keep up with, email
and other requests are coming in. I mean it was not uncommon for me to be
in seven meetings a day, and to have only free time to check email, maybe
an hour? So that's stressful, and that I hate seeing something come through
and not being able to give it a hundred percent. And that was the one thing
I did also find in that job as the AUL [Associate University Librarian], is
not having enough time to really do it well. To think through things fully,
and not having to just jump to a decision. Because it's just so busy and
taking a long time to make a decision, people just wanted to make a
decision, like okay, let's just try that! And I would like a little more
time to be able to get input from lots of people. And so I find that a
little stressful is that I'm more of a perfectionist. So the busyness, I've
found that I like to be busy, but not too busy (laughs).
82
00:34:59.200 --> 00:35:01.400
There's, there's a nice balance somewhere in there.
83
00:35:01.500 --> 00:35:02.500
Yeah, exactly.
84
00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:07.400
Did you work remotely at all before the pandemic?
85
00:35:07.900 --> 00:35:39.123
Yeah occasionally, not not on a regular basis though. It
wasn't like I had one day working remotely. I would frequently during
performance evaluation season. I would work remotely so that I could try to
just have focus. Because again, you go in the office and there's always
somebody knocking at the door, which is fantastic to have an open door
policy, but it's makes it hard when you actually need to get something done
on a timeline. On a deadline. So I would say, you know, I probably worked
from home once every two months perhaps.
86
00:35:42.700 --> 00:35:48.500
How would you characterize your relationships with your
library colleagues pre-pandemic?
87
00:35:50.500 --> 00:37:08.446
I think excellent for the most part. I mean there's always
a few relationships that you would love to be a little bit better. But in
general, I really love working with people and I think the library
profession attracts, (pause) if I can stereotype a bit, just good people.
Good people in general, want to do have a good impact on the world, and
like to help people and are kind. So, that's the thing that I have really
loved being back in the office is just seeing people and working together
to solve problems. Because I -- that was something I did find stressful
working from home by myself. I just like to throw things -- to work on
things together, and to have a conversation to make decisions, or talk
through issues. Doing that in email, ugh. I think I find that very
stressful because then I'll try to make it perfect. Then beofre you know it
there's three paragraphs and I've worked on it for an hour, and you're
like, this is such a waste of time! If we just could talk about it for five
minutes, we could get this resolved. So I would often write, please just
call me!
88
00:37:12.600 --> 00:37:17.754
Well, I'll ask you a little bit more about that later in
the interview if that's okay?
89
00:37:18.100 --> 00:37:18.500
Sure.
90
00:37:19.900 --> 00:37:27.500
Could, you describe your interactions and your
relationships with faculty and students of pre-pandemic? How would you
characterize them?
91
00:37:28.300 --> 00:38:21.100
Oh my gosh. I love our faculty and our students. We have
such -- the students are again, they're just really good people, and
they're smart, and I love working with Georgetown students. We got a lot of
work study students, of course, who work for us. I really enjoyed working
with them. Faculty as well. I have for the -- I'm trying to even think of
negative interactions I've had. I had one faculty member who was peeved
because we opened late back in, like, what, 2004? But other than that -- I
was like --I can't, and he was still great person! But he was like, You
opened 10. late! But in general, yeah, I love working with the faculty and
students at Georgetown.
92
00:38:22.500 --> 00:38:27.100
I'm glad you had to go all the way back to 2004 to find a
negative.
93
00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:49.200
We're just really forgiving, like even when there are
problems. Like every day, there's a problem. I had a email this morning
about the production studio lights, and the backdrop aren't working. But in
general, people will be like, we say, Oh my gosh, we're going to get it
fixed! And they say, Oh great, thank you! The problems are pretty, pretty
manageable.
94
00:38:49.800 --> 00:38:57.000
That's wonderful. Who else in your campus community did you
interact with regularly before the pandemic?
95
00:38:58.200 --> 00:40:20.200
Oh, so I'm lucky. I get to interact with people all over
the place. So, Center for Student Engagement. There's folks there that I
talked to. The folks in entrepreneurship because of the Maker Hub, we work
with them. Communications, Culture, and Technology, which I mentioned the
faculty, and the administrators there, because they use the Maker Hub quite
a bit. Facilities. So I've run -- I've been the interim head of facilities
for a few years. So there's folks in Facilities that I interact with.
That's tough, you know. Facilities doesn't get the attention that I think
it deserves. [People] just sort of take it for granted. That's that's tough
being, in the middle of -- we don't have control over those issues. So for
instance, our elevator has been down for three months, but because it's
fifty years old, they have to rebuild the motor, but we don't have control
over it. So all it is is like letting people know, we really need this
fixed, we really need this fixed. And I'm like, we're getting it, we're
trying, we're trying. So this is a lot of that, like, just trying to get
things fixed that you don't have control over. But again, our space is so
important. I'm kind of going on about that. But yeah, I deal a lot with
facilities folks.
96
00:40:22.300 --> 00:40:32.600
The police department on campus, dealing with them. It's
all really almost all over campus.
97
00:40:33.700 --> 00:40:42.969
Sounds you interact with a lot of people, that's really
fantastic. Not so much siloed in the basement of your library. That's
really nice.
98
00:40:43.500 --> 00:40:57.045
Well, that happens too. It's hard not to be siloed, and it
takes a lot of effort to try and get out there and meet other people and
see how, we can, how we can (unintelligible).
99
00:40:59.600 --> 00:41:09.900
Do any particular challenges or difficulties with any of
these groups or just in general stand out to you from the pre-COVID era?
100
00:41:16.300 --> 00:41:20.115
(Pause) So issues, issues with folks outside of the
library?
101
00:41:20.600 --> 00:41:27.800
In the library, outside of the library. I guess in the
broader Georgetown University Community as well.
102
00:41:30.400 --> 00:42:42.800
I can't think of any outstanding problems necessarily.
