Happy New Year everybody! I hope that everybody had a peaceful, restorative break from work. I know that I’m not alone in being happy that 2020 is behind us!
We have a flurry of updates about testing, vaccines, and space guidelines to share with all.
Relevant for everybody:
For folks who work regularly on campus:
“Those who live off-campus and are Covid Pass users (employees, students, or affiliates) and who have traveled outside Massachusetts and those who have not traveled but socialized outside of their household should plan to work remotely (if they are able), quarantine for seven days, and test on the seventh day. Ideally, they should continue to work remotely until a negative result is received. Employees who cannot work remotely will report to work but should follow safety protocols (masks, social distancing, and good hygiene); remain vigilant for symptoms; and stick to their testing cadence.”
If you have any questions about testing and timing for your specific schedule, please be in touch with your supervisor to work out details.
As of December 26th, the Commonwealth has mandated that occupancy of shared office spaces must not exceed 25 percent of capacity, measured by a building's occupancy limit. Occupancy must also not exceed five persons per 1,000 square feet of office space. These measures went into effect this Saturday, Dec. 26, and will remain in effect until noon on Sunday, Jan. 10.
While we are confident that our current on-campus plans are fully compliant with the new rules, the Libraries Department Monitoring Committee (LDMC) will review all of our space layouts for those who are working on campus to ensure that we meet the new guidelines. In addition we will be working with the Hayden renovation crews to ensure that they are mindful and following the new limits as well.
All the best,
Tracy, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Ready for the last sprint to the break? This is my dog’s opinion of Monday morning, there’s only one more Monday morning to go!!
FREE parking continues!
Quarantine update
Additional staff on-site
Snow procedures
Good luck with final sprint!,
Erin, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Hello everybody,
I hope everybody was able to be cozy, warm, and safe during our first Nor’easter of the season! I’m pretty thankful that it didn’t produce too much snow and ice. I appreciated the opportunity to go fully into holiday crafting mode, making stars with one cut, to get me warmed up.
TL;DR - Today’s message has just one topic - the formation of the Libraries Department Monitoring Committee.
The details:
In October, in one of the Emergency Management Team (EMGMT) all-lib emails, we shared an update about Phase 3 of the Research Ramp Up, which addressed the need for every department, lab, and center to establish a Department Monitoring Committee to manage and report out each week to the Vice President for Research (VPR) about how well we are following the guidelines and protocols during this time of the pandemic.
Up to this point those responsibilities had been handled by the EMGMT, but because the reporting requirements are now more extensive and specific, we’ve decided to create an offshoot of that group, focused exclusively on our obligation to ensure a safe campus environment for all. We share the charge for the Libraries Department Monitoring Committee (LDMC (not to be confused with Run-DMC!)) below.
This group will use some of the robust practices we already have in place for managing the on campus experience for staff, such as the On Campus Feedback Form and put in place further workflows to manage and communicate with you all about changes to campus guidelines.
If you’d like to get in touch with us, we have an email address: lib-dmc@mit.edu.
I’m deeply grateful to members of the team for their service in this new group. The work to address the impact of the pandemic is continuing for much longer than most anticipated at the beginning and this team of managers has done extraordinary work, dedicated to the safety of staff and continued support for the mission of MIT.
All the best,
Tracy, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team and the new Libraries Department Monitoring Committee
Hi everyone,
Happy Hump Day from my neighbor, the alpaca (close enough to a camel?):
Here are two updates for today:
The Libraries will announce this service suspension to the community within the next week and let users know that turnaround times will be longer than usual for requests of physical or digital materials.
Hang in there (2020 is almost over
Hi Everyone,
I hope you had a fabulous long weekend! I went hiking at the Tompson Street Reservation. Normally when I tell people I’ve gone ‘hiking,’ I mean I’ve walked through a clearly marked, flat wooded trail for about 2 miles, tripped over 2 roots, and saw 11.5 empty fireball whiskey nip bottles. I picked the wrong gateway for this hike, however, and ended scrambling up Sunset Mountain via a boulder field while some strange animal that sounded like a goat screamed (encouragingly?) in the background. I have all the strength and precision of a newborn deer, but I managed it without breaking an ankle so hooray! I saw some folks rappelling down the huge boulders lining the path, so if you like geology, challenging rocky hikes, rappelling, and have sturdy ankles, Tompson may be the spot for you.
MIT’s Covid Response Team met this morning, and shared the following which the Emergency Team would like to share with you.
Covid Testing Turn Around
Because of various glitches (including the AWS outage last week) 24-hour turn around on testing is not guaranteed. If you’re up to be tested, you should give yourself at least 48 hours to get your results.
Calls from MIT Medical
We’ve been asked to remind folks to answer their phones if they get a call from MIT Medical. Talking on the phone is the worst and we all know it, but should there be a positive test case, contact tracing starts with a phone call to impacted individuals. (Other methods of contact will also be deployed).
Reminder about Covid-19 Related Time Reporting
As always, please check in with your manager or any member of the emergency management team should you have any questions. We’ve been deluged with information that often has to change on the fly to suit updating conditions, and it’s a lot to keep track of. Obviously our hope is that we put systems in place that we never have to use, but we’re not out of the woods yet. I definitely identify strongly with the aforementioned screaming goat creature. (If anyone has any idea what that could’ve been, please let me know).
Best,
Shannon, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Good afternoon everyone,
I hope that you and your loved ones are doing well.
I love to cook and eat so if you're like me, you're really looking forward to the holiday weekend!
Yet, I must temper my love of food. Since March, my epicurean pursuits have made fitting into some of my clothing a bit challenging.
So, I'm committed to doing more walking this weekend and listening to some podcasts that appear to explore cutting edge and unique concepts in delightful ways.
The three on my list to check out are: Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People with Chris Gethard; Dolly Parton's America by Jad Abumrad; and 99 Percent Invisible by Roman Mars.
If you listen to any of them, let me know what you think.
Now, to the updates from today's Emergency Team Meeting (as of 10:00 am ET):
Chris and Alexia attended the MIT COVID-19 Response Call this morning, where we heard updates on MIT’s COVID-19 testing, got guidance from MIT Medical's Team on safe Thanksgiving holiday practices, and reviewed the reporting protocols for those traveling during the holiday weekend:
For those traveling out-of-state:
If you are traveling and are not sure of your requirements for registering your travel, and/or of your responsibilities upon returning from travel, please contact your supervisor as early as possible to discuss your specific plans and responsibilities.
Guidance on safe Thanksgiving gathering practices:
Thanksgiving dinners with those outside your immediate household pose a significant risk –best advice: gather only with your household.
If you plan to gather with people outside of your household:
o Gather outdoors if possible; if not outside, keep windows open
o Have separate tables for people from different households
o Do not use shared serving bowls and utensils
o Shorten the duration of the gatherings
The Emergency Team and SRLT will ensure up-to-date guidance on COVID-related safety protocols is shared with all staff promptly.
The Emergency Team will also determine whether we will meet this Wednesday by noon tomorrow should there be new information for staff before the holiday weekend.
With Kind Regards,
Alexia, on behalf of the Libraries' Emergency Management Team
Hi all,
Brrr, I put on my winter coat today to go out for a walk before work and the air was cool enough to make my eyes water for a moment. On the other hand the fresh air is a good way to get moving and stretch my legs before using my shrink-ray machine so I can fit inside those little Zoom boxes all day. My first meeting today was with the Emergency Management Team:
Best,
Sue, on behalf of the Libraries’ Emergency Management Team
Greetings,
I hope everyone is starting to get back to some level of normalcy, after what felt like a very long and stressful week and weekend!
If you need some help relaxing, here are a couple of my favorite playlists: traditional Japanese folk music or this tribute to one of the great masters of the Oud instrument.
And now, to the updates from the Emergency Management Team meeting this morning.
Best wishes,
Mohamed, on behalf of the Libraries’ Emergency Management Team
Well, we made it to election week! This feels like both a huge accomplishment and just the start of yet another enormously stressful week. We hope that everyone was able to do something restful over the weekend and that we all have resources in place to get us through the near future.
Here are the updates for this week and planning for the future:
We realize this is likely to be a difficult week for everyone and that what makes each of us feel heard and productive will vary. Please be kind to yourselves and each other and make use of any and all resources that MIT and the Libraries make available to all of us.
Best wishes,
Felicity, on behalf of the Libraries’ Emergency Management team
Greetings, MIT Libraries!
The news from today’s Emergency Management meeting is minimal, but impactful - MIT shared the academic calendar for the upcoming IAP and spring semester 2021. Dates of note:
And, MIT has not yet shared any decisions about what students will be on campus during the spring semester.
Cheers,
Heather, on behalf of the Libraries’ Emergency Management team
Friends,
This last couple of weeks, I’ve been taking walks through Somerville and trying to be grateful for and aware of the beauty of autumn, even in a busy city without a lot of trees or wildlife. It’s how I’m mitigating the anxiety around the reduced sunshine/time change (this coming Sunday), what’s going on in the world of politics and the pandemic, and the general sense that time is flying and I want to slow it down to enjoy what’s around me. So here is a quick series of pics of the wilds of the ‘Ville, including a volunteer sunflower growing out of the sidewalk – a metaphor for our tenacity this year if I’ve ever seen one.
I hope you get an opportunity to get outside and enjoy life this week, and with that, here’s the TL/DR:
The Details
That’s all we have from today’s meeting.
Have a great (if super cold and grey) day!
Stephanie on behalf of the EMGMT team
Hello everybody,
Welcome back after a long weekend - I hope everybody had a chance to experience some of the great fall weather and colors out there. This time of year always makes me think of apple cider and getting ready to hunker down for the winter. One thing my family and I love to do when we spend more time indoors is play board games. We tried out a new one this weekend: Trekking the National Parks. We had a great time and now I want to visit all 59 of them once that becomes possible again.
On to the copious news that we have via campus updates:
TL;DR -
The details:
Research Ramp Up Phase 3
The Lightning Committee announced that Phase 3 of the Research Ramp Up is starting. As a refresher, here’s what the previous two phases looked like:
The maximum capacity was handled by managing the number of hours that lab personnel might work on campus to either 25% or 50% of the maximum possible.
Phase 3 removes that hours cap, but the physical limits are still in place. Related to this, the Thunder Committee has recommended that the 50% occupancy limit for office spaces stay in place.
The Libraries Emergency Management Team continues to monitor the research ramp up phases and has determined that the changes to lab occupancy levels do not affect our current operations.
One aspect of the Phase 3 ramp up that does affect our operations is the requirement that all Department Monitoring and Compliance (DMC) committees report weekly on any compliance violations we experience in library spaces. You might recall that the Emergency Management Team is serving as the Libraries’ DMC. This has a few implications for us:
Encountering unauthorized people in Library Spaces
Related to the several incidents of unauthorized people in Library spaces - We want to support our on-campus colleagues by reiterating our stance on who is authorized to be in library spaces and where to find documentation and support for handling incidents of this nature.
More campus access points
The Space Working Group and Facilities have been working incredibly hard to create more access points to the campus so that people can get to worksites more easily. They released a new map today that shows, via the black dots, where those access points are. Please do continue to use the access point that is related to the zone you are authorized for.
Information about on campus touchdown spaces for students
We’ve heard that staff are getting questions from the community about where the touchdown spaces for students are located throughout campus. The map linked above shows, via a bold red outline, the area in which the touchdown spaces are located. This page lists the specific rooms that students can use.
All the best,
Tracy, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Hi all and happy fall! We really turned that corner, huh? The leaves are changing, the air is crisping, I went apple picking and got a flu shot--ahhh, ‘tis the season.
So, let’s talk a little bit about flu shots. For those of you who are in the COVID pass system, you will find that getting your COVID test and your flu shot on campus could not be easier or faster. It’s honestly remarkable. On Friday I was able to accomplish both tasks in literally 3 minutes and most of that time was spent simply walking from one side of the Johnson Ice Rink to the other. Now, it is true that I felt like I had been kicked by a tiny horse at the injection site for 2 days after, but that’s a different story… It’s also true that seeing an ice skating rink repurposed in such a fashion felt moderately dystopic, a sense may have been heightened by my recent reading of Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments, a long awaited follow-up to her The Handmaid’s Tale--the terrifying near-future New England exploration of life in an intensely patriarchal totalitarian society*. The rink certainly feels like it’s from a different time and one that is on the verge of being forgotten--why are there all these seats? So close together! And what for was a Zamboni**??! Anyway, reader, suffice to say that I’m just a little on edge.
Maybe you are too. So, what to do? Well, the practical bits at least--get your easy flu shot on campus if you are registered for on-campus work. Seek out a local option near your dwelling and have a rejuvenating autumnal stroll to get one if not. Perhaps refill your allergy medication of choice. Have an apple. Check out all the facets of your plan for voting. Take care of yourself and your close ones. [Insert platitude here]. But really, it’s all true. Take care of what you can take care of today. We all have important work to do, but as Chris Bourg and SLRT have said throughout, we have to be focused on people first and taking care of yourself through flu season, through election season, through the lessening of our daylight hours season is all critical to that mission.
Today in our Emergency Management Team meeting we discussed all of these things and planned, as part of taking care for the future, to revisit our business continuities documentation. Back in March at the close of the “Before Times,” our team, along with all the department heads, constructed plans to mitigate risks and maintain services in the face of some great unknowns. We now know so much more--how to navigate a pandemic while mitigating our risks for infection, how to be on campus, keep testing current, how to staff remote services from our closets and dining tables, how to back each other up and step in to maintain services and service standards. With all of this learning and with new realities and procedures at MIT, we will be revisiting and revising this work for the season ahead. Expect more as the leaves turn ever more to the full beauty of our strange New England autumn…
Until then, thanks for all you do. Be well...and toss me some non-dystopian, non-dread producing novel recs...I’m on a streak and it might be too much “leaning in.” Although for October I will recommend to you the slim volume, Ghost Wall, which I just swallowed whole the other night.
