May 12, 2020
During the shift to remote learning which began on March 17, the Libraries have continued to offer research consultations and assistance and have moved our instruction sessions to an online environment. In both March and April, the use of our chat reference service by members of the UCI community increased by more than 70% over the same months in 2019. UCI Libraries has supported the research needs of 94 courses in 10 schools with remote instruction since the beginning of Spring quarter, reaching over 6500 students, including creating video and online tutorials to support information literacy and research skills in the lower-division writing courses Writing 39c and Humanities Core. As one example of the success of this work, over 800 students have completed the Libraries' information literacy tutorial for Writing 39c. These videos are on the Libraries' Online Tutorials page as well as on research guides for Writing 39c and Humanities Core.
As always, we encourage students and faculty to reach out to their subject librarians with questions. Our subject librarians continue to send email updates and information about available resources to departments, can provide recorded or live workshops on subject-specific research skills, and are also available for individual research consultations via email, phone, or Zoom.
The Libraries have shifted the focus of collection strategies toward online resources to support remote learning, and have had substantial success in this area. Since March 17, almost 500 additional e-books have been activated and over 50 databases and journal packages have been added. These acquisitions span the disciplines, from e-books focused on Shakespeare and postwar French culture, the Art and Architecture Archive and the Benezit Dictionary of Artists to a set of engineering standards and Emergency Medicine Collection. Additionally, streaming video content has been added, spanning genres and content type.
Below are some examples of coverage of content now available and usage of electronic resources
De Gruyter has opened large portions of its offerings, allowing UCI to add access to 13,000 books to our catalog for free.
has opened large portions of its offerings, allowing UCI to add access to 13,000 books to our catalog for free. Well over 90% of the print journal titles held at the Grunigen Medical Library are now available electronically. The Libraries have also acquired updated e-versions of many of the books to support the health sciences including COVID-19 related research.
Streaming media resources have seen great use in the last month. The most comprehensive streaming platform with the greatest amount of content has seen in one month the level of usage normally expected in an entire academic quarter.
have seen great use in the last month. The most comprehensive streaming platform with the greatest amount of content has seen in one month the level of usage normally expected in an entire academic quarter. Usage of the New York Times subscription was 212% higher in the last month than it was a year ago, indication that users are finding this resource valuable during this time.
New York Times subscription was 212% higher in the last month than it was a year ago, indication that users are finding this resource valuable during this time. Access to reference materials on Cambridge Core: Cambridge Collections Online & Cambridge Histories Online are available for free until at least June 13th.
Cambridge Core: Cambridge Collections Online & Cambridge Histories Online are available for free until at least June 13th. Project Muse partnered with 50 publishers and made accessible more than 15,000 ebooks and over 230 journals.
Also, the HathiTrust Emergency Temporary Access Service is proving to be a tremendous asset for the UCI community. All University of California campuses have access to all UC held volumes that are part of the HathiTrust through the HathiTrust Emergency Temporary Access Service for the period of time in which access to physical library collections is unavailable.
UC faculty, students, and staff may obtain lawful access to specific digital volumes that correspond to physical books held by any UC Library. This Includes access to in-copyright materials. This nearly doubles UC’s access to HathiTrust content, to a total of more than 13 million volumes. This helps enable the UC system to continue to support its teaching, learning, and research mission during the current service disruption. Our community’s use of the HathiTrust has increased almost 40% during this crisis.
Our priorities have always been to support the teaching, learning, research, and patient care missions of the University of California Irvine and the work of our faculty and students. Although the Libraries’ buildings are closed, we still continue to support our users online. The Libraries will follow University guidance in alignment with national, state, and local Public Health Authority directives regarding the timing of re-opening the buildings. We look forward to being able to resume in-person services and access to the Libraries’ physical collections as soon as it is safe to do so.
Questions or comments? Please contact John Renaud, Associate University Librarian for Research Resources, at jrenaud@uci.edu.