Like I said, facilities issues. But you know we're all -- there's again
competing resources around the entire university, so that that ends up. We
lost heat and library in several places. There was a whole heating unit
that went out, and our building was built in 1970. So we're hitting that
that stage where a lot of work needs to be done. So it's through no one's
fault. Well, other than investing resources. We really need a new library,
and a lot of that, it's not sexy stuff, heating units, but when you're cold
it's really hard to study. (Laughs) And do work and so forth. I mean, it
was really cold. We're talking in the fifties, and people were trying to,
because it was in the middle of the winter time and the system went down.
That's that's really hard and it's not like they could just replace
multimillion-dollar units.
103
00:42:48.000 --> 00:43:00.200
Alright, so now I'm going to ask you some questions. I've
kind of divided everything up along a timeline. So I'm going to ask you
some questions about kind of like the early days of the pandemic, for lack
of a better term.
104
00:43:00.400 --> 00:43:00.700
Sure.
105
00:43:01.500 --> 00:43:03.869
So when did you first become aware of COVID-19?
106
00:43:03.869 --> 00:43:22.200
You know, I can't -- I don't know the exact date, but I
must have been, like all of us. We were hearing things maybe February,
maybe January, heard a few of, the year 2020. All right. Yeah, 2020. The
years now like (waves hands).
107
00:43:22.200 --> 00:43:23.200
Time doesn't exist.
108
00:43:23.300 --> 00:44:22.600
I know, right? (Laughs) We heard all these little things,
we would, like what we would hear about, Ebola or something. I would
probably put it on those kind of terms where you're like, it is far away,
it's nothing that we have to worry about. Except that we started putting up
signs of washing your hands. And I think that was my must have been in
February? But I think that some of those signs sat on my desk for a couple
of days, or maybe even a week, waiting for people to put them up. It wasn't
this great urgency. We had also, there were ECOLI. We had an outbreak a few
years ago, and it was sort of along those lines like, Yeah, yeah, this is
something we need to, yeah we'll keep our eyes on that. So that must have
been in about February of 2020. And then it was with everybody else, when
everything was shut down. That was what, March thirteenth? That was the day
that we, that was our last day on campus.
109
00:44:23.100 --> 00:44:27.100
I'm sorry. My feed froze. Could you repeat the date for me?
110
00:44:27.400 --> 00:44:32.600
Oh, sure. The last day on campus I believe was March 13th.
Like most places.
111
00:44:33.100 --> 00:44:48.954
Thank you. You so before DC shut down, kind of in between
like the January and March thirteenth, were you concerned about COVID's
potential impact on your daily life?
112
00:44:49.100 --> 00:45:46.800
Do you know what? I don't really think I was. I don't
think I was. I remember maybe it was two weeks before we shut down, the
manager of our Maker Hub was contacted by somebody in the medical center,
who well, not a doctor, but an administrator, who asked about making masks,
cloth masks. And I remember him sort of joking about it. Like, She thinks
that this is something that's important, give me a break! And now basically
that's the major focus is wearing masks. So we knew you know, well, she
would have brought it up that long ago, but we didn't really take it
seriously. Because it wasn't -- it wasn't something that the CDC [Center
for Disease Control] or anybody else was taking seriously. So it's a lot of
things in retrospect we're like, oh, that's interesting. But how do you
know?
113
00:45:47.200 --> 00:45:53.800
Yeah, but did you perceive it as a threat to you, or a
danger to anybody?
114
00:45:55.000 --> 00:46:25.600
Well, I mean, I took it seriously enough that we did, you
know, take the initiative to make signs ourselves. Like we weren't told
from the university to put up wash your hands signs. Seriously, it's sort
of again, very similar to the way I took it, what was the -- H1N1 [2009
Swine Flu epidemic]? I remember it was the H1N1 virus that was a few years
previous to that, that was going around campus. So I was sort of treating
it along those same lines as, Oh, yeah, we need to put those signs up in
the in the bathrooms to have people wash their hands.
115
00:46:28.000 --> 00:46:38.800
I'm glad you guys were able to do that. So did your library
shut down at the beginning of the pandemic? I know you mentioned March 13th
was the last day on campus.
116
00:46:38.900 --> 00:47:21.600
Yeah. Yeah, everything shut down the whole campus shut
down. So that was a huge scramble for everyone, just like trying to figure
out the academic continuity. And you know Georgetown for several years had
been putting a focus on academic continuity. So even during -- we'd have
snow days, the we still, classes were still in session. And we had access
to Zoom and, Canvas, and lots of the other tools. But, there was, I would
say, you know, a pretty small percentage of the faculty who really took
advantage of them. And as we all saw, we were forced to learn how to use
them well.
117
00:47:24.300 --> 00:47:32.100
Were you part of making the decision to close the library
down? Or were you in conversations with people about shutting the campus
down?
118
00:47:35.800 --> 00:48:06.591
(Pause) No, that really came from above. I'm not even sure
that the dean, at that point -- I feel like the whole, that was really at
the highest level of the university was to close everything. And then later
on, when it was the decision about the library services, I was involved
more with the reopening. But that was mostly coming from that highest level
of the university. The present's office, the provost.
119
00:48:08.600 --> 00:48:11.700
How was the decision to shut down communicated to you?
120
00:48:13.000 --> 00:48:22.900
I think it was communicated to all of campus. Yeah, it
wasn't just the library. It was -- we got -- we were waiting to hear
directly from the president's office.
121
00:48:23.600 --> 00:48:27.900
Okay. Did you hear rumors before the official
communication?
122
00:48:27.900 --> 00:49:02.000
That's a great question. You know, I don't think so. I
mean, I feel like it was just three or four days before. And we were all
sort of like, Oh my God, right? I think this was really worldwide. Quite
honestly, we were all sort of like, Wow, this is unbelievable. Yeah, so I
think it was just that that week before the thirteenth, when things really
started coming to a head. When Seattle, remember when the nursing home in
Seattle, and then it was like, oh my gosh, It's on our shore.
123
00:49:05.300 --> 00:49:10.300
So what was your reaction to hearing that the campus would
be closing?