Emilie, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
*I mention this for...no reason...
**If the digital dark age does not subsume all of YouTube, would this help anyone understand? Or might it simply drift them into sleep like a Medieval lullaby? With thanks to Chris, I submit to you 12 hours of ambient Zamboni sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqn3NHjvoek...
Happy Monday, I hope you all had a lovely fall weekend. Allyson Harper-Nixon shared this link on the Slack #random channel last week and I totally recommend it: If You’re Already Dreading Winter, Here Are Some Small Ways to Prepare Now. If your trashcan is too small, get a new trashcan! Do the little things to make your life better so that they don’t grate at you, on top of all the big things to deal with. When I mentioned the article to Drew last week, he cited this quote: “It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out — it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.” (history of this quote). Find something small-ish to take care of this week!
Today’s main agenda item was around Institute planning for the Spring Academic Calendar. A few decisions have been made:
A decision about the number of students on campus has not yet been made; analysis is being done now on spaces, etc. (You will recall that the Institute had initially planned 1st, 2nd and 3rd years to be back in the spring.) They are currently reviewing MIT and other schools’ Fall data in the scenario planning. We don’t have information yet on when a decision will come.
SRLT is having similar discussions around Libraries’ services and spaces for IAP and spring, considering various scenarios.
Have a great week,
Erin, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Hi everyone,
Monday greetings and g'mar chatima tova to those observing Yom Kippur. Welcome to the second week of fall (aka cider donut season) and Service Restart Stage 2!
TL;DR
Stage 2 Services Live
As you saw from Darcy’s email, Stage 2 went live this morning. What does this mean? Users can now request delivery of physical materials via the “Request item” buttons in both Barton and in the bento/homepage search interfaces (this is in addition to the “Request digital copy” button). The “Request item” button will lead users to a request screen in Barton where they can enter either a campus or off-campus delivery address (U.S. only for now). Requests have already been coming in this morning. It also means more staff are on campus to provide this new service.
Getting to this point has taken an enormous amount of work by a lot of folks across the Libraries. We are grateful for their hard work:
Thank you, all!
Flu Shots
If you typically go to MIT Medical’s Flu Clinic, things are happening differently this year. MIT Medical is encouraging as many people as possible to get their flu shot off campus this year. Only the following community members will be eligible to get a flu shot at MIT:
If you are working remotely and are not an MIT Medical patient, you are not eligible to get a vaccine at MIT this year. MIT Medical recommends that you look for a location close to your home to get your vaccine. All MIT-sponsored insurance plans will allow you to get your flu shot anywhere Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is accepted. More Info
WorkLife and Wellbeing COVID-19 Resource Guide
Many of our colleagues are facing difficult personal challenges during the pandemic. The attached guide shares some important benefits and resources – including new fall programs – that can support MIT employees and their loved ones during these uncertain times. These resources are available at no cost to current benefits-eligible MIT employees.
Be well,
Brigham, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Pandemic Greetings!
I don’t know about you all, but I am struggling with how to open and close emails during ‘these difficult times.’ My go to has always been ‘I hope this finds you well’ or some equivalent (and I mean it earnestly) but my email most likely does not find anyone well. I don’t want to just launch into business--that seems rude--but I also don’t want to sound like one of the many commercials that are like “in these challenging times, we’re here for each other, and Ziploc plastic bags are here for you too!” Let me know if you’ve found any greetings that are genuine and not trite.
And to close the email--I’ve been sticking with ‘Best wishes,’ but what if we all switched over to “Anyway…” at least until 2021?
Today’s updates are too short for a TL;DR so I’m diving right in. Community meeting today! Here is a reminder of the agenda. We’ve got a lot of good stuff packed into this meeting, but we’ll have alternate venues for information dissemination and Q&A engagement for whatever we can’t cover in our 30 minutes together.
Also, if you’re looking for stats on how MIT is doing with COVID testing and results, you can check here: http://covidapps.mit.edu/dashboard
Anyway...
Okay maybe that’s not the best outro. Thought I’d give it a try.
Looking forward to ‘seeing’ many of you this afternoon!
-Shannon, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Hello everyone,
Before I get to today’s updates from the emergency management team, I wanted to send a personal thank you to all of you who are making it possible for the libraries to keep moving forward amidst exceptionally difficult challenges. I also want to share a special appreciation for the ability of our colleagues to continue to be kind and offer to help each other. It makes me extremely proud to be part of such an organization. Seeing colleagues’ smiles, day in and day out despite everything that’s happening, makes me hopeful that we will all get through this together. Thank you, all!
A couple updates from the Emgmt Team:
Best,
Mohamed, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Hi All,
We only have two quick updates for you today.
Reminder - COVID-19 testing no longer has a 24-hour grace period for the first test. If it has been more than 14 days since your last COVID test or you are coming to campus for the first time, please be sure and get your test at least 24 hours before you are scheduled to work on campus.
New Testing Location
Hope you are all enjoying the cooler weather.
Maria for the Emergency Management Team
Greetings, MIT Libraries!
This will just be a quick update from the emergency management team today, given that it’s the first week of partially-in-person classes on campus, and many of us are focused on service restarts (and the workflow adjustments, technical work, and backlog processing that accompany these changes) - I offer a simple thank you to everyone who has pitched in to make these services happen.
Items of interest from today’s meeting:
Thank you, all,
Heather, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Friends,
Labor Day weekend is nearly upon us. If, like me, you have squandered any time you had for planning and are now scrambling for ideas, allow me to provide you with several socially distant options from the “85 Best Things to do in New England” article from my husband’s copy of Yankee Magazine.
#16 - Get away from it all at Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park
“This Cornish, NH, gem is one of the least-visited national parks in America - a fact you’ll find hard to believe as you wander the tranquil former estate of sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, whose works include the stirring memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the MA 54th Regiment, the nation’s first civic monument to the heroism of Black Soldiers.”
#62 - See Immigrants’ Contributions Carved in Stone at Hope Cemetery
“The master granite carvers who migrated from Italy to Barre, VT, created monuments here that are as much works of sculptural grandeur as they are memorials. Founded in 1895 in the so-called “Granite Capital of the World,” Hope Cemetery includes a number of graves of the sculptors themselves-with some tombstones carved by the very artists who now lie beneath them.”
#71 - Unleash Your Inner Pioneer on Maine’s Bold Coast Trail
“No, you don’t really have the entire Gulf of Maine to yourself. It just seems that way on this pristine and oftentimes solitary 10-mile trek along beautifully rugged ocean cliffs in Cutler, ME.”
TL:DR-
The deets:
Have a great day, y’all.
S
Friends!
Welcome to September! September is the start of the school year, a time for new backpacks, finding great treasures on the side of the road, and the fantasy of starting with a clean slate, complete with a new, ultra-hip wardrobe! Well, this year I’m not getting a new lunchbox or a swatch watch, but I’m happy to report that I wore jeans yesterday, and after six months of yoga pants, they still fit! So that’s a little miracle to report.
Also, if you’re interested, student move-in is underway and there are some great pics and details in the attached ppt. If you look closely, you can find Dean Ian Waitz in shorts and a t-shirt who was apparently there dropping off one of his own kids. Still, seeing him dressed thus is very discombobulating, if you ask me.
TL:DR
The Deeper Read
Okay, hang in there, folks.
S
On behalf of EMGMT
Hey there, all.
Today we’re mostly sharing initial reports on return to campus from DDC, IDLA, and DLS.
Over in the DDC Slack channel, we converge around a question of the day or a small game to keep connected. Yesterday our prompt was to come up with songs about modes of transportation (no Googling permitted!) and together we built a collaborative playlist--DDC: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. As Grace Johnson-DeBaufre clarified for us,”if it gets you somewhere, it counts,” so there are also songs featuring submarines, starships, roller coasters, chariots, surfboards, SUVs, and even one’s own two feet. All of this because we are on the move! Along with a number of colleagues we’ve been firing up the old bicycles, the feet, the cars, the dusty T cards, and getting back to campus. As this first week of volunteer work to prepare our spaces for the relaunch of some services comes to a close, a lot of people have done a lot of work and learning to get things back in gear.
Overall, the experiences have been pretty smooth (according to multiple reports from the across the grounds), but of course there have been bumps in the road. How we move through spaces with comfort, maintain social distance while working, refrain from hugs (...if that’s your thing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯), set up new workflows, wrap our heads around the complexities of new conditions, new working spaces--it’s a lot to take on and figure out, but multiple departmental teams are moving it all forward.
Because of construction activities and workflow complexities, DDC has been setting up a pop-up in Barker Library. Our Imaging Team has equipment and plans in place to restart digitization activities there. Conservation Team has also set up a mini-lab space and scoped out paging and review of collections. Our reference team is plugging in to support these activities and will be on-site in what we are thinking about as stage 1.5. And behind all these teams, the whole department is taking on the responsibilities of appreciating, championing and stepping up to help make things go smoothly, providing support for our on-campus colleagues.
This week, IDLA has focused on completing draft planning for stage 1 restart, submitting needed documentation on density, and finishing staff scheduling starting 8/31. Draft is a key word here, as we expect to tweak and adapt as we learn more being on campus – everything from access routes, to testing, to numbers of available bins and book trucks are likely to affect what used to be well known workflows.
Working with stakeholders across the Libraries, DLS staff has done extensive work over the past three weeks to implement functionality in discovery tools that will enable users to request digital copies of our print materials. You can find the new “Request digital copy” buttons in the staging instances of our Bento and Barton interfaces - depending on the item’s material type, status, etc., these buttons will direct users to either an available online version, the Suggest a Purchase form, or our existing Scan and Deliver/ILB services. The functionality is undergoing final testing (with help from staff in IDLA and LIRS) and will be moved to production this Monday (Aug 31)
Oh, and meanwhile--students are back. Monday is registration day and we are officially beginning a new semester. There’s a lot of Institute-level information on campus re-start too. You can check out the links that were shared in this morning’s EHS meeting. They are here:
https://ehs.mit.edu/about/ehs-covid-19-faq/
https://medical.mit.edu/covid-19-updates/2020/08/neck-gaiters
https://ehs.mit.edu/article-ehs-remote-work-resources/
And here’s a link to the video itself:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/m710c6qa1e55f1z/EHS8.27.20.mp4?dl=0
Ok, here we go!
Emilie, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
I know you all follow very closely who is up for rotation on the Emergency Management all-lib messages. Well, today was supposed to be Stephanie. But Stephanie needed to go escort Rachael Weisz to clean out her office today (see attached, masked evidence!) And, so, I volunteered to swap the all-lib because next week I AM MOVING TO CAMBRIDGE and will miss my turn. And THEN, we cancelled today’s Emergency Management meeting. Yay for me! (and thanks to Stephanie, who will still have to email you all next week in my absence).
In the meantime, work on yesterday’s new business continues (see Tracy’s message from yesterday). And Chris shared the update that the Covid Pass app now includes information on wait times. Photo attached, see https://covidpass.mit.edu for info on downloading the app.
Have a great day,
Erin, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Hello everybody,
Busy day today - so I’ll get right to the updates...
What’s covered in the message:
All libraries meeting with EHS this week
On Thursday we are welcoming colleagues Tolga Durak from EHS and Joe Higgins from Facilities to join us and answer questions. The meeting will go as before: Stephanie Toews Moeling will guide the conversation and field questions in the chat. There is still time to submit advance questions here until 5pm today.
Testing update
There were 8100 tests done last week on campus, which comprises about 10% of the Commonwealth’s total testing for Tuesday through Friday, and 3 positive cases were identified By Wednesday the wait times got down to 20 minutes or less. Yesterday there were again longer lines, as students are beginning to arrive on campus. The campus will continue to monitor and manage capacity - for instance they are going to add some line management approaches to help the flow of people work better.
Tailgating and new forms of politeness on campus
As a sign of the times, preventing “tailgating” (e.g. not letting in the next person behind you through a door) is the new standard of politeness and care on campus. We in the Libraries are a kind bunch - many of us identify with holding the door open for people behind us when entering a building. The new normal on campus is “one tap, one entrance” so that we close the door behind us and the people that follow also have to tap in to access the buildings. So it’s essentially a new standard of politeness where we are active participants in keeping the community safe and healthy.
Forming a robust channel for service restart observations and feedback
The team discussed creating a simple daily feedback form to be used by all folks working on campus during the services restart so that we can attend to any urgent issues and make sure there is follow through and transparency on what’s happening. The form will capture both what worked well, and what could be improved about the on-campus experience and providing service. Once the form is ready we will share it and the process for reporting. For this week, for the volunteers on campus, please use local work team processes to report any issues.
All the best,
Tracy, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Hi everyone,
Just want to start with a quick thanks to all of you who respond to the many requests for content that Ned and I send out: selfies, shelfies, WFH portraits, pet photos, video appearances, and more. We couldn’t do what we do without your contributions. Now, on to the updates!
TL;DR
EHS Meeting with Library Staff on Aug. 27
Tolga Durak of EHS and Joe Higgins, vice president for campus services and stewardship, will join us for a meeting with library staff about preparations for returning to work on campus. Tolga and Joe can answer questions about building/facility access and safety measures. The meeting will follow the same format as the session with Suzanne Blake. Please watch for an Outlook invite and submit questions here.
