The Impact of COVID-19 on the Use of Academic Library Resources

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6017/ital.v40i2.12629

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted higher education, including academic libraries. This paper compares the use of library resources (including interlibrary loan, website and discovery tool pageviews, database use, patron interactions, etc.) at three university libraries before and after the pandemic. The latter part of the 2019 and 2020 spring semesters are the time frames of focus, although two control time frames from earlier in those semesters are used to determine how the semesters differed when the coronavirus was not a factor. The institutions experienced similar patterns of use across many metrics.

Author Biographies

Ruth Sara Connell, Valparaiso University

Ruth Sara Connell (ruth.connell@valpo.edu) is Professor of Library Science & Director of Systems, Valparaiso University.

Lisa C. Wallis, Northeastern Illinois University

Lisa C. Wallis (l-wallis@neiu.edu) is Associate Dean of Libraries and eResources & Systems Librarian, Northeastern Illinois University.

David Comeaux, Louisiana State University

David Comeaux (davidcomeaux@lsu.edu) is Systems and Discovery Librarian, Louisiana State University.

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Published

2021-06-15

How to Cite

Connell, R. S., Wallis, L., & Comeaux, D. (2021). The Impact of COVID-19 on the Use of Academic Library Resources. Information Technology and Libraries, 40(2). https://doi.org/10.6017/ital.v40i2.12629

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Articles