124
00:49:13.300 --> 00:49:29.600
(Pause) You know, I felt like it in a way it was sort of
like a snow day. We're like, Oh yay, we'll have a week, a week of working
from home kind of thing. I don't think I had any concept that it was going
to be that long. Like most people
125
00:49:31.600 --> 00:49:34.300
Could you describe how you were feeling around this time?
126
00:49:36.800 --> 00:50:28.600
Well personally, the stock market was really (pause)
losing -- It was going down. So that was kind of scary, because I'm only a
few years away from retirement. So to watch like it go down quite a bit was
really scary. And to then this just so such -- there's nothing like this
had ever happened. Well, of course, the 2008 stock market crash was, was
also scary, but I was younger and didn't have as much money in it. And then
also, this is just completely different also, like what is going to happen?
So I would say that was that was pretty frightening. And just also, how
sick are people going to get? So, yeah, I would say that was pretty
stressful all around, both the financial aspect, and the health aspect.
127
00:50:30.900 --> 00:50:41.615
How long was the period between the announcement that the
library and the university would be closing and when you actually closed
the library?
128
00:50:42.200 --> 00:50:54.000
If I can remember correctly, I think word on maybe the
eleventh, the tenth or the eleventh [of March 2020], that we were going to
be closing. It was only a few days. Yeah, it was a pretty quick turnaround.
129
00:50:55.200 --> 00:50:57.954
What did you do during those few days?
130
00:51:02.500 --> 00:51:49.400
(Pause) One of the guys who reports to me does a lot of
the signage around the library. So we were designing and printing out the
social distancing signage. So I remember Friday afternoon on the
thirteenth, one of the last things I was doing was running around the
library, putting up the signs on tables and gathering up the in the stands
to put signs in, make sure they're in the elevators and just everywhere
that people could see bout social distancing. Making sure the, in the
bathrooms, the signs were there about the washing the hands, they were
laminated and they were so they would stay. We'd done that before, but it
was like, okay, just making sure that all that signage was in place.
131
00:51:52.500 --> 00:51:57.400
So what else did you and your unit kind of prioritize
during those days?
132
00:52:01.900 --> 00:52:34.700
(Pause) At that point it really was just (pause) making
sure things were either locked up, but I think we weren't sure who was
going to be around. I don't even remember. Why are we putting up social
distancing signage? I guess we (unintelligible), so I think just trying to
keep things safe for anybody who would be around. And just communicating
that we were, so that we could be contacted remotely. Because we still were
working, we just weren't on site.
133
00:52:36.600 --> 00:52:46.400
How long did the library -- I know you mentioned that you
kind of treated it as a snow day at first. How long did the library end up
being totally closed?
134
00:52:47.300 --> 00:54:01.000
We were totally closed through fall [2020], and then it
started opening to folks who are on campus. I believe that that was January
[2021] when some sophomores, no, some seniors and some freshmen. There were
like five hundred students that were on campus. You know what actually
throughout, there were some students that were still on campus. Just a
handful of people were allowed to work in the library. So the Maker Hub
manager was there. We had one student that worked in the Maker Hub who, she
couldn't go home. I think she had a difficult family life. So some folks
stayed on campus. So for those folks, some things were still open. And then
staff was still working in Access Services in the library. To get books
available to folks to pick up. And they were making, having a pickup like,
for a while, they were on the loading dock, and then they moved it to the
front of the library. So there was a lot of that, just revisiting, you
know, trying to make the most out of what we could with the limited staff
that were in the library.
135
00:54:02.200 --> 00:54:08.800
So when did like the curbside pickup for lack of a better
term. Do you know, when that started?
136
00:54:09.100 --> 00:54:43.200
That's a great question. I think it, you know, probably
took a -- Did it take a couple of weeks or a month or so? I have to go back
and ask some of the staff that were there. I don't remember the exact date,
but it was it was pretty soon after. As soon as we were allowed to have
staff in the library and they split up their time so that they didn't come
into contact with each other very much. And it was, it was pretty limited
because a lot of people went away. But they did a great job making those
materials available.
137
00:54:45.500 --> 00:54:48.700
When were you allowed to have staff back in the library?
138
00:54:49.200 --> 00:55:20.561
Yeah, I believe it was -- I believe it was within a few
weeks or a month, but it was only a limited number. It was only Access
Services staff and the Maker Hub manager. Our facilities guy was coming in
two days a week Yeah, and then the facilities from around campus and
housekeeping staff were there throughout, but it was very small number of
people.
139
00:55:23.900 --> 00:55:36.800
Kind of going back to those days between the announcement
that you would be closing and the actual closing, what kinds of decisions
did you have to make during those few days?
140
00:55:37.500 --> 00:56:04.300
Which staff would be would be staying in the library and
which ones would be sent home. Oh goodness. yeah, that took a few months.
We were moving around furniture, limiting the amount of furniture. And we
weren't sure when students were going to be allowed back in, and how long
it was going to take us to get the library ready. I guess that was probably
a few months later.
141
00:56:06.100 --> 00:56:09.400
Did you make those decisions in collaboration with anybody?
142
00:56:10.100 --> 00:56:33.600
Oh, yeah. Yeah. There was a whole group of folks. We had a
reopening task force of the head of Access Services, the Deputy University
Librarian, folks from Research Services, Special Collections. It was a it
was a library wide group in consultation with you know, GUPD and facilities
and the Provost office.
143
00:56:34.100 --> 00:56:38.200
So was this for reopening or the days before the closure?
144
00:56:38.300 --> 00:57:00.800
Yeah, that was more for the reopening for the closure,
that's a good question. I wasn't involved in as much with those kinds of
decisions. They just I just I think that that all came down from the
provost and the president's office, that we're closing. And then Access
Services, they were involved with, of course, trying to make sure that
people got access to the print materials.
145
00:57:03.600 --> 00:57:07.700
What problems did you anticipate with the libraries
closure?