MIT Medical COVID Testing
Medical has a new trailer and tent for testing and has significantly cut down on wait times. They tested 1,800 people yesterday, and wait times were 15 mins or shorter. Results are coming in within 24 hours. The expectation is that MIT will be testing approximately 2,000 people a day.
Please see this blog post Felicity wrote for more information on testing and coming to campus. Feel free to reach out to Maria at mariar@mit.edu if you have any questions.
ITS Equipment Form
If you retrieve equipment from your office, please fill out this form to let ITS know.
(For staff who already emailed ITS, no need to use the form.)
HR Questions
HR staff have received several questions about commuting, office retrieval, and testing and what counts as work time. Please see answers here. This document can be found on the Staff Web Administrative Services guide under the COVD19 tab, in the “Work from Home Resources” section.
New Course: 7.00 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 and the Pandemic
If you have a personal interest in learning more about the coronavirus, a new biology class at MIT is opening up lectures to the public. Join Professors Richard Young and Facundo Batista as they discuss the science of the pandemic. Special guest speakers include: Anthony Fauci, David Baltimore, Britt Glaunsinger, Bruce Walker, Eric Lander, Michel Nussenzweig, Akiko Iwasaki, Arlene Sharpe, Kizzmekia Corbett, and others. The class will run Sept. 1 - Dec. 8 and begin each Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. ET.
Be well,
Brigham, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Hi Everyone,
During this pandemic, two big sides of my personality have been warring. My astrological sign is Cancer, and therefore I have A LOT of feelings. I am also Boston Irish, so I want to hit those feelings with a hammer, bury them under a gravel pit and make a joke about them ever existing. I decided to err on the side of feelings here because I’ve seen how the stress of this situation is wearing on everyone, and I want to acknowledge that. At the same time, I want to acknowledge the wisdom, skill, expertise and heart this community brings. We’re moving imperfectly through a world that is on fire and I want to express my gratitude for you all. This is really hard, and it’s impacting us unequally. But this community is full of brilliant, talented people, and I believe that we will continue to solve problems and support each other as we do, even if that means we occasionally butt heads for the greater good.
TL;DR
Here is a direct link to the most up-to-date information on COVID-19 testing. COVID testing hours go until 5 p.m. today, 8/19 and 5 a.m.–5 p.m. tomorrow, 8/20. Reports say that the line is moving faster as well with closer to 15-minute wait times. For the most up-to-date information on all COVID-related news from MIT, check here: https://now.mit.edu/
Here is the link to the recording of the meeting with Suzanne Blake, Director of MIT Emergency Management. There are also notes in the original questions document (Thanks Sue!) here. Here are the links to the documents Suzanne shared in her presentation:
https://covid19.mit.edu/sites/default/files/files/MIT-Campus-Op-Phase-Matrix.pdf
https://covid19.mit.edu/sites/default/files/files/MIT-Phase-Matrix-Functions.pdf
--Shannon
P.S Please enjoy this picture of my sister’s cats who have decided to quit their day jobs and accept their dream job as spokesmodels for toilet showrooms.
Good afternoon all,
I hope everyone is having a good start to the week, and enjoying the relatively nice weather. I also hope that everyone is able to indulge in the small things in life that bring us joy and contentment.
For me, and now that I can’t really play much soccer, watching a good soccer match is a sort of consolation and next best thing. I am a fan of the European Champions League, and it just so happens that last week, my favorite soccer club growing up: Bayern Munich, crushed another giant of the European soccer: FC Barcelona! The final score you ask? 8 goals to 2!!
I know we have some soccer fans in the libraries, and this may ruffle some feathers, but I am sure we can have a calm and reasonable conversation about it :)
Ok, on to the updates from this morning’s Emergency Management Team meeting.
TL&DR:
The details:
Good morning, MIT Libraries!
A large cohort of Libraries folx have joined this week’s National Anti-Racism Teach-In, hosted by BC High - it’s been immersive, thought-provoking, and wonderful thus far, with a great slate of speakers. We’ve been compiling a running list of links to everyone’s socials and landing pages - sharing here for all to follow:
And - the conference organizers shared out a NART playlist of the songs they’re playing between sessions, and it is :fire:!
Over on the pandemic response front, here’s the latest information from this morning’s Emergency Management meeting:
Thanks all, Heather
Hi all,
Today’s message is going to be short and sweet. Like these red pandas.
Did you know that when they feel threatened, red pandas extend to their full height to look more ferocious?
We’ll be having our community check-in today at 11am and we hope to see everyone there!
Agenda:
Best, Felicity
Hi all,
Today seems like a good day for iced tea or some other cool and refreshing treat. Sometimes I wish my keyboard would turn into an ice cream sandwich and I’d find myself having a nice snack in the middle of the workday.
TLDR:
The details:
We anticipate folks will have a lot of questions about where we are with restart planning. We have an all-staff community meeting on Thursday 8/6 at 11am, where we’ll aim to address some of your most pressing questions. So the EMGMT team can prioritize and gather information before the meeting, and share as complete and helpful responses as possible please add your questions to this shared google doc by 9am on Thursday.
Stephanie Toews Moeling will facilitate the meeting on Thursday, and she’ll start with the questions you’ve shared in advance. If there is additional time, she’ll also take questions in the meeting (or if it’s a direct follow up to answers provided in-meeting). We anticipate you’ll have some questions we won’t be able to answer this Thursday - in a lot of cases, the EMGMT team is still waiting on guidance from MIT, and information is changing/emerging rapidly. Given those constraints, the list of questions will be a useful indicator of what is most important to staff, and where we should focus on gathering the most information for you..
As stated before, questions about your manager’s expectations of your work schedule and location should be discussed with your manager. Questions related to your personal constraints, possible accommodations, or other concerns can be discussed privately with Library HR (lib-hr@mit.edu) or our HR Officer Diane Stacey-Wood (dianesw@mit.edu).
Best, Sue
Hi all,
Have you ever made a list of the ways dear ones in your life would be able to know that an alien presence had taken you over? My short list includes things like:
So, um, did you all see Mike Yastrzemski end The Game in style last night?! He hit two homers and gave the Giants a walk-off win over the Padres! Mike Yastrzemski being, of course, the grandson of the Boston baseball legend, Hall of Famer and Triple Crown winner Carl Yastrzemski. No worries, I’m still me! I’m just sharing this sports news because it so obviously delighted our own Chris Bourg who was looking for some sports fan comradery this morning (it may have been experienced as a little thin on the ground…sorry, Chris). I’ve been thinking a lot about fandom this week because I watched a great documentary, Queering the Script, which was about tv fandom and representation. It made me think about how loving something, investing in stories together, sharing as fans, can unite people and fill us up even/especially in hard times. The delight of having your team succeed or seeing some unique element of your experience be represented in a tv show and the compounded joy of connecting with others who share in the pleasure of that—it’s a wonderful thing. I hope you can all find some delights and connections through engaging with something meaningful to you today! And may there also be ice cream in your near future. And should you want to chat about the many excellent qualities of my cat, please Slack me. Simple pleasures, people, simple pleasures.
Ok, and now onto the news.
TLDR:
The details:
Our next Community Meeting will be scheduled for August 6 @ 11am and an agenda is forthcoming.
Maria will be sending out a Google form today which will allow you to request your one time access to campus to pick up items needed in your work spaces. Please consider your need carefully and let’s all be cognizant of complexities involved in this planning effort. Thanks, Maria—
We expect new MIT-wide guidance on staff returning to campus to do work that can’t be done remotely to be issued very soon. We have not seen an advance copy, so unfortunately can’t yet provide any details. As soon as we know more, we will pass that information along, and if the new guidance comes out before our Community Meeting on August 6, we will certainly talk about it at that meeting.
Friends,
Day three of the heat wave in week twenty of the lockdown of year four of the Trump administration, and I’M BEAT. I basically just want to lie on a chaise longue and eat the black bean brownies that Renee posted in the cooking thread the other day. I want to immerse myself in a good novel (currently reading On Beauty by Zadie Smith but taking suggestions) and drink bourbon slushes topped with prosecco (ping me for recipe). In short, I need a vacation from this madness. My vacation will come in time (September, why are you so far away?), and I hope you are planning one, too.
TL;DR-
Details:
That’s what we got for this Tuesday, folks.
Stay hydrated.
Hello, hello!
I don’t have anything clever to say today, so here is a pic of a cat dressed as a minion.
Moving on.
TL:DR
Details below; read on, Macduff.
Be well!
Hi all,
Hope everyone is staying cool. Anyone else excited/curious/desperate for the start of Covid-era baseball this week? Will you be cheering/booing virtually?
Here’s the latest from the Emergency Management Team:
TL;DR:
More details:
July 16, 2020 Email - Shannon Hunt
Hi Everyone,
Today is a slow news day for the Emergency Management Team, so no updates on that front, but here’s an update from me/NASA:
COMET!
NEOWISE is cruising 70 Million miles away from us and is visible with the naked eye, though binoculars are helpful if you want to see the tail. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you’re feeling about the current state of things) NEOWISE is too far away to destroy the earth or turn people into dust/zombies a la “Night of the Comet,” a sci fi/horror/comedy movie that I saw when I was way too young and obviously haunts me to this very day.
Here is how to see NEOWISE, as it won’t be back for another 6,800 years, and the last time we had a comet this bright was Hale-Bopp in the 90s. Luckily nothing weird happened around Hale-Bopp so I’m sure this will be fine too.
Hi everyone,
Here are the latest updates from the Emergency Management Team.
TL&DR:
The details:
In addition to these updates that we share via email, more information is available and accessible anytime at these links:
Hi all,
My engagement with the Emergency Management Team is new so please bear with me as I get up to speed writing descriptive intros, witty comments, and thoughtful connections. It’s Thursday and the humid summer weather reminds me of growing up in New Jersey and going to the local farm stand with my dad to buy Jersey corn and tomatoes for dinner on hot evenings (yes, New Jersey is called for the Garden State for a reason). I’m grateful the local farmers markets in the area have opened and I hope to indulge in some fresh produce and enjoy it outside in this sticky mess before the storms roll in...and now let’s talk about things related to the Thunder Committee!
TLDR;
The details:
Just a brief update today.
Updates from Chris:
Update from Tracy:
I hope everyone has a great long weekend and enjoys the time off.
It’s a cooler day in the neighborhood! Or, at least, in my neighborhood in western Massachusetts -- I hope it is equally beautiful out there further east (or wherever you may be!)
TLDR;
The Details;
Now that schools are out and we head towards the long early July weekend and bask in summer heat, we know that summer brings a mix of joy and complications, particularly for those of you with children but also for all for us trying to live lives and do work in this odd and difficult time. We encourage you to find the balance that you can.
The Thunder Committee had its first meeting today. This is the group that Chris is chairing to develop plans for non-lab research ramp-up in the Institute. They formed a Libraries, Museums, and Archives subcommittee and Tracy is our representative. Other sub-committees will focus on Human Subjects Research; Access to Secure Data, Computing, and other Equipment; Research Travel; and Individual Office Access. Chris has also been invited to the Legal, Equitable, and Ethical Committee (LEE - a group charged with oversight of these issues for MIT’s proposed operations during COVID19) meeting this afternoon.
Next week’s Community Meeting will be July 2nd @11:30, just before the long weekend. Agenda forthcoming.
And, finally, a reminder about today’s open hours with Chris, Stephanie, and Tracy on the budget: June 25th @ 2:00 pm, https://mit.zoom.us/j/91946457152. Bring your comments and questions!
Thanks and take care,
Erin, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Libraries update for Thursday, 2020-06-18
Greetings, Libraries staff!
A huge, huge, rousing THANK YOU to the R&R Committee for the fun and festive Infinite Mile ceremony this morning - you made the event special, and created a welcoming virtual space for our community to gather and celebrate. And congratulations to our Infinite Mile award winners (and thank you to our nominators and everyone who joined the celebration!) - you’re all the true heart and soul of the Libraries.
And now, on to the updates!
TL;DR (“Too long; didn’t read:”):
WWTLV;PFD! (“We want the long version; paragraphs for days!”):
Thanks, everyone!
Cheers,
Heather, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Greetings all, and welcome to week 14.
It’s been a busy couple of weeks, so I’ll just jump in and start with some nice news about the upcoming holiday ...
TLDR;
The details:
As you likely saw this morning, the Institute will close July 3 to July 6. Just to be clear, the Libraries will also be closed. This means virtual services (Ask, RT, Digprob) will be NOT staffed, but DLS is equipped to respond to any systems’ emergency or failure.
As you might have seen MIT is starting to lay the groundwork to enable DLC’s start to bring staff on campus for MIT’s Phase 1. This document provides information for all staff on how the Institute plans to handle cleaning, access to campus/buildings, testing protocols, parking, childcare and more. This is a tremendously useful and thoughtful document and it will be used by the Physical Collections and Spaces group (described in the April 16 email to all staff) as we plan the Libraries phased reintroduction of services.
Please note the Libraries are NOT part of this phase for the Institute. The Libraries Phase 1 that Tracy described in her June 8th email is still in planning stages and has no start date assigned at this time. Managers for all services areas (ID&LA, Music, DDC, ITS, A&A) will work together to propose detailed staffing and workflow proposals for the Services Synthesis Team and SRLT to review, understand impacts and make final choices from.
**Please note, I’ve attached the 2 emails referenced above so you can easily refer to them.
**These attachments were the All-Lib emails from Tracy Gabridge on 4/8/20 and 4/16/20
The team has decided that, for now at least, we can cut back on our meetings (and hence, these emails) to 2 times per week - just so no one thinks they’re missing anything. For next week, out of respect for the meeting free week we currently plan to meet only once.
Felicity, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Hi all and happy Thursday.
I hope this finds you all well as can be.
Yesterday was a deep, focused and quite serious day of #ShutDownAcademia #ShutDownSTEM overall for me, but there was one particular moment of extreme joy that I will share here in hopes that it will offer the same to you. My partner was clicking around #BlackinSTEM hashtags and happened across the brilliant @soFISHtication who offers the most spirited #animalfacts TikTok videos. We paused to watch a number of them together and really smiled and laughed and learned. You know when someone is doing exactly the thing that most gives them life and in exactly the best possible way? That’s @soFISHtication. I’m remembering that early on in these (then daily) emergency team messages I thought of them as ship’s logs. Well, if ever I were on a ship, this is the person I would 100% want onboard to narrate our mola mola sightings.
May you all sail smoothly today --
TLDR;
The details:
Chris will be chairing the Non-Lab Research Ramp-Up Committee for MIT. Meetings will begin soon and the committee charge will be coming next week. This will be an important group for planning service reintroductions on campus and Chris’s role will help serve the Institute broadly and position the Libraries well in these planning activities.
Elaine Construction has requested we keep Building 14 empty of staff until the end of August in order to continue their rapid progress on the renovation work. This request has been approved by Chris & Tracy. SHASS has also agreed to this for the other residents in building 14. Staff may still enter Building 14 to retrieve materials that aren’t in the construction zone but they would not occupy Building 14 for steady work. We are very aware that this has implications for how we may reintroduce key services such as imaging of distinctive collections materials. Exploration of and planning for alternatives will begin now that we understand these new constraints and more news will be forthcoming.
Are you getting excited for Infinite Mile awards? It’s coming right up and let’s send out lots of gratitude to the R&R team for all their good work to plan this big event in these strange times. Thanks all!
Senior Leadership Team will discuss today and determine how to integrate one of our regularly scheduled community check-in around the Infinite Mile, so stay tuned.
Emilie, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Hello everybody,
Welcome to week 13 of work from home.
Did you all catch the profile of Kaija Langley and Lanita Foley in Sunday’s Boston Globe? Grace Kindeke’s voice was featured as well this weekend in Nashua. We work with the most amazing people.
TLDR;
The details:
Data coming from MIT
In the last month MIT has run a number of ways to get community input including: the 2020 option feedback form, Pulse Survey, Student Preference Survey, small group discussions, charettes, several town hall events, and they’ve received a report from the Undergraduate Association on their recommendations for the upcoming academic year. There is a huge effort underway to bring all of those inputs into a coherent set of themes and recommendations. Stay tuned as MIT shares the results in the weeks ahead.
No community check in meeting this week
Due to the schedule load from the R&L AD interviews, we won’t add a community meeting to the load. We’ll be back at it next week.
New member for the Emergency Management Team
Sue Kriegsman is joining the group because of her new interim responsibilities for liaison to MIT Labor Relations.
Service reintroduction framework coming
Later today we will share the high level framework for service restarts as the summer progresses. No dates have yet been decided, but we want to give folks a sense of what to expect when we do get started.
PPE
Maria Rodrigues has been attending meetings with EHS about many topics including what PPE the campus will provide. While it is allowed and expected that folks can bring their own masks when the time comes to be on campus, we are investigating what else we need to have on hand and how to acquire it.
Tracy, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Friends,
Today’s message is quite brief:
Best,
STM on behalf of EMGMT
Hi Everyone,
June is Pride Month, and given the state of our nation and the world, it’s hard to feel like celebrating. However, though Pride has become corporatized, its roots lie with activists like Marsha P. Johnson, a Black drag queen who, according to one retelling of the events, hurled a shot glass at a mirror in the Stonewall Inn yelling “I got my civil rights!” It was the shot glass heard round the world, and an important reminder that change is possible. But those of us with privilege should not leave the changemaking to oppressed people. It’s up to white people to educate ourselves and take action against white supremacy and systemic racism. Here’s a great book to get started with: So you Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo. And, in celebration of Pride, here’s a fantastic memoir by Saeed Jones on “growing up Black, gay, and Southern in the nineties and early two-thousands,” How We Fight for Our Lives.
Today’s Update:
At the Academic Continuity Work Group Meeting (attended by Chris), a preliminary assessment of the quantitative feedback from the Team2020 survey was shared. Initial takeaways are listed at the end of this email.
Secondly, we’ve received questions about the weekly(ish) community meeting and wanted to provide some clarity on process:
Please feel free to ask anyone on the Emergency Management Team if you have questions about our processes! Our intent is not to be mysterious (I personally am not cool enough to be mysterious) but we realize that it’s not always possible for us on the team to see how confusing some of our practices may seem.
In solidarity,
Shannon, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Hello everyone,
We only have a couple of updates from today’s Emergency Management Team meeting.
With compassion.
Mohamed, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Good Afternoon Everyone,
Today we have a very short message.
I hope you all are enjoying the hot weather.
Maria on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
For my SECOND email to all-lib, I get to send today’s Emergency Management Team message! On the day before the day before the long weekend, I offer you an Origami Satisfying GIF @ https://giphy.com/gifs/satisfying-origami-BU5j1oVls8rXG. I hope you have a glorious holiday weekend filled with lots of sunshine -- no zoom calls -- and warm weather!
TL;DR:
Community Meeting agenda
Today 1:00-1:30
https://mit.zoom.us/j/97710486253
Safe, gradual return to campus for graduate students
While plans for undergrad classes in the fall are still very unknown and undecided, an email went out to graduate students yesterday outlining a phased return of graduate students living in on-campus housing. The Emergency Management Team is sharing this example of the thoughtful, incremental approach by the administration as further context for Libraries’ planning.
Friday, May 22
1:00 – 2:00 pm Eastern time
Audio only call-in line:
Closed captioning will be available.
Greetings, MIT Libraries!
Here is our Emergency Management Team message for Wednesday, May 20, 2020 (I’ll keep it simple today).
TL;DR:
A little more info on the “Reopening Massachusetts” plan and its implications for MIT, and for the Libraries...
Thanks all, happy Wednesday!
Heather on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Hello everyone,
Welcome to week 10! I hope everyone is doing okay?
As we continue to work from home into our third month, I thought I would share this podcast about how to show up for yourself (I promise it’s brief).
Personally, I am struggling with exhaustion on every level, and while I intellectually understand where this is coming from (uncertainty fatigue, cabin fever, limitless sources of anxiety all competing for my attention), I am struggling to find or build the tools I need to cope right now. I found the reminders, not just to be aware of the easily overlooked good stuff, but to also be vigilant against the drains on our energy really helpful. Being mindful takes practice and it affects both what I focus on (playing games with my family, videos of our new grandniece giggling, the birds singing, this Twitter post by local talent Chris Evans with his dog Dodger) and what I choose to let go of (things I don’t control, like internet trolls and rain).
TL;DR
Planning for fall and beyond:
As you saw in the email from President Reif, MIT is continuing to refine and evaluate scenarios for fall and beyond. Work is underway to begin testing how to repopulate campus, starting with laboratory research staff who both need to be on campus to do their work and whose being on campus can be made safe at that level of density. The results of these efforts will be made available to other DLCs to inform their planning. In addition, MIT will be hosting a number of activities In order to learn from the input, experiences and ideas of its faculty, students, and staff. The full list is available in the email, but of particular focus for the libraries:
The Libraries encourages staff to participate in these activities. As always, please check with your manager to ensure that individual time and workloads make your participation feasible.
MIT plans to increase the frequency of communications on this topic, some aimed at students who are keenly interested in how MIT’s “hands on” teaching could translate reasonably and safely to a future that includes the need for remote or socially distanced modes.
Facilities is working with the Libraries to enable on campus book returns:
A book drop has been moved to outside the doors of Lobby 7 to enable returns from users who may need to leave campus soon. Maria has been partnering with campus mail to make sure books will be moved into the Libraries daily. This should also diminish the number of returns by mail from our graduating students (details are being finalized on this too) and reduce stress for many of our users.
If this location is not accessible for users, they may also place books in specific interdepartmental mail receptacles that are in service:
Books returned to mail receptacles do not need to be packaged - campus mail services will know where to return the items.
Thanks to everyone for your continued hard work and perseverance!
Best regards - Felicity, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Happy Thursday, all! Sun is shining, I’ve got three Zyrtec in my system, and tonight I am planning to bake garam masala cupcakes with coconut frosting and a cascade of toasty coconut shreds on top for a friend’s birthday tomorrow, so I’m feeling cheery as can be! How are you?
Speaking of cheer, DDC collaborated under the great guidance of Grace Johnson-DeBaufre to build a cheering playlist on Friday. It’s a wild ride of joy and you can shimmy along in your office chair/couch cushion/deck lounger/bed/wherever you find yourself at work these days: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/68gGTa71xoAq2pe8lXk3Ty?si=6f2HR5jiRx6li1mrd3KOYQ
I was struck by this quote from a recent Pitchfork interview with Tessa Thompson, “I’m sitting with the feeling of being really undone by circumstance, and it’s nice to have a soundtrack to that. I can’t remember another moment where it felt like I needed music as much as everybody else did at the same time, for similar reasons.”
Music and the community around it has always been really important to me and I’ve noticed a great uptick in making and sharing playlists lately--it’s a good way to get through. Tonight as I bake I’ll be listening to a buddy’s “Quarantunes” playlist. The experience will be 1 part dance as I bake, 1 part connection to friends through the act of sharing music and creating food, and 1 (critical) part drowning out my partner’s ukulele practice*...
*Please note I am truly supportive of my partner, of the uke, and of practice! It’s just that I think even the most tolerant person would find themselves challenged by week three of the attempted perfection of Taylor Swift’s “Shake it off;” the ukulele carries this venture with...difficulty.
TL;DR
Too Short; Just Join Us for Community Check-in!
https://mit.zoom.us/j/98917048174
Agenda for the community check in:
Emilie Hardman
Happy Wednesday, all. In the spirit of Cookies with Canines, which would have been tomorrow, I hope you can take a break for a delicious snack (I might try some of these ways to zhuzh up mac ‘n’ cheese) and/or a dose of animal cuteness (even a virtual one).
TL;DR:
More details:
Time has no meaning anymore, but what do we know about timing?
While Governor Baker’s current stay-at-home order for Massachusetts expires May 18, MIT has announced that the campus will continue its limited operations. Decisions about fall scenarios are still pending at the Institute level, and they estimate decisions will be made by late June or early July. The Emergency Management Team is confident that Libraries staff will continue our current all-remote situation at least through the end of June.
Space planning for the fall
Chris and Tracy met with the Space Planning Working Group on Monday evening and plan to coordinate closely with that group on any and all possible scenarios for use of library spaces and/or possible future limited on-campus library work. Professor Rafi Segal (Department of Architecture) and Greg Raposa, space administrator in the Office of the Provost, will be the primary contacts from this group for the Libraries.
Any future return to limited on-campus library work will happen in a very different way from the way we all left campus -- we have the benefit of both time and MIT’s experience with limited campus occupancy since mid-March to allow us to plan carefully. Under any scenario for a limited reintroduction of services and return to limited on-campus work, our goal will be to limit the on-site staffing required to the minimum necessary to provide core services in direct support of essential research, teaching, and learning activities at MIT.
See you at the community check in! Agenda to come.
(That’s it.)
Best,
Brigham, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
P.S. Please note that our organized staff should remember that they are now represented by AFSCME with regard to their compensation, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. If they have any concerns in these areas, they should first discuss them with their union representatives.
Hello everybody,
Welcome to week 9!
Being a fan of tabletop games I finally figured out how to play a few of them online with far-flung friends and family after being inspired by many in the Libraries who already actively do this. We were able to play Settlers of Catan, Splendor, Dominion, and Codenames this weekend. While nothing replaces the joy of getting together face-to-face to play, this was a worthy substitute that broadened the circle of folks to play with. It was a fun Mother’s Day.
TLDR;
More details, where applicable:
Quarantining library materials:
The Northeast Document Conservation Center has issued guidelines for handling materials that are returned or handled by community members, based on research finding. Tests are showing that quarantining materials for 72 hours, without disinfection interventions, is sufficient for safely handling materials. We can use this information as we plan for our gradual, eventual move back to campus.
Scenario Planning for reopening
In the past few weeks the MIT planning groups have shifted their energy towards what it will take to restart various aspects of campus life. Likewise the Emergency Planning Team is shifting focus. We are beginning to imagine what could be the first of campus-based services we could restart as safety and conditions allow. Chris and Tracy will be meeting with the MIT Space Planning Continuity Team this evening to learn more about how the campus is planning for reopening spaces to staff and under what conditions. As this work starts gaining momentum, we will determine and communicate processes, objectives, and ways to provide input.
Emergency Management Team membership update:
As we begin to shift the team’s work toward reopening scenario planning we are making some adjustments to team membership. Erin Stalberg is joining the team as its newest member. Welcome Erin! Coming off the team is Jana Dambrogio. Jana has been instrumental during our move from campus and the initial weeks - working tirelessly to make sure that collections were protected and that we got plans in place to handle incidents with them while we work from home. She’s also been inventing creative ways to use easily available materials in the Conservation Lab to create face shields. Thank you Jana for all of your contributions to the team!
Upcoming: Ways for graduating community members to return books
Like our Ivy Plus partners, the Libraries are working out how to help graduating graduate and undergraduates return materials. ID&LA is working on a plan for dealing with the estimated 2,500 items currently checked out.