146
00:57:08.700 --> 00:57:50.554
Well, some of the problems that we had were things like in
my area and the digital media area, people come in there to do their video
and audio editing work and their graphic design work. So they need access
to the Adobe Creative Suite programs. And then with all of them home, they
didn't have access to it. So the faculty were kind of freaking out. How are
they [the students] going to do their assignments? So we were, we scrambled
for a week or so, working with University Information Services, to see if
we could get licensing for the students to be able to get the programs on
their computers. So that took a while to figure out, like, how many
licenses are needed, which classes have the assignments that they can't
transition to something else?
147
00:57:52.300 --> 00:58:26.000
So that was a lot of communicating with the faculty. And
then University Information Services. So we gathered up all those numbers
and they had to go to the college to try to get the funding for that. I
think there were a few hundred students that needed access to the programs,
and this is pretty costly. So yeah, trying to, get that, get that paid for.
That took quite a bit of work. And just organizing who's actually going to
need it. That coordination was a lot of work.
148
00:58:27.800 --> 00:58:38.145
What was your biggest worry or your biggest fear? Kind of
during this early period? Doesn't have to be about the library it can be
about (unintelligible)
149
00:58:38.700 --> 01:00:03.900
When it came to the when it came to the library I was
really I was more worried about students. About getting the education that
they deserve. They're paying to go to a world-class university, and here
we're trying to struggle to get them access to resources at home. It's not
the same. They don't have a production studio at home. So we can give them
tips about, recording from home, but it's not the same as a production
studio, or it's not the same as having access to professional equipment. So
that, that was definitely a worry. And figuring out how do we, how can we
help them with substitutions? So we did find software for folks that didn't
need their, that couldn't run the Creative Suite, we found WeVideo, which
is a video program that you can run on, it's a web-based program. And so we
got access to that, got some licenses for it. So we were able to find
substitutions, but that was definitely a worry, just trying to replicate
the same kind of educational opportunities that you have in an online
environment.
150
01:00:06.400 --> 01:00:10.000
What was the atmosphere at the library during this time?
151
01:00:10.600 --> 01:01:10.900
Oh my gosh, it was almost dead in there. I went in a few
times. I remember-- I went in, oh, -- oh, well, I had to because we were
doing, we were making PPE, personal protective equipment, with Maker Hub,
3D printers. So I was able to get in before they really shut things down.
So I could get in with my ID at that time. So I got 3D printers and brought
them to students and staff to make the PPE from home. And when we would go
in there, I mean, the place was just dead. It was dead. Housekeeping staff
were there. Some facilities folks were there, but, you know, it's just so
strange to see a ghost. It's like going to a ghost town! You know whole
floors were dark. That was really strange.
152
01:01:14.100 --> 01:01:26.861
So how many people outside the library in these early weeks
-- students faculty and staff, you talked a little bit about this with the
Adobe Creative Suite -- reached out to you for help during this period?
153
01:01:29.300 --> 01:02:01.261
Yeah, we were busy. We were surprisingly busy from home.
People think the folks that were working there [at the library] were like,
Oh you're just hanging out at home? I was doing full days of answering
questions about, the programs, and how we can substitute what they were
doing, and trying to create online resources for them. So, yeah, we had a
significant number of faculty and students contacting us for help.
Especially the faculty at that point because they were again, trying to
replicate what they were doing from class, but online.
154
01:02:01.261 --> 01:02:05.700
Did you feel that you were able to help them?
155
01:02:06.500 --> 01:02:38.400
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, just doing the, the Adobe
Creative Suite. We also, librarians and and my staff, we worked together to
create a lot of online tutorials. And we created libguides for creating
multimedia from home, and making sure our libguides translated well, and
they didn't like refer people to things that were in the library, but they
could refer them to things that they could do from home. So we were very
busy, just translating our services from, you know, in in building to home.
156
01:02:42.500 --> 01:02:53.800
So at this time, you're living in the DC area, how did you
imagine kind of this broader city and region wide? shut down playing out?
157
01:02:56.400 --> 01:04:02.554
There was no precedent for this. So I think we were just
sort of waiting for the numbers to come down and things to get back to
normal. I don't think anybody could have ever imagined that this would ever
happen. So I think all of us were just sort of going along for the ride and
figuring things out as we went along, and kind of just trying to be good
soldiers and do what we're told. Yeah, make the most out the situation. And
I had, my kids were home actually. So they were my UVA student. My, son is
a fourth year and at the time he was, came home from his sophomore year. So
he was studying from here and just disappointed about not being able to go
back to school. My daughter was in high school at the time. So sread across
the house, trying to, you know, find our space and not interrupt each
other, and it was a challenge too. Thankfully my husband could go to work.
So that was great because he was so noisy. And having four people trying to
work from home is hard!
158
01:04:03.200 --> 01:04:13.800
Did you do anything in those early days to kind of prepare
for the pandemic or what you thought might happen?
159
01:04:14.000 --> 01:04:51.500
Oh my gosh. I remember that first day, I think it was on
the thirteenth. Going to grocery stores, it was un-be-liev-able. The
shelves with food that was gone. It's just you would never imagine that
this would ever happen. And the trying to find toilet paper. I mean
ridiculous, ridiculousness. I mean, luckily we're mostly vegan in my house,
so the kinds of stuff that was still on the shelves, the beans and the tofu
and stuff, that's what we eat anyway, so I don't remember any like huge
sacrifices. (laughs) But I know it was really hard for a lot of people.
160
01:04:54.900 --> 01:05:33.100
So kind of moving into, not the early days, but kind of the
what we now I guess maybe looking back see as the middle of the whole
thing. If we can say that we're almost in an end now, I don't know if we
can. I'm going to ask you some questions about that time period. So you
mentioned that you were treating it as a snow day, you didn't think you
would be working remotely for very long. How did that perception of how
long you would be remote and the library mostly shut down, how did that
change over time for you?
161
01:05:33.600 --> 01:06:57.200
Over the summer we got word that well, we weren't, we
weren't sure what was going to happen. Nobody was really sure when we would
be reopening. So in July, August of 2020, we thought that students were
going to be coming back, or we would be coming back in some way in the
fall. So we went into the library and moved a lot of the furniture around,
took chairs out, took like three quarters of the chairs out and put them
into a back room areas or locked them up. We locked them up, actually. We
took a bunch of them in the carrels. So we have these study carrels, study
desks and we moved the chairs from a bunch of the carrels into other
carrels and stacked them up so they couldn't be used. So people couldn't
get too close together. And then ran locks through them so that people
couldn't move the chairs. We put other chairs in the back areas so that,
you know, they were all, and we took a took rulers and measured them so
that they were all six feet apart. We did that throughout the library and
counted the chairs. Counted the distance between them, moved tables around.
That was a significant effort. We did all that over the summer, so that we
would be prepared to open in the fall of 2020.
162
01:06:57.200 --> 01:07:13.553
And then we didn't open in the fall of 2020. But luckily,
we were ready for the spring of 2021 when they did allow more students in
the building and that social distancing was important. So yeah, there was a
lot of prep to keep spaces safe.
163
01:07:16.800 --> 01:07:21.000
How long did you end up working fully or mostly remote?
164
01:07:22.300 --> 01:08:06.300
Just until we went back. I'm going in three days a week.
Well, somewhere around there, but that's -- Over the last six months we
tried to figure out which which positions needed to be there five days a
week. So for instance the Maker Hub manager's there five days a week. But
two of my other staff -- And then the facilities manager who also reports
to me, he's there five days a week. But my two multimedia specialists,
they're only there three days a week, and I'm in three days a week. So it
was a position by position evaluation of whether they would could work from
home or work in the building. And that took place over months.
165
01:08:10.600 --> 01:08:23.300
When did things kind of get into a routine for you as far
as working from home and realizing that you wouldn't be going back to the
physical library anytime soon?
166
01:08:23.600 --> 01:09:00.000
Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, I'm a bit of an
introvert. So I mean, I hate to say it but I really I liked, in a lot of
ways I like working from home. I think I took a good month to get used to
it. I'm very fortunate in that I, I've got a single-family home. I live
with other people, so I had enough interaction. I can get outside. I live
in a neighborhood that's next to a park area, so I could get outside as
much as I wanted to. So for me, COVID wasn't too horrible.
167
01:09:00.000 --> 01:09:19.600
I did I did contract covid in November of 2020, and my
whole family did. I was the first one to fall (laughs). It was the week
before, the Monday before Thanksgiving. So I got sick, and then my then my
kids, my son and my daughter and my husband. So we were out. I was out of
commission for about twelve days.
168
01:09:19.800 --> 01:09:20.399
Oh my God.
169
01:09:21.100 --> 01:10:00.800
Yeah. Yeah. And went in to -- for emergency care not -- I
didn't have to be admitted or anything, but my chest was, the breathing was
really hard. So I just wanted to make sure everything was okay. Got the
scan and everything was fine, and my husband same thing, but just like a
scare because the heart rate. We would do the blood ox meter and, oh, my
gosh, just walking up a couple of steps it would go up to a hundred and
ten. I'm a fairly fit person, so it was frightening because it would feel
like hiking, at the worst, with the elevation and that's the way it would
feel. But walking up three steps would do that.
170
01:10:02.400 --> 01:10:04.807
So, your entire family all got COVID?
171
01:10:06.100 --> 01:10:10.300
My nuclear family. My son, my daughter, my husband, and I.
172
01:10:10.300 --> 01:10:15.600
I'm really sorry that you guys had to go through that. That
sounds, it must have been terrifying.
173
01:10:15.600 --> 01:10:42.100
And my husband actually doesn't have his sense of smell
back. I don't know if my son, I need to ask him but his was pretty bad too.
Mine came back after a few weeks, and my daughter's did too, but both of
the guys had a long time. And my husband was just mentioning it yesterday.
He still doesn't have his sense of smell back. Or, it's weird, it's
awkward. And his sense of taste also is still not right
174
01:10:43.300 --> 01:10:46.754
And it's been -- this was before right before Thanksgiving
of 2020?
175
01:10:47.500 --> 01:10:53.007
We're at eleven months. It's weird.
176
01:10:54.600 --> 01:10:59.184
But you so you just went in to be -- You didn't, none of
you had to be hospitalized?
177
01:11:00.900 --> 01:11:11.100
No, we didn't have to be hospitalized. We were we really
(unintelligible) very well, so it wasn't too bad for us. But it was still,
I was pretty sick for twelve days.
178
01:11:12.900 --> 01:11:18.254
Do you want to describe any of the symptoms? Feel free if
you would like, if you don't want to that's totally fine.
179
01:11:18.600 --> 01:13:01.600
For me it started with a headache and severe fatigue, and
every day was a little different. I say the worst thing was the, never had
body aches quite like that before. It was like flu body aches, but ten
times worse, Just sitting would be be achey in any place that you touched
for any amount of time. Thirty seconds, it would be achey all over. Just
general fatigue, and like I said the heart rate would just race with almost
nothing. And then for a few days the breathing was a little scary too. My
husband was out of commission. At Thanksgiving he couldn't even make it, he
couldn't make it to the table. He was in bed that entire day. And then he
ended up, I ended up taking to him the emergency room that night. Sitting
out in the -- couldn't go in with him, so I sat out in the parking lot for
like four hours and then my son came and took a shift. That was really
strange because the hospitals could only let the patient in. Actually my
well this is completely, this is more personal side, but I don't know if
anybody has told you about going to hospitals for other reasons. My
sister-in-law had my nephew was born in April of 2020, and my brother
couldn't go in with her to the hospital. So she delivered on her own and he
waited in the he waited in the parking lot for the delivery. So this was
just par for the course. My daughter had a procedure and I couldn't go in
with her. That was a few months later. So this is pretty, it's strange
time. They wouldn't let anybody in unless it was absolutely necessary.
180
01:13:03.400 --> 01:13:17.800
How long -- so you mentioned that you were the first one to
kind of start showing symptoms -- How long between when you started shown
symptoms -- I guess what I'm trying to ask is, how long was your family
kind of down for the count?