All the best,
Tracy on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
My friends,
It is now week seven and I’m worried about creating a deep quarantine rut. I am trying to branch out from unhealthy levels of social media, but it’s really hard when the sun seems to be playing peekaboo behind Wuthering Heights-level weather. At any rate, I’m reduced to basically communicating in memes, so here’s one that describes my current state.
I fed buttered toast with jam to both wolves this morning.
Below are the notes from today’s meeting. Please take care of yourselves today, and remember that next week is a meeting free week. We will NOT be having emergency management meetings next week and there will NOT be any daily messages sent. We will, however, send out urgent information, as needed.
TL:DR
Webinar details
Official MIT communications
Agenda for the community check in @ 2pm today - 04/29:
Clarification on the COVID Sick Time designation
Hello Libraries’ Folks-
Welcome to week 7! We decided, in this morning’s Emergency Management Team meeting, that it’s “Lucky Week 7,” and I’m going whole-hog in on that. Share your good luck news! I got lucky over the weekend when my brother did a Zoom tutorial for me on how to sew a better face mask than the ones I was making; did you know that the twisties from coffee bags can be hot-glued into masks so that they fit better around your nose?!?
Here are the highlights from today’s Emergency Management team meeting:
TL;DR:
The details:
Hang in there, wash your hands, and be well!
Rachael, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Good morning!
I hope you are all hanging in, and I look forward to seeing many of you soon at the community meeting. Has anyone cut bangs yet? If you ever wanted to try out a mullet, now is the time to do it. While I have not given myself bangs yet (not ready for the ‘Teddy Roosevelt’s Moustache but on my forehead look’ yet) I have been working on some of the projects I’ve been putting off, most of which involve excessive contact paper and super glue.
Today’s message is actually an agenda for the Community Meeting:
Agenda:
For the third bullet, sadly we won’t be able to celebrate our graduating student workers like we normally do, so Brigham is going to lead us in a big group Thank You which we’ll share with them in video form. This portion of the meeting will be recorded (obviously).
Take care, and see you soon!
-Shannon – on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
P.S. Sophie is not AT ALL impressed with my cacti contact papering of the hand-me-down credenza my stepmother gave me, and I bet you my stepmother won’t be super impressed when she sees it either. But thanks to social distancing, that could be a very long way out!
Good afternoon colleagues,
Welcome to week…, wait, what week is it again? Well, I think I am just going to switch to months at this point! So I know it’s been more than a month but less than two months, so let’s call it: month 1.x.
I hope everyone had a long and restful weekend, and that you were able to relax and recharge. I also hope that this week, which is supposed to be short, on paper, actually feels short!
One thing that is different for me, and for most of you I am sure, is that I don’t have to commute to work! Not having to spend almost two hours on the red line every day, has opened up many possibilities for me. One of the things I get to do a bit more of is meditation, and today I am reflecting on a quote by Rumi: “You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean, in a drop”.
And with that, here are the highlights from today’s Emergency Management Team meeting:
TL;DR:
The details:
MIT-wide updates:
Electrical transfer switch in NE36:
Review of policy on purchasing equipment to support at home work:
Update on the new VPN service:
Mohamed - on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Hello to my Libraries’ Peeps-
How are you all, out there in virtual land? I miss seeing your faces and sharing snacks, listening to bad Dad jokes, solving problems together, and having people pop into my office for chocolate. It’s just not the same here at home, although we have had some excitement on the home front: my son and I mastered sourdough starter and have been baking like mad. Some of you may appreciate our humor:
TL:DR-
Some MIT-wide updates include:
Scenario Planning:
Construction Update
Wishing you all good health, an excess of TP, and maintenance of sanity.
Rachael, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Friends,
Good day and welcome to Week Five (5)! You made it, if by the skin of your teeth. Last night, I decided that I would FINALLY overcome whatever it is that has prevented me from getting up early and exercising. That I would get up and do hair and makeup, and eat a healthy breakfast for good energy all day. Well, my dog Gus woke me up every three hours last night because he had belly issues that needed walks to resolve, and my plans went out the window as I overslept and then ate leftover chocolate cake for breakfast. And you know what? It’s okay; I’m okay. I hope you had chocolate cake, too; and if you didn’t, give it a whirl. It turns a frown upside-down.
TL:DR-
Some MIT-wide updates include:
Emgmt-Lib Communication Update:
Hopefully all of you had the opportunity to use the Mental Health Day last Friday or have a planned day not too far in the future. I used the day to do nothing more complex than a jigsaw puzzle, which I completed in less than 24 hours. (Yes, that’s a brag.) However, I think that I may need more mental health days than just that one. But how to do it? Here’s a DIY and a bit of technical HR info that you can use to your advantage.
I’m considering taking Fridays off for a while because I just got two new puzzles and I am on a streak! (Also pictured here: chocolate cake plate from breakfast.)
Okay, that’s all the news that’s fit to print. I hope you all are happier than the gray skies that seem to be perpetually overhead. I send my warmest wishes to you all!
Stephanie on behalf of the Emgmt team
Hello all,
I hope you’re having a good Wednesday and wish a happy Passover to all who are celebrating.
Yesterday my dog, Luna, had her first taste of pizza when I dropped a half-eaten slice on the ground. It’s important to savor those small moments of pure joy right now, and I hope you all get to enjoy your version of floor pizza today.
TL;DR
More details:
The Provost has approved contributions from DLCs’ discretionary funds of up to $2,000, and the Libraries will make a contribution to the fund. Those of you who are able may consider making a gift as well. Once there are enough funds in the account, the Work/Life Office will solicit applications.
There will be additional town halls with more interactive formats. Questions are still being accepted at this address: MITtownhallQs@mit.edu
Be well, Brigham on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Hey all--here we are on a sunny Tuesday and I’m imagining a different morning--one where maybe I biked into work and the sun was on my face and the wind in my hair. Sometimes it’s these little moments of normal which seem so out of reach and far away that make me a bit melancholic. You?
Should you need to lean in a bit, you could do worse than celebrate the inimitable Billy Holiday (1915-1959) today, as it would have been her birthday. Get some glorious sun on your skin and let some shadows play across you too as you listen...
Billie Holiday’s burned voice
had as many shadows as lights,
a mournful candelabra against a sleek piano,
the gardenia her signature under that ruined face.
Rita Dove in "Canary" from Grace Notes (1989)
Not a lot of substance to report today, but some nice highlights--
TL;DR
The details:
Interesting/good/fun!
President Reif town hall meeting today April 7, 4-5:15 p.m.
Succession planning for the Libraries
Enjoy your days, all. Take care of yourselves and each other.
Emilie, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Hello Libraries’ Colleagues, and happy Monday!
Tracy noted in the Emergency Management Team meeting this morning that we are on week 4, which was simultaneously hard for me to believe and hard to remember what life was like when we actually went to campus… I don’t know about you, but I am losing all sense of time. Thankfully, the blooming trees remind me that spring is coming (as does my chicken soup bubbling on my stove for Passover).
TL;DR
The details:
Looking for a laugh? A friend sent me this over the weekend and I’ve enjoyed it several times. If you like quieter humor, my go-to pick me up is the cat fail, which I’ve kept in my back pocket for many years now.
Enjoy the sunshine, everyone!
Rachael, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Happy Friday all!
Here are today’s updates.
TL;DR
More details:
April 10th - a Libraries Mental Health Day
At yesterday’s community check in Chris announced that the Libraries will have a mental health day where staff are encouraged to spend the day in self care. We will be providing services to the community so all staff who need to work on April 10th can discuss with their managers an alternate day to take.
Continuity planning for managers
Suzanne Blake, Director of Emergency Management, is sending out continuity planning guidelines for managers soon. The AD team will be sending out information to managers for Libraries’ specific planning. Part 1 will be to determine leadership continuity for every manager and work team. Part 2 will be to plan for service continuity.
MIT Medical is launching a research study of COVID-19 spread
MIT Medical is launching a COUHES approved study of the spread of COVID-19 in residential higher education settings. Participation in the study is voluntary for students, staff, and faculty who are currently living/working on campus; and over 200 students have already volunteered for rapid COVID-19 testing and study participation. Results from this research will contribute to our understanding of the disease, how it spreads in college residential settings, and will help us flatten the curve in our community. More information is likely to be available from MIT and MIT Medical soon.
Guidance on computer security while WFH from Information Technology Service
Mohamed and his team are preparing a comprehensive WFH documentation to help us maintain systems and technology infrastructure security. This will cover the safety and security of personal computing devices, best practices and behaviors to stay safe online, and the measures we need everyone to understand and actively follow in order to keep our critical enterprise systems and tools we all rely on to do our work, safe and secure.
Also related to this is making sure staff use the VPN when connecting to our systems, this helpful grid provides guidance for when the use of VPN is required: WFH Decision chart for Remote Desktop and VPN.
Digital Access to Collections, Expanded
MIT Libraries has received approval to turn on HathiTrust Emergency Temporary Access. This program will expand well on the many and varied efforts to provide an increased number of digital resources to our community.
Through Iron Mountain, we will soon be able to provide digital scanning services to records held at that facility, offering our MIT records users access to pdfs of these materials.
As we head into the weekend, I share with you with a quote that hangs on my fridge and reminds me of one sweet approach to living life:
“We must remember three things,” he said to them,
“I will tell them to you in the order of their importance.
“Number one and first in importance,
we must have as much fun as we can with what we have.
“Number two, we must eat as well as we can,
because if we don’t we won’t have the health and strength
to have as much fun as we might.
“And number three and third and last in importance,
we must keep the house reasonably in order, wash the dishes, and such things.
But we will not let the last interfere with the other two.”
It comes from the appendix to Steinbeck’s The Log from the Sea of Cortez, entitled “About Ed Ricketts.”
Thank you for showing up, working, and being present. I am looking forward to the moment when we can have as much fun as we can while eating well — in person together. Until then, I wish you a peaceful and calm weekend, and we’ll see each other virtually on Monday.
Truly, Jana on behalf of all the members of the Libraries’ Emergency Management Team
Hello everybody,
As we’ve made the shift to working from home and shifted our service portfolio to be focused on what we can do online, the AD Team has been thinking through how to express our priorities for this short term, melding both our new reality with some of our longer term projects and work.
We think this will guide some of the choices we have made as well as those that are emerging.
These are the priorities at the broadest level during our time working from home:
There will be communications over the coming days and weeks about the first broad priority and how we manage that. For the remainder of this message we want to briefly cover how the second broad priority is being manifested, particularly for the Alma Migration and the Hayden Renovation.
In each of these cases the projects are continuing but with flexibility and resiliency based on changing circumstances.
For both of these projects we will continue to put staff health, safety, and bandwidth first as we map the path forward. Please continue to look for the updates that come regularly from the project teams to get a sense of what is going on in each.
We are incredibly proud of the teamwork and camaraderie that everybody has shown as we make unprecedented shifts in our work and planning. Thank you!
Tracy and Heather
Friends,
Here we are: Thursday of week 3. I am sure we’ve all been up and down so many times now, that a dose of Dramamine might be of use. In my home, we’re trying to mitigate that with baking, cocktails, puzzles, and (this is really embarrassing) exercise videos. Honestly, the combo works to the extent that such things can suffice to make up for the lack of human contact.
TL:DR
Zoom meetings: recently a student wrote to Ian Waitz to ask that professors still honor MIT time (starting at least five minutes after the hour and ending on time) because other classes and Zoom meetings have been running over. Similarly, it is useful for us to remember that even though we don’t have to think about moving our bodies across campus to attend meetings, we do have to breathe and get our heads ready for a new meeting, and that giving a little grace time up front is a nice gesture.
Campus Preview Weekend: CPW is a critical experience for many admitted but not confirmed students. MIT’s admissions office notes that CPW is an especially important event for women, 1st generation students, and students of color, all of whom report feeling more comfortable and excited about coming to MIT after experiencing the community in person. Therefore, admissions is planning virtual activities, gaming, etc. to recreate the “chaos and exploration” of that weekend. Because we’ve got a lot going on and the Libraries tend to participate with tours of facilities that primarily appeal to parents, we are going to keep a low profile during this year’s CPW.
Chris’ financial message: Sobering financial context has come from the Provost regarding the financial outcomes of this “three pronged” (pandemic, financial, mental health) crisis. We don’t have any numbers or expectations from the Provost yet, and Chris and the leadership team are discussing how we might respond under different scenarios. We do feel, however, that Shannon’s daily message from yesterday hit the exact right note on this: be aware, try not to worry, and we’ll let you know more when we know more.
Libraries Staff Mental Health Day - Friday April 10: Chris has declared another mental health day because we need one. Managers are working to ensure virtual services are staffed for students and faculty and to ensure that everyone gets a day, even if not on the 10th. Be in touch with your manager if you have any questions, and please note timesheet suggestions below.
How to note your time: I have four things here.
#1) With regard to productivity:
#2) Support staff:
#3) Administrative staff:
#4) Be in touch with your manager and read the actual pay policies here.
With fondest regards, Stephanie on behalf of the emgmt team
*Less productive days: Listen, we get it. This is how this crisis rolls, so do what you can. We are still hoping for ⅔ productivity!
Hi Everyone,
Working in the Libraries has really brought home how important the creation, curation, and preservation of knowledge is. Even though this situation is new and frightening in many ways, I find comfort in knowing that people have faced similar challenges before. Famous plague diarist Samuel Pepys chronicled burying his Parmesan cheese to save it from fiery destruction, and today’s diarists will have a lot to say about toilet paper hoarding (note: do not hoard TP and certainly do not bury it in a hole by the Thames). I highly recommend our own Beth Barnett’s webcomic, Social Distancing, as a way to feel connected even as we self-isolate (and it’s not just because she immortalized my story about punting a turkey that made the mistake of trying to attack me during a leisurely stroll by a cemetery).