181
01:13:18.100 --> 01:14:00.400
I think -- so mine started on Monday afternoon. I think
other people started getting sick on Tuesday evening. And then, you know,
one of my kids got sick. I think my son started feeling it Tuesday evening.
And then my daughter and then my husband, the next day. And we don't know
where we got it. We thought my son had brought it home from school, but
none of his friends got it. So that was kind of odd. So it probably wasn't
him. It might have been me picking up a pizza or going to the grocery
store. I went to the library to pick up books. But not in the library, they
were all pickups. I did continue to go to the grocery store. We didn't do
deliveries of groceries. I always went out, so that was probably I've no
idea.
182
01:14:00.400 --> 01:14:05.000
It's hard to know really. It's kind of impossible to figure
that out.
183
01:14:05.000 --> 01:14:05.600
Right?
184
01:14:07.600 --> 01:14:11.400
Is there anything else you want to talk about about that
experience?
185
01:14:11.400 --> 01:14:40.984
No, I think that's it. Yeah, that's um -- In a way, I'm,
this is odd to say, and it sounds stupid, but I'm kind of glad I got it.
Because at least I know what it was like for me and how scary it was. I
just heard of good friend of mines told me her cousin died over the weekend
from COVID. Forty-five years old. A twelve and fourteen -- She had kids
twelve and fourteen years old, and died from COVID. Forty-five!
186
01:14:44.600 --> 01:14:47.800
This disease does not discriminate.
187
01:14:48.600 --> 01:14:49.907
Yeah. (nods)
188
01:14:52.600 --> 01:14:55.007
Well, shifting back to (laughs)
189
01:14:55.200 --> 01:14:55.800
Yeah (laughs).
190
01:14:55.800 --> 01:15:05.700
Kind of odd to shift back to kind of the library focus, but
can you describe your typical work day during the remote period?
191
01:15:06.200 --> 01:16:25.900
Sure. (Pause) So pre-COVID, I would usually leave the
house at seven-thirty in the morning. But now after COVID I would try to
start working at eight-thirty or nine. And then I would either work -- I'm
in a, we've got a few different areas of my house. I set up a little office
in the basement. I'm not there now because nobody else is home. But when we
were all home this area, my daughter usually had, or my son had. So I was
in the basement and we had a folding table, and I got a folding table and
put that up as my desk. We try to start work by no later than nine and work
until at least five, but it was a little more flexible. So sometimes it
would be five, sometimes later, depending on what was going on, and if
there were any emergencies. A break at eleven for a few minutes, but it was
just a lot of email and Zoom meetings. My job in general I can do like
ninety-five percent of my job online between email and the meetings all
just moved to Zoom. So honestly, not much changed.
192
01:16:26.300 --> 01:16:32.600
Okay. So how much stress did you feel from work during this
period?
193
01:16:33.700 --> 01:16:38.100
That's a good question. I'd say it was really pretty
similar to my normal job.
194
01:16:41.800 --> 01:16:46.800
Kind of touched on this a little, but what were the biggest
changes for you personally during this time?
195
01:16:47.600 --> 01:17:38.600
Personally? Being with my family all day, right? Not
having to commute. Like I said, I really like working with people and just
having those, just interactions in the hall. I'm one of those -- I'm and
I'm this might, I think my staff think it's a little annoying. They can
hear me walking up and be like, hey, I was just thinking of something! And
just bring something out of the blue. I'm not one of those people who just
waits for the meeting every other week to talk about stuff. It's like we
just talked all the time. So that, I like that about being in person. It's
just the spontaneous interactions. So I'd say that was the worst thing for
me, not being able to just talk.
196
01:17:38.600 --> 01:17:44.846
What was the easiest change for you to adapt to?
197
01:17:45.800 --> 01:17:47.076
Sleeping in (laughs).
198
01:17:49.400 --> 01:17:52.507
(Laughs) I also enjoyed that very much. No commute.
199
01:17:54.500 --> 01:17:59.600
Exactly! Saving at least two hours a day. Probably two and
a half hours a day.
200
01:18:02.200 --> 01:18:08.123
What do you think was the most notable change to library
services for members of the university community?
201
01:18:08.800 --> 01:18:58.000
Yeah, that's a good question. I think that the not having
access to the space was really hard for people, and also not having access
to print materials. Right when we -- when we closed, they, we weren't sure
what was going on with the budget, so they canceled the whole bunch of book
orders. The focus was really on academic continuity, and you know meeting
the needs of the faculty and students. And then the focus was on moving to
electronic resources. Not getting the print books because people didn't
have, wouldn't have access to them. So there was this real focus on moving
towards the electronic resources.
202
01:18:59.500 --> 01:19:46.300
Other noticeable changes was trying to make sure people,
if they really did need access to print materials, is getting it to them.
So Access Services moved to, they were mailing books to folks who are
working on capstone projects and theses, which was really pretty cool. I
think that was a great resource. They also -- HathiTrust began offering
access to digital titles through, it's called the Emergency Temporary
Access Services Program. And so our e-resources folks and library IT, they
worked to get together the print holdings information from our library
catalog and work with HathiTrust to make those resources available. Those
were -- a lot of effort was put into that.
203
01:19:48.100 --> 01:19:50.900
How did community members react to these changes?
204
01:19:52.200 --> 01:20:20.600
Oh, I think positively. Everybody was scrambling, so the
people who really needed access to things, they would contact the library
and e-resources or whoever, Access Services, would do their best to get
access to whatever resources were needed. So I think I think everybody was
sort of in the same boat with just like, what do we do? And then working
together to come up with a solution?
205
01:20:22.500 --> 01:20:31.300
Do you think that members of the university community
appreciated your work and the work of your library colleagues during this
time?