TL;DR
The less heavy stuff:
With the constant barrage of information, it’s difficult to know when the Libraries may reopen. Please keep an eye on the Libraries’ hours page. It will be updated constantly to reflect information coming from federal/state/local government agencies as well as from the Institute. The date through which we are marked “closed” will reflect these advisories. For example, yesterday Gov. Baker extended the stay-at-home advisory through May 4.
The heavy stuff:
Economic Implications of the Pandemic
Chris met with the Academic Council on Tuesday, and the meeting was focused on the long-term financial implications of the pandemic. The Institute is spending tens of millions of dollars purely on the COVID-19 response: refunding undergraduate housing and dining fees, upping IS&T budgets for licenses, continuing to pay contract labor force, even where contract labor cannot be completed, and paying hazard premiums to onsite workers. The longer we stay off campus, the more revenue we lose.
MIT’s economic experts are planning for the fallout which will come from this, and the way MIT manages its endowment and funds has ensured the availability of contingency “rainy day” funds.
This is that rainy day.
But we don’t know how long the pandemic will last. We don’t know the full extent of its impact on global markets, so can’t fully predict the long-term financial implications. We don’t know yet what will happen to the Institute, the Libraries, or to us individually.
It’s scary, and it sucks. And we wanted to acknowledge that.
It’s hard not to make assumptions in the face of uncertainty; as I mentioned at the beginning of this message, it’s human nature to look for patterns and use prior experiences to fill in gaps. I talked with staff who experienced the 2008 economic downturn in the Libraries as I thought about what to say in this message, and there are understandable fears that something similar will happen now with layoffs and furloughs. But we just don’t know what’s next, or if it will look anything like 2008.
Here’s what we do know:
I’m not going to tell you not to worry—I’m worried! But I will suggest that intense speculation on things we can’t possibly determine yet isn’t great for anyone, and fuels more fear and anxiety. Our Libraries community has been absolutely incredible during the initial part of this crisis, and I’m personally very grateful to be able to trust that we’ll continue showing up for each other as the rest unfolds.
COVID-19 Peak in MA and Contingency Planning
MIT Medical advises us that the peak of COVID-19 has likely not yet occurred in MA, but is expected soon. Leadership is working on overarching contingency planning, but all staff members should talk with their managers to plan coverage for critical tasks should they become ill or need to support someone who is ill. We unfortunately need to work under the assumption that any one of us could be absent for as much as two weeks or more.
Future Directions for Academia
There will be an end to this. Though it is in the very early stages of development, an Institute-level Task Force is being charged to think about a post-COVID academic world. Chris will serve on this group, and more information will be shared about it as soon as it becomes available.
In the face of all this anxiety and fear, I hope you’re able to find moments of peace and joy. I’m working on teaching sean nόs, or old-style Irish singing to my cat, and based on the excited pounding on the floor by my upstairs neighbors, we’ve really nailed the yodeling and nasalisation parts. Another of my favorite things are Dad jokes, so please slack me your favorites and in true Dad form, I will steal them and pretend I came up with them myself. Here is one to get us started:
Q. How did the diamond find a girlfriend?
A. Carbon dating.
Be well, or at the very least don’t stick magnets up your nose like this Astrophysicist did.
--Shannon on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Greetings, Libraries!
Today is the last day of March, and what a March it’s been. While it’s said that March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb, in our case, March 2020 has shown the resilience, creativity, spirit, and strength of the MIT Libraries community.
In that same spirit, the Libraries got a great shoutout on Twitter today from Prof. Markus Buehler, Department Head and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who said “Thank you @MITLibraries for keeping us going! You are an integral part of our continued progress in teaching and research.”
News of the day:
And, MyLife Services (our Employee Assistance Program) has put together a great COVID-19 resource page, focused on self-care, care for our children and elders, remote working and more. It’s worth a scan - plenty of useful, supportive, and community-oriented info there. MyLife also offers direct counseling services - if you find yourself hitting the wall, in need of support, or just want to talk to someone outside of your daily life, you can contact a MyLife counselor at 800-648-9557, or by email at info@kgreer.com.
Wishing everyone safety, peace, and community (and the hope that April showers will bring the hoped-for May flowers),
Heather, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Week 3, which I have (unofficially) designated “Whatever Helps You Cope” Week. WHYCW is brought to you by cookies, needlepoint projects, dog walks, and soothing British series on Netflix.*
TL;DR:
More details:
I leave you this Monday afternoon with a moment of zen.
Hang in there, Brigham on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
*Your coping strategies may vary.
Happy Friday all!
In a previous position I worked with a lot of ships’ logs and something about this time brings those to mind. End of week 2. Seas choppy, but spirits high. Lentil stores robust. Ice cream running low.
Speaking of ice cream, allow me to give you a bonus recommendation of Salted Caramel Cluster cashew ice cream--my uncontested favorite of the moment--it has made appearances in more than one Zoom call this week…mmmm. Anyway, hoping this finds you all well, enjoying a bit of this sun and looking forward to a peaceful and restorative weekend ahead.
And now, allow me to change into my cardigan and present you with updates:
TL;DR
More details:
COVID Collections: The stellar Covid Collections group, with help from User Experience and Web Services, has put together a LibGuide with expanded and free resources available from publishers during the COVID-19 closure. New resources will be added as they become available. The page is linked from the COVID-19 updates page.
And here’s a direct link: https://libguides.mit.edu/covid19closure-resources
MIT communications: Chris passed on feedback from our community check in that the timing of MIT alerts regarding COVID-19 were sometimes jarring. They appreciate the Libraries’ feedback about this timing and are making efforts to adjust.
Departmental Updates: A special edition of departmental updates focusing in on what we are working through in these extraordinary times. So much work on so many fronts continues and is evolving to meet new needs and challenges. Thanks all for your great efforts! You can view them all here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13ut3sylf0uSzAyd_houLs6Si-3Cx3ndm0WbXblixOsI/edit#heading=h.ec1uvbhrpsu0
Access to campus: Again, MIT is making every effort to truly limit the number of people on campus to those who are considered essential. It’s very sad for your plants; it’s very sad for your (my) Salted Caramel Cluster cashew ice cream that you (I) left in the freezer; it’s truly tough to not have resources that you may need to be responding to faculty or students, we know. Unfortunately, any access to campus must be definitionally critical. We ask that if you believe you have a critical need, please contact the Emergency Management Team: emgmt-lib@mit.edu.
Classes start Monday: This will be a huge change for faculty and students and all of the other people who help support classes at MIT. Libraries staff will be there to help in whatever ways we can--let’s get ready to welcome everyone “back” ...to Zoom.
Emilie Hardman
Hello Libraries’ Friends-
We’re closing in on the end of week 2! I don’t know about you, but I am ready for the weekend. Stephanie turned me on to the “The Durrells in Corfu,” which is a lovely PBS drama where nothing truly bad ever happens, and I plan to escape into it for a few hours.
On to the update for today!
TL;DR
More details:
Emergency Management Mode: Chris noted that the MIT-wide Department Heads’ meeting she’s been attending daily has started ending earlier, and we’ve seen the same thing in our Libraries’ Emergency Management Team Meeting. As folks continue to settle in for the long haul and adapt to the “new normal,” we will keep evaluating the role these daily meetings will play.
Campus Closure: Yesterday was the first day of restricted access to campus. There were over 100 one-time requests from community members to be allowed to return to campus for various reasons; most were deemed not critical and were therefore denied. If we had a longer lead time to the shutdown, we certainly could have prepared better by bringing home hardware, books, plants, etc. However, campus access is limited to ensure the security of campus buildings and to safeguard the health of remaining students and essential personnel. As Dr. Sanjay Gupta says, everyone needs to “Act is if you are carrying the virus.”
Grading: Chris reports that the Chancellors from the Ivy+ schools have come together and are working on putting out a public statement about how Pass/Fail grading during the pandemic will be considered for graduate school applications. MIT Admissions has content on their website about how they take catastrophic events into consideration.
Helping our non-student community stay connected: There is a new working group being formed under the auspices of the ICEO office and MindHandHeart with a focus on how to best help staff, faculty, researchers, and postdocs feel connected during this time of social distancing. Stay tuned for more details.
Stay safe, all of you!
Rachael on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
With thanks to everyone who has already taken their turn at sending these daily updates, today is my turn.
Dear Colleagues,
We are at Day 12 since we suspended all in-person library services and closed our physical locations. To commemorate that milestone, here are a dozen awesome highlights of things y’all have done since then (in no particular order):
It was nearly impossible to name only 12 highlights, so feel free to share additional highlights via email or slack.
I am full of gratitude for all of you, and hope everyone remains healthy and safe. I look forward to ‘seeing’ folks at tomorrow’s Community Check-In -- join us if you can!
My usual sign-off of “Cheers” seems not quite right, so …
Peace, Chris
Good afternoon everyone,
I hope you are all settling into our second week of working from home.
Todays’ topics, TLDR;
More details:
Return date to campus
Governor Charlie Baker’s Stay at Home Advisory from yesterday applies until April 8th, which is the first official guidance we’ve gotten about how long we may be working from home. While the Advisory gives us guidance for now, we also note that it is possible that our work-from-home time will extend beyond that.
Update on the 24-hour spaces
While the campus emergency planning groups were originally eager for us to reopen the 24-hour spaces in Barker and Dewey for the use of grad students, the new Advisory gives guidelines that make the plan unworkable because of not allowing groups of greater than 10 people in a space. Instead the campus is identifying empty individual offices for faculty to reserve for online teaching needs.
Volunteer staff coaches
We are so grateful for the 16 folks who volunteered to be a virtual coach to students! Their time, empathy, and support are going to be so helpful to students during this uncertain time. Thanks again to all of the volunteers! There will likely be an all-MIT call for additional volunteers coming later, so if you are interested but didn’t sign up this time, there may still be an opportunity to participate.
PPE Donation from the Libraries
The Institute put out a call for Labs and other units to donate any personal protective equipment they might have on hand for sending to local hospitals. We proudly have made supplies available from the Wunsch Lab as well as boxes of gloves that we had ordered before we left the office. We informed the appropriate folks where they could find the materials, thus not even requiring us to go on campus to make them available.
Next Community Check in
Many folks have found the Libraries Community Check Ins a good opportunity to experience community while we are all dispersed in our remote work environments. The next one is scheduled for Thursday, March 26th, at 1pm. We hope to see your bright faces there!
Thanks from faculty
To round out this edition of the daily email we’d like to share a quote via email from an MIT faculty member:
“We all hugely appreciate the creative, time-sensitive work our colleagues in the Libraries system are doing to help keep our teaching and research lives as productive and seamless as possible in these challenging times.”
All that you do makes a positive impact for MIT. Thank you for keeping the Libraries running and impactful as we adjust to changing times.
Tracy on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Hello Colleagues,
Is everyone ready for week two?? We can do this! Here is today’s daily digest.
TL-DR version:
More details:
Access to campus: As you’ll see from MIT’s updates, access to campus has been dramatically reduced. There are still some instances where key groups may need ongoing access to buildings, so there is a list for approved personnel being created. For one-time needs, there is a form being created to handle these requests. This form is expected to enable 24-hour turnaround of requests, and anyone who does go on campus will need to bring their ID as MIT Police are checking IDs for anyone on campus (both inside and outdoors). As noted in the 3/18/2020 digest, Libraries staff who have a significant need to go to campus must get approval from your manager and the emgmt-lib team before submitting your request via the MIT form.
Volunteers for supporting students: DSL, ODL, and other offices are working to recreate a support system of spontaneous adult interactions for our students in this unprecedented time. This is not academic support, but rather trying to create a fabric of a “virtual community” to support student wellbeing and success the way we all have always done in real time in our physical spaces. You have already seen the call from Chris for volunteers to provide coaches for our students. In this coaching role, volunteers would be assigned a limited group of students and be asked to check in with each of them once a week. In these check ins, coaches would provide an empathetic ear (not seeking to solve problems, though), and provide encouragement for students to take advantage of office hours, peer study groups, all other services in place for support, and provide connection to MIT. Volunteers would be provided with training for how to support students; more details will be forthcoming as they are worked out. Anyone who is interested should fill out the Google Form by 5pm today (3/23/20).
Providing Libraries’ 24/7 spaces for remaining students: In support of providing our remaining students places to study and work where they can also practice appropriate social distancing, the Libraries are working with MIT Facilities to reopen Barker and Dewey 24/7 spaces. All the work to make this happen will be done by Facilities, not Libraries staff, and will include requests for enhanced cleaning of surfaces.
Guidance on searches and hiring: MIT will be offering significant guidance to DLCs regarding hiring in the context of the pandemic. To that end, Libraries’ HR will be implementing new processes to comply with this guidance. All current offers are in force, but any further hiring will require approval from the Provost. We will be developing our practices in response to Institute guidance. For the moment, please hold your questions until we have a chance to put our own procedures in place.
Hope everyone is having a great start to the week –
Felicity, on behalf of EMGMT
Colleagues-
This is a purely voluntary opportunity (No pressure, I promise!) for interested staff who feel they have the capacity and the interest in serving as virtual coaches to MIT undergraduate students. This MIT-wide effort to engage staff volunteers to serve as coaches for students is being coordinated by colleagues in the Division of Student Life and Open Learning, and expert staff in those units will provide training for any volunteers who get matched with students.
The role of the volunteer virtual coach is simply to provide students with an additional point of contact with MIT -- someone who will check in with students regularly (once a week), who can nudge students to take advantage of the resources available to them, who can suggest study and learning tips, and who can simply ask students how they are doing and listen with empathy. Coaches are not expected to be subject matter experts in the courses students are taking, but a general sense of the MIT undergraduate experience and of how MIT students learn will be helpful – so former MIT students might be especially well-suited to this opportunity.
The goal is to match every undergraduate student with a coach – how many students get assigned to each coach will depend on the number of volunteers; but volunteers will be consulted before matches with students are finalized. I expect/hope that the student-to-coach ratio will be in the single digits.
If you would like to volunteer to be a virtual coach to MIT undergraduates at this time, please sign up here.
There is a sense of urgency to this, as MIT would like to have coaches in place before classes resume next week; so please sign up by 5pm today. I will send the list of volunteers to the coordinators tonight. If there is a subsequent call for additional volunteers, and/or as additional details about how this will work become available, I will pass that along.
Let me repeat what I said at the start of this email – This is purely voluntary and I suggest folks only volunteer if they feel confident they can commit the time and energy to checking in with students on a weekly basis for the rest of the semester.
Many thanks, Chris
2020-03-20
Hello Colleagues,
Here is today’s daily digest. Give yourself a big pat on the back for making it through the first week! (What??!?! It’s only been a week?!?!)
TL-DR version:
More details:
Changes on campus: Look for an email update from the Institute soon with additional information about what’s happening on campus, guidelines for travel, grading policies, etc. MIT HR will be sending out information about recruiting, hiring, and onboarding during this unprecedented time.
Slack Update: The migration to the Enterprise instance of Slack will happen over the next couple of weeks. ITS will update all staff when the move has taken place for the Libraries’ workspace.
Tech teams working on electronic theses submissions: DDC and DLS teams are currently load-testing our process and tooling to accommodate campus-wide digital submissions; Chris is coordinating with the Committee on Graduate Programs, the Registrar’s Office, and the Office of the Vice Chancellor to make necessary policy amendments enabling digital deposit. As details are firmed up we’ll share more information with everybody about how it works.
Recording your time: Expectation from Central HR is that staff be as productive as they can be, acknowledging that we all have many demands on us beyond work. Effective March 13, all staff will be paid for their regular hours regardless of their ability to work from home. Central HR is asking hourly paid staff to differentiate their hours worked versus hours they are unable to work and mark those hours as “Public Health Emergency Pay/Other Leave.” Don’t stress over trying to break down each hour of the day; if you think you were able to work about 50% of your regular hours this week, mark half your time as “work” and half your time as “public health emergency pay/other leave.” See this page for details.
Have a good weekend, friends!
Rachael, on behalf of EMGMT
Facilities services remain available during COVID-19
Following is a round-up of information related to Facilities services during COVID-19. Please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Service Center if you have any questions or need assistance with our services.
Please note that Facilities staff remain on campus and will continue to provide services to maintain operations. To support our students, faculty, researchers, and staff who continue to work, study, and live on campus – crucial services will remain operational, including custodial, repair and maintenance, mail services, and utilities. All other staff are actively working remotely, using online meeting tools and engaging via phone, email, and text.
Updated 3/19/2020
http://web.mit.edu/facilities/about/covid-updates.html
Request services or assistance
Cleaning requests
In preparation for COVID-19, our custodial staff have received enhanced training in cleaning and disinfecting touch points and have switched to a disinfecting cleaning solution, Morning Mist. This disinfectant meets the EPA’s criteria for use against SARS-CoV-2.
Mail Services
Transportation programs
Construction activities
In accordance with a temporary emergency construction moratorium instituted by the City of Cambridge, MIT will suspend construction activities effective Saturday, March 21, with the exception of emergency activities that have been approved by the City. Teams will complete the safe and secure shutdown of our construction sites by Thursday, March 26. Permitting and inspection activities will be suspended as of Thursday, March 19. As noted previously, staff who provide repair and maintenance services will continue to be available on campus and will work within the City guidelines to provide approved emergency repairs as needed.
Note that this moratorium only affects the construction phase of these projects and that planning and design activities will continue.
MIT news and resources
News from our partner offices
Office of Campus Planning
OCP staff continue to work remotely.
Environment, Health & Safety
EHS staff continue to provide support services on campus. Visit the team directory to access staff contact information and to view the list of EHS Coordinators in the Departments, Labs and Centers. You may search by topic area, department support team, or role. If you have any questions or concerns, please email the EHS team or call 617-452-3477 Monday through Friday, 8AM to 5PM. Outside of those hours, please call the Operations Center at 617-253-4948.
Office of Sustainability
MITOS staff continue to work remotely.
Nicole Hanafin
Hello friends,
Here is today’s daily digest.
TL-DR version:
More details:
Remote teaching: Faculty are getting ready to begin remote teaching on March 30th, and the Institute has an excellent resource to support them: teachremote.mit.edu. The Best Practices page includes a section on Digitizing Your Course Content, and the first bullet links to our subject experts list. It would be worthwhile for our liaisons and other user-facing Libraries staff to review this site in order to anticipate the questions that folks will have.
Hearing from staff about video meeting fatigue: Are we having fun yet? Dumb jokes aside, we are all trying to find a new healthy, sustainable pace right now; and we think that probably means cutting back on the number of online meetings -- even the ones intended as optional community check-ins. What might have begun as a thoughtful idea on how to cope with remote work expectations is starting to feel like a 26.2 mile sprint with baton hand-offs and children (two- and four-legged) dragging from our shoelaces. So here’s what emgmt-lib is thinking, and we are open to your feedback:
Construction moratorium: As per the City of Cambridge, March 21st is the last day for all construction activity except efforts to secure job sites. Making job sites safe and secure for closure must be completed by March 26th. And while the overall scheduling impacts are unknown at the moment, there is still a great deal of planning that we can do in anticipation of the eventual construction completion. The teams that we have already established will continue to work to consider these plans and implications, as well as how to prioritize this work while we handle the additional workload created by the pandemic. We will update you as we learn more.
Hang in there, everyone!
STM on behalf of EMGMT
Hello friends,
Here are some important messages as well as further details from the Community Check In.
TL-DR version:
More details:
Thanks all.
We see you doing your best. We appreciate it.
Stephanie on behalf of the emgmt-lib team.
Hello everybody,
Just a few quick updates for today.
TLDR version:
More details:
Hayden renovation:
You may have heard that Marty Walsh is suspending construction projects in Boston. Thus far his decision for Boston is not affecting the construction on campus. The Hayden renovation is still on target for the time being. As we all know, the situation is fluid, so we’ll keep you all up to date as we move forward.
Equipment for work from home:
Staff should NOT go to campus during this work-from-home time. We need to stay away from campus for our own health, the health of the students who are remaining on campus, and the staff who must support them. Because there are staff who depend on desktop computers to be powered on for remote desktop to work, the ITS team is developing a priority list of staff who need a new set up to reduce that dependency as well as methods to get that equipment direct to folk’s homes. Please let ITS know of any new requests as a result of this (fix-lib@mit.edu), and in case of an urgent need, please copy Ola Mustapha on the fix-lib request: mustapha@mit.edu .
Best, Tracy, on behalf of the Libraries Emergency Management Team
Hi Everyone,
Per Tracy’s email yesterday, we will be hosting two community check-ins weekly. The first meeting will be Wednesday, 3/18 at 1pm, and the second will be Friday, 3/20 at 11:30am. (Calendar invitations to follow) Wednesday’s meeting will be recorded, and will be a more “official” space to ask questions or share concerns. Friday’s meeting will be a half hour, will not be recorded, and will function as a casual community space to check in as we adjust to remote work life. If this is your first time using zoom, you may want to log in a few minutes ahead of time to test your set up and download the web application if needed. If you can’t attend the Wednesday meeting and have a question you’d like shared, please send it to me via email. Looking forward to seeing and hearing you all (virtually) soon! The details for the Wednesday meeting are below.
--Shannon
Hello everybody,
Welcome to the new week as we do our transition to working from home. Last week Chris advised us to take today for self care, setting up our work-from-home environments, and regrouping. We hope that is going well, but have some points of support, below, should you need it.
Today’s message covers a few points. Here’s the quick TLDR;
More detail:
Closing 24-hour spaces
You all have heard that MIT is closing down a variety of gathering spaces on campus including the fitness centers and the Student Center. We are going to follow suit and do the same with the Libraries 24 hour spaces at Barker and Dewey as of 3pm today. The Libraries web site has already been updated. While we're not sending anyone in to update our signs, the ones Brigham made are written to cover this situation
Updates on communications from the Libraries Emergency Management Team
While last week we needed to get a lot of information out quickly, as we begin to adjust to this new normal, we can be more thoughtful about how to manage information overload.
What to do if you’ve been exposed or may have been exposed to COVID-19
MIT sent a message last night with updated guidance for managers for what to do in the case of exposure or possible exposure to an individual with confirmed COVID-19. Rachael sent out an update today to all-staff with the process boiled down for Libraries’ staff.
Where to get support for setting up your home working environment:
Messages from the MIT Community about the Libraries
We’ve gotten some great, supportive messages from the community. Here’s a small sampling:
Chris received a note on Friday from a faculty member who stopped by one of our locations to pick up a much needed item – “please thank the whole library staff profusely for still being there for me on Friday.”
Chris received a note in response to her message to faculty that we were suspending in-person services: “Good call. In case anyone hasn't said it recently - you guys are rock stars and your efforts are appreciated.”
Tracy, on behalf of the Libraries Emergency Management Team
Dear Libraries’ Staff-
I wanted to share some information that we all received from MIT Central Leadership about steps you should take if you believe you have been exposed to an individual with a confirmed case of COVID-19. In order to ensure that we all have the best and most recent information to help us take care of ourselves and mitigate risk to ourselves, our families, and those around us, MIT is asking the Libraries to report any possible exposure; you can do so by emailing lib-hr@mit.edu.
What to do if you have had an exposure:
Please email lib-hr@mit.edu and provide a number where we can reach you. A member of the HR Team will contact you to get a description of the situation, including the date and location of the contact. You should then contact your primary care provider to obtain medical advice specific to your situation.
What will we do with the information you share?
We will contact the MIT Medical COVID-19 resource line to request a Public Health Consultation. A member of the MIT Medical COVID-19 team will likely reach out to you to obtain additional information. Depending on the details, MIT Medical my contact your local Department of Public Health. Any advice received from the Department of Public Health will be provided to you. If necessary, your information will be anonymized and shared with others with whom you may have interacted in the workplace.
What you can do:
Because we want to balance the care and concern we have for each of you with minimizing anxiety in our community, please do not disclose your potential exposure to others in your work area until you have received advice regarding the public health risks of the situation.
Stay safe and be well, everyone.
Rachael
Dear Colleagues-
I am reaching out today because, as you may have heard, a staff member from another MIT unit who has been in Libraries’ space the past week has had secondary exposure to Covid-19 (his partner was in proximity with an individual who we now know has tested positive). We have asked for advice from MIT Medical and have been reassured that in this situation, “with several degrees of separation from a direct contact — the risk is so small as to be close to zero.”
That said, please continue to follow this advice, found on the MIT Medical site: “Please continue to take personal preventive steps to stay healthy. Stay home if you feel sick, wash your hands frequently, and avoid touching your face whenever possible.”
We are of course, concerned for the MIT staff member and his partner, and hope that they remain healthy.
Best, Rachael
Good afternoon,
As the whole library transitions to remote work, I want to assure everyone that our technology support functions will continue as usual.
And even though we are not changing our normal support model, we are doing a few things in order to adapt to the new reality:
As always, please use fix-lib@mit.edu to report problems or seek assistance.
Very best,
Mohamed.
Hello everybody,
We’ve been sharing as much urgent information as it comes in today rather than waiting to gather it all together, but this message is a little different and less urgent.
This message is the long one for the day, with details about how different departments are preparing for remote work and service implications. Please don’t worry if your department is not listed this time around – information will be shared as it become available/relevant.
We’ll keep sharing urgent information as it comes, but feel free to browse this email at your leisure to catch up on the work that various departments are doing to prepare today (it’s awe inspiring to behold). We are considering how best to share this sort of information going forward, so please consider this a first iteration (and I welcome your feedback on it!).
Thanks everybody!
Tracy, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Are you sick of me yet? J This is an important enough message that we want it to stand alone in its own email.
All staff will continue to be paid for their regular hours, whether they are able to work from home or not. Temps will continue to be paid. We know that all staff may need to take time away to care for themselves, family members, or community members, so we encourage folks to work as they can and stay in touch with their managers.
When we find out any specifics about how to report time during this period, we will share it.
Rachael
Hello Staff-
Because we are asking all staff to work remotely and not come in to any campus locations, we encourage you to do what you need to do today to be prepared to work from home for at least two weeks, and possibly longer. If you have been away and need to come to the office today or are already here and need to get hardware (monitors, etc.) home, and need help with transport, please take an Uber/Lyft/taxi and save the receipt for reimbursement.
We are asking all staff to work remotely for at least the next two weeks, and we will not be approving any requests from individuals who may prefer to work from campus. We do this for a number of reasons:
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we encourage all staff to take Monday as a mental health day, as much as possible. If you have critical work/meetings/assignments that need to happen, go forward with that – but we really encourage people to take the bulk of the day to take care of themselves, their families, and their preparations. We acknowledge that, on top of all the work we are doing to support the MIT community, this is a difficult and scary time for most of us personally. MyLife Services is available to all of us, and we encourage folks to do what is needed to care for themselves and their loved ones.
Rachael, on behalf of the Emergency Management Team
Rachael E. Weisz
Good morning to all,
I write to inform everyone of a major shift in library operations, effective 5pm today.