206
01:20:32.700 --> 01:22:13.700
That's a great question. I think that at the beginning and
I feel like library staff weren't so sure that it was appreciated. In fact
there was a survey that was put out in January of 2021 and the staff were
saying that they were not feeling appreciated. So in response to that, we
decided to create a "Kudo Board." And I was in charge of that effort. I'm
the chair of a meet-and-greet committee that, well our primary role of the
meet-and-greet committee is to create a library buddy for new staff so that
they feel welcomed and get help with whatever they need to transition to
working for the library. And we created this Kudo board. It's an
appreciation board. The original one was a Google doc or folks could put
in, comments of like, Hey well Mark did an awesome job working with
HathiTrust to make resources available to folks working from home. So that
it wasn't just your boss saying, Hey, thank you, that was good work, but
making sure that everybody in the library could see. I'm so glad that we've
been able to do this. And then we expanded that just last month. We
purchased a more professional looking, it's called "Kudo Board." It's a
professional product. To make sure that people know that they're
appreciated beyond just Hey, thanks for doing that. But so everybody can
see this was important and your work made a difference.
207
01:22:14.400 --> 01:22:22.869
That's great. How would you characterize interactions and
relationships with students during the height of the pandemic?
208
01:22:24.500 --> 01:23:09.900
You know, quite honestly, my job I definitely had less
interaction. Because when I see people it's like running into folks in the
Maker Hub. Or occasionally, if there's an email that makes it to my level
of, there's a problem and it makes it to me then, that's where I'll see
people. Or working with our students staff, but we didn't have our student
staff. They were very, very few. I think we had two? So the numbers were
down considerably. You know, other folks probably had more interaction with
staff, like if they were doing workshops for instance. Yeah, but I that's
what I missed the most.
209
01:23:11.600 --> 01:23:18.800
How about interactions and relationships with your library
colleagues. How would you characterize those relationships during this
time?
210
01:23:19.700 --> 01:23:24.438
Both still good, still good. I moved to have my staff --
211
01:23:26.100 --> 01:23:28.954
I'm so sorry. I have somebody knocking on my office door.
212
01:23:29.200 --> 01:23:29.800
Go ahead.
213
01:23:48.400 --> 01:24:00.361
I'm so sorry about that. So I'll rephrase the question
again. How would you characterize your relationship with your library
colleagues during this period?
214
01:24:01.000 --> 01:24:34.300
Good. I really feel like we came together and did our
absolute best to make sure we were helping faculty and students, and each
other, as much as possible. We had all of our same meetings and actually
increased the number of Zoom meetings. I have half our meetings every week,
and we'd have our staff meetings every week. Yeah, so it's was good. Looks
I did miss just running into people to resolve issues. But in general, I
think everything went really pretty well.
215
01:24:36.100 --> 01:24:42.100
How would you characterize interactions and relationships
with faculty members during this period?
216
01:24:42.400 --> 01:25:01.300
Yeah, still good, still good. The same, same thing. I
think that the faculty were very appreciative of whatever we could do to
help them. Yeah, overall very positive.
217
01:25:01.900 --> 01:25:07.676
Great. What challenges arose during the pandemic that you
did not anticipate?
218
01:25:10.300 --> 01:26:16.600
Hmm. (Pause) Well, let's see. Just trying to figure out
how to reopen, and it was hard to get really clear advice. So in the Maker
Hub, for instance. We were trying to figure out how many people can we have
in the Maker Hub? And there was nobody who could tell us that. They would
say six feet apart, but the manager in there really felt uncomfortable
about packing in six feet apart. He wanted to limit the number. So yeah,
that that was a little stressful. Just trying to figure out the right
answer, because I don't know that anybody has the right answer. And being
comfortable with, Look, we're doing our best. That can be hard to not know
for sure. Because I don't think, through this whole thing, I'm not sure
anybody has the exact knows exactly what's right because it changes all the
time. And that's been stressful.
219
01:26:19.600 --> 01:26:25.500
Speaking of change. How did your unit's priorities change
over the course of the pandemic?
220
01:26:26.200 --> 01:27:07.800
Yeah, well just moving our instruction online. Which we --
I don't think we had ever done that. And you know what? That was
surprisingly successful, we found that teaching software is actually better
online. Especially our digital scholarship librarian, who teaches Tableau.
When you teaching, when you we can show the software on the screen and show
people exactly what's going on, they can see it's so much better than in
the classroom. And they could have a lot more students attend. So that
worked out really, really well.
221
01:27:10.700 --> 01:27:14.600
How about the library's priorities? How did they change?
222
01:27:16.600 --> 01:27:56.900
Well, a lot of what we provide is access to the space. So
when we weren't doing that, and we really did move online, the Research
Services, Librarians focused on creating online tutorials, rather than on
one-on-one consultations, They still did the one-on-one consultations, but
they also updating, libguides, creating online tutorials. So that became
much more of a focus. We've gone through years where the online tutorials
were important, but they really put an effort into them over the pandemic,
especially in the summer of 2020.
223
01:27:59.500 --> 01:28:05.400
What did you see as your role in the library's mission
during the height of the pandemic?
224
01:28:07.400 --> 01:28:45.600
Well, since I supervise this facilities it was getting
ready for the reopening. Let's see, my role and that, again, I'm I just
tried to, I'm someone who works with everyone to try to solve problems. So
I just felt like I was part of the the team that was providing access to
any of the resources that we could. And making sure that the spaces were
safe when we reopened.
225
01:28:49.600 --> 01:28:57.454
So, when did you -- I think you already answered this --
But when did you begin working partially or all on site?
226
01:28:58.200 --> 01:29:06.554
We were called back in, for those of us who were working
all full-time remotely, it was the middle of August 2021.
227
01:29:08.200 --> 01:29:14.600
Okay. Did you have any concerns about going back to work on
site?
228
01:29:14.600 --> 01:29:39.361
Yeah. Some logistical concerns, overall safety a bit,
especially making sure that everybody felt safe. Those are definitely some
concerns and also just adjusting back to, especially the commute, you know,
it takes a lot of time to commute in. But it's all worked out pretty well.
229
01:29:40.100 --> 01:29:49.661
You talked a little bit earlier about kind of how you were
involved with the reopening plans. What did you enjoy most about this
reopening period?
230
01:29:54.300 --> 01:31:01.900
Let's see. I think it's been exciting to see people back
in the library. One of my colleagues commented recently that she's never
seen so many people in the library, especially in the beginning of
September. She'd never seen so many people in the library before. I was in
charge of the new student orientation this year. With creating events for
the new students and so forth. She was saying, Oh you did a great job
preparing for new student orientation! I was like, you know what I hate to
tell ya, I don't think it had anything to do with new student orientation.
I think that folks were just so excited to work in some place other than
their own rooms. That they wanted to be in the library. So the library has
just been packed. And I know this from my kids too, that they talk about
they're in the library all the time at their perspective universities.
People just want to, they want to be around other people, even if it's not
working with other people, it's just like being around others. And being
free and not cooped up, and that's why the library, it's so wonderful to
have libraries back.
231
01:31:03.300 --> 01:31:13.761
Yes, we have seen him at an increase in the number of
students here as well. So it's been, it's been really nice. having them all
back. What are you most proud of during this period?
232
01:31:13.761 --> 01:31:31.200
That we were able to come together and still make sure
that people were able to get the resources that they needed. I think that
every department really, like I said, just pulled together to make it
happen. So that has been that's been really wonderful.
233
01:31:33.200 --> 01:31:49.100
How have on-site operations -- So, I know you've talked a
little bit about like the curbside pickup, you had the person in the Maker
Hub who was there, throughout the pandemic -- How have on-site operations
changed over the course of the pandemic?
234
01:31:52.800 --> 01:32:33.100
Well, I think that we have -- on-site operations. We have
a lot of our workshops we're still offering remotely because they worked
out so well. Some other things that changed and not allowing non-GU folks
in the library. So that's been kind of a hassle. Let's see, what else? We
support a lot of the same resources that we were remotely. So we still have
access to WeVideo. That's been really good. Was that the question?
235
01:32:33.100 --> 01:32:38.200
What we've been a lot of changes that you've implemented?
236
01:32:39.400 --> 01:32:55.200
Yeah, a lot of access to sanitizer and wipes. I think
that's going to be around for a while. I did see after the H1N1, there was
this effort during H1N1, and then a year later the disappeared, so let's
see. I think it'll probably take a year and then they'll take them away
again.
237
01:32:56.600 --> 01:32:58.100
It's all we can do is wait and see.
238
01:32:58.400 --> 01:32:59.400
Right? Exactly.
239
01:32:59.900 --> 01:33:07.500
Which of these changes do you see is beneficial? Are there
any changes you see as beneficial?
240
01:33:07.500 --> 01:33:59.100
Yeah! I think that access to the wipes and so forth,
that's definitely beneficial. The online access to resources. I think we
have been trying to make an effort to keep all of those, the website
information. The FAQs, the LibGuides. Make them as up-to-date as possible
for folks that are working remotely, to not have to rely on the in person.
So those are those are all good things. Having access to the online
resources. We have access to LinkedIn Learning, and our own online
tutorials. And that's good for us to make an effort to get the information
to folks anytime anywhere. Not have to be restricted to like a nine to five
Monday through Friday, because students, that's not their schedule.
241
01:34:00.100 --> 01:34:06.215
Are there any changes brought about by covid that you
dislike?
242
01:34:12.100 --> 01:35:12.000
(Pause) I don't like that we're not open to non Georgetown
people yet. That's too bad. Because that impacts impacts us in the Maker
Hub, especially. We have we called the Maker Neighbors, and they're not
allowed back in the library yet. So that's kind of a drag, but I think
that's that's that will be coming soon. And I'm not sure I like, I mean,
part of me doesn't like having folks working from home. As a manager it's
easier to have people in the library. It seems hypocritical, but like we
had an issue this morning. There's one guy there, but the other guy isn't
there and it's like, ugh. And then we got to wait until tomorrow until he's
there, till he can look at it. It's easier for managers for its for their
folks to be in the library, quite honestly. But for morale and for just a
balanced life, work-life balance, it's nice to be able to work from home if
we can.
243
01:35:12.000 --> 01:35:21.300
Do you think the library's role on campus changed during or
due to the COVID-19 pandemic?
244
01:35:23.600 --> 01:35:57.400
You know, like I said, I think that there's a good there's
more of an appreciation for what we provide. Now we're seeing so many more
people in the library, our spaces are truly valued, and I hope that the
higher level administration sees that and we'll put more resources into the
library. Our library, it's fifty years old. Some of our furniture is fifty
years old in the library. It could use some attention. And so hopefully
they value the library more.
245
01:36:01.200 --> 01:36:10.030
Have your feelings about your job or library, work in
general changed due to your pandemic experiences?
246
01:36:10.800 --> 01:36:34.800
I think it's reinforced for me the importance of
libraries, and just being proud of what we offer. Whether it's the
resources and the access to the resources, even that access to the
equipment that we provide, to the books, to the space, just has confirmed
for me how important having these shared resources and spaces are.
247
01:36:37.700 --> 01:36:45.000
Do you feel your relationships with other groups in the
university community changed due to the pandemic?
248
01:36:46.400 --> 01:37:24.400
You know not seeing people, I think it was -- It's so nice
to just run into folks. I ran into -- we had a an event for family weekend
on Friday, and a faculty member who I hadn't seen in almost two years
stopped by and she hugged me like three times during our 10 minute
conversation. Because she's just coming in contact with people. It's not
like we think of each other everyday. Like, of course, I think she's
fantastic. But we saw each other and she's like, Oh, we should do this, we
should do that! I When you don't see each other, those opportunities don't
arise as easily.
249
01:37:27.400 --> 01:37:31.707
What lessons do you think library workers and Librarians
can take from COVID?
250
01:37:36.500 --> 01:37:53.800
That our spaces and our resources are important. Yeah,
that when they weren't available people missed it. That we shouldn't take
ourselves for granted because I don't think people do take us for granted.
When they when they were taken away, people were shocked.
251
01:37:58.400 --> 01:38:07.565