I know that this situation is incredibly stressful for everyone, and that abrupt shifts in guidance and operational plans only add to the anxiety we are all experiencing. I am deeply sorry for that, and wish it could have been different.
As always, please keep your questions coming to your managers or emgmt-lib@mit.edu.
That’s it for the moment. You’ll hear more soon.
Chris and Tracy
Hello everybody,
We are so heartened by the goodwill and teamwork that so many of you are exhibiting as we shift our work practices so quickly. Thank you all for contributing so helpfully during a stressful time!
We have a few important HR related updates:
Service Updates:
Other quick updates and tips:
Please note that MIT Libraries open hours and services may be impacted by current COVID-19 response. For the most up-to-date information please see: https://libraries.mit.edu/covid19.
As always, please keep your questions coming to your managers or emgmt-lib@mit.edu.
All the best, Tracy, on behalf of the Libraries Emergency Management Team
Colleagues,
Based on a larger than anticipated number of undergraduates and graduate students remaining on campus, we are now preparing to provide some form of paging access to physical collections, during limited hours, and at limited locations (possibly single location TBD), starting as early as Monday March 14, and continuing for as long as feasible.
If you get questions, please do convey the following to patrons and we will update our website accordingly:
“All library locations will close starting March 14 until further notice. The 24 hour study spaces in Barker and Dewey libraries will remain open to MIT ID holders only.
We hope to be able to provide paging-only access to available physical collections on a limited basis starting on Monday, March 16. Location and hours to be determined, please check back for updates.
Library staff also remain available during the closure to help the community access online resources and services.”
More detailed information and guidance is forthcoming soon including text the liaisons can send to their communities, but wanted to make sure everyone knew what was in the works.
Huge thanks to all of the folks working on this, and on the many other things that are in flux right now. I am blown away by the creativity, commitment and compassion you are all displaying right now, and am proud and grateful to work alongside you.
All best, Chris
Hi everybody,
Because I created the work-from-home doc on the MIT google drive a lot of you are blocked and are requesting permission to access. To make it a little easier here is the content from that page:
Work from Home (WFH) by departments/functions (as determined by managers)
R&L:
Collections:
DLS:
Admin Svs/Director's office - WFH with occasional exceptions related to facilities, invoicing, etc.
Thanks,
Tracy
Hello everybody,
We have a few quick updates to share as plans start shaping up. At the end we include a link to the all-staff webex recording and list the Q&As that we captured. As always, please keep your questions coming to your managers or emgmt-lib@mit.edu.
New websites to track it all:
Work from home guidance:
We’ve created a list that shows which departments we expect will be either working on site, working from home, or in some hybrid combination starting on Monday. The goal of this strategy is to increase social distancing, while also enabling us to support continuity of operations for the MIT campus. For groups where a hybrid situation is expected please await instructions from your department head as to how it will work specifically in your group.
For those of you who will definitely be working from home, on the LibGuides page you’ll find checklists for individuals to use to prepare. The excel spreadsheet is a basic checklist that anyone can use and should be reviewed by managers to ensure that staff are considering particular concerns or equipment in planning to work remotely. The other link is a checklist to assist DLS in determining if staff have technical knowledge or equipment needs so that they may plan appropriately.
Technology purchase requests should be submitted by noon on Thursday, March 12th, by managers for their staff: techpurchases-lib@mit.edu.
For staff who are expecting to work from home and may need office supplies, please use this form, by the same deadline, to request them. Orders will be distributed on campus and cannot be delivered to home locations. We will determine additional opportunities for others to get supplies down the road, but at least want to get a first pass complete this week.
Organization wide, we will probably depend on Slack more during this time. For helpful guidance on best practices for Slack: https://libguides.mit.edu/c.php?g=713118&p=5503891
Service updates:
A few service details are emerging:
All Staff meeting link and Q&A:
Thank you to everybody who participated in the all-staff WebEx meeting today. If you missed it here is the link to the all staff recording. We’ve also captured the questions asked at the meeting and share the answers below:
Q: Is there an email scheduled (possibly pending other info getting figured out) to go out to students/faculty about the Libraries closure?
A: We are working on an email. Chris is clearing it with the Provost. We are trying to be mindful of the sheer volume of emails and information that is coming at students and faculty right now.
Q: What happens if a student checks out a reserves book on Friday, March 13th?
A: We will not be checking reserves books out to the community except for in-library use as of Friday. This enables us to keep a copy of all required course readings quickly available to equitably support course needs.
Q: Are there plans to increase cleaning of campus spaces?
A: At NE36 the building management firm has put in place a more active cleaning program. We are checking on the plans for Custodial Services on campus and our library spaces. We are also putting together a process where we share wiping down of common areas in our staff spaces to supplement what the campus is providing.
Q: Guidance about working from home:
A: See above for the latest guidelines for working from home. Having some number of our staff working from home provides more social distance for on-site staff to work. Please work with your manager to determine how your WFH or onsite work fits into the unit plan for the next few weeks.
Q: Guidance for staff who have underlying health conditions
A: Please consult with your health provider for guidance and then with your manager and HR to make informed decisions. While we don’t yet have updated information from central HR yet about this, our usual protocols and processes are also helpful in supporting staff.
Q: Should staff who get sick, then recover stay away even if they feel better?
A: Please consult with your health provider to help determine when you should return to work. We are also awaiting guidance from MIT Medical and HR on this matter.
Q: Do we have a timeline on information from central HR?
A: No, not yet. These are high priority questions for the Business Continuity Team and as soon as we hear anything, we will share what we learn.
Q: Project suggestion for supporting a project and skills exchange board.
A: Please email suggestions to emgmt-lib
Q: What other ways will we support online classwork?
A: We are planning to continue with reserves, scanning, have a call out to OGC for using fair use more extensively during this time, and will suggest that liaison librarians are a good resource for faculty to determine how we can best support them.
Q: Book returns & fine forgiveness
A: Students are really stressed right now, and we’d like them to be able to take care of themselves and not worry about books. So we’ll be implementing generous fine forgiveness. We are not asking students to bring books back before they go.
Q: How will we staff Ask chat and other services if we see an increase of traffic and questions?
A: Felicity is looking at a staffing plan right now for this.
Take care,
Tracy, on behalf of the Libraries Emergency Management Team
Hello,
As you will have seen from the MIT message from Rafael Reif this afternoon (included below if it hasn’t arrived at your mailbox yet), the situation and response is still rapidly evolving. We are planning on an all-staff virtual staff meeting tomorrow morning at 11:30am (details to come), but in the meantime here are the latest updates about how MIT plans are shaping the Libraries planning.
Updates on context:
MIT is planning to send students home, and will resume after a 2-week class cancellation with 100% remote instruction; students will not return to campus. For the Libraries, we are going to close all Library service points but keep open our 24 hour spaces (pending confirmation of custodial services availability) starting on Saturday, March 14th, through at least March 30th, after which we will respond to the situation as it develops. We will continue to provide all digitally based, online services.
For the remainder of this week, staff should maintain usual business and work practices, with some increased attention to providing disinfecting supplies in our public spaces, and paying attention to common spaces in our staff areas.
We understand that this is disruptive to us all and requires us to shift services on a very short timeframe. We appreciate that the staff of the Libraries are so highly committed to serving the needs of the MIT Community and that we will put our ingenuity to the test to “MacGyver” our services to match the needs of MIT’s students, faculty, and staff.
As you’d imagine, to shift from our normal operations to at least a 2-week service point closure, there are many steps we need to take to put it in place. Please stay tuned as further details are worked out for specific workgroups. Your managers will be the best source of local information pertaining to the services you support.
Service mitigations in the planning stage:
Some of the things we are working on diligently:
Answers we are waiting on/monitoring from MIT or other external folks:
What you can do, in addition to items mentioned yesterday:
We encourage all managers and staff to evaluate meetings scheduled this week to see if they can be postponed or cancelled to make room for emergency planning work to take priority.
If you have concerns, questions, or thoughts to share about the Libraries emergency planning efforts please be in touch with your manager or with the team directly at emgmt-lib@mit.edu.
Best,
Tracy on behalf of the Libraries Emergency Planning Team
Friends,
Updating this email with a few additional prompts:
STEPHANIE TOEWS MOELING | srichar@mit.edu
Hello everybody,
At the end of this message you’ll see an update from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for how the Institute is thinking about online teaching, student travel and more. Continue to expect frequent updates in the days ahead from MIT’s Leadership.
Our planning efforts in the Libraries are also ramping up and we expect to be sending a daily update to all staff about our current thinking and activities. This is a long message, so please bear with me.
To get started, we’d like to share a little bit of context. The main focus for planning on campus is to create strategies that help minimize the spread of the virus during this early stage while respecting that community is going to continue to do a lot of research and learning. In addition to the advice about frequent handwashing and disinfecting commonly used surfaces, you’ll hear a lot about “social distancing” which is a strategy to decrease the density of groups of people to lessen the degree to which people are in direct contact with each other. It doesn’t mean that we cease all gatherings of people, but rather we thoughtfully think about how to increase distance between people. If we are successful at doing this it would mean that fewer people might get the virus and that systems like hospitals and other critical care entities could avoid being overwhelmed.
The way our planning in the Libraries is shaping up to align with MIT’s planning is that we are strategizing in three ways:
1) planning for an increase to the number of people who can work remotely as the situation warrants it;
2) thinking about how Library spaces can help reduce density of people in spaces across campus – e.g. can Libraries be useful in reducing the density of people who would otherwise be spending increased time in more crowded dormitories?;
3) what modifications to services do we need to plan for if the MIT community is mostly working/studying from a distance?
As we get the planning underway in each of these areas we will send updates. A sampling of some of the actions that are currently underway include the following:
While we keep moving forward with the planning work there are few things that you can do as well:
There are few items that we are tracking at the Institute level that we know folks have questions about.
If you have concerns, questions, or thoughts to share about the Libraries emergency planning efforts please be in touch with your manager or with the team directly at emgmt-lib@mit.edu.
Best,
Tracy on behalf of the Libraries Emergency Planning Team
From: Suzanne Blake <smblake@mit.edu>
Sent: Sunday, March 8, 2020 2:18 PM
To: MIT Emergency Management <em-staff@mit.edu>
Subject: Message #2 to NE36 MIT Staff Regarding COVID-19
Dear MIT Staff in NE36,
We wanted to keep you updated on the status of NE36 and Biogen, the building’s operator, with respect to COVID-19.
What we know
The risk for transmission of COVID-19 is considered to be low in absence of “close contact.” Close contact is defined as face-to-face interaction of more than 15 minutes in a distance of six feet or less from a currently infected person.
Guidance for MIT staff in NE36
It is possible that there are MIT employees who work in NE36 who are not on this list. Please ensure that your colleagues have received this and forward it to anyone who may need it.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your department heads, all of whom have approved this message. Thank you for your cooperation and support as we continue to manage the COVID-19 situation for our community.
Suzanne M. Blake, CEM, CBCI
Director, MIT Emergency Management
Administrative Director, MIT EMS
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Office: (617) 715-2531
smblake@mit.edu
https://prepared.mit.edu/
Friends,
Please see the attached documents that we sent to managers this afternoon. We are sharing them with you in their entirety so that you can participate in the conversations that we will need to have as departments and units. We are grateful for your assistance with this process.
Best,
CB, TAG, REW, MR, JLD, and STM
Friends,
Attached are three documents that we are sending to managers to begin to plan MIT Libraries response to COVID-19 outbreak concerns.
We wanted you to have this first for review, and we will forward to all-lib in several hours for transparency.
You are asked to do the following:
This is a work in progress, and we may not have considered all angles. To that end, feel free to reach us at Emgmt-lib@mit.edu , the group email address for the pandemic leadership response team comprised of: C Bourg, T Gabridge, R Weisz, M Rodrigues, J Dambrogio, and S Toews Moeling.
Thank you in advance for your work on this issue. We hope it will be useful and provide clarity.
Best,
CB, TAG, REW, MR, JLD, and STM
Colleagues,
Following the email we received last night from President Reif (attached), I have decided that effective immediately MIT Libraries will conduct no further travel domestically or internationally between now and May 15. This means that if you had planned to attend any conferences, workshops, etc., you should seek to cancel your trip, and inform your supervisor and travel-lib@mit.edu once you have done so. I understand that this might be disappointing to some of you, and it may seem like a significant reaction in a changing environment. However, we are erring on the side of caution, both to protect the health of our staff and community members and to reduce the burdens on systems and people responsible for tracking travel at this time. We have reviewed planned travel and none of our staff have pending travel that is CRITICAL or ESSENTIAL. Also, because this is a rapidly changing environment, we will send updates as necessary, hopefully on a weekly basis. However, we STRONGLY URGE you to consider upcoming travel beyond the May 15 deadline as suspended or in jeopardy. Therefore, I am asking managers to please stop approving new travel effective immediately.
To the folks who are traveling today or are currently away, please complete your trip as planned. Wash your hands frequently, and avoid handshakes in favor of a courteous nod or a fist or elbow bump. Be aware that you may, upon your return, be required to self-quarantine or work from home dependent upon factors not in your control, so please be in touch with your manager about how to handle that. If you were expecting to travel today or this weekend and prefer to stay home and not travel, we support you – just update your supervisor and travel-lib@mit.edu. Your health and safety are of primary importance.
Of course, canceling trips means concerns about reimbursements and refunds. Here is how we are handling:
· If you were part of the groups traveling to LMSI, New England Archivists, or ArchivematicaCon, Stephanie Toews Moeling and Nikki Hanafin will be in touch to help coordinate cancellations.
· If your destination is not listed above, we recommend:
o That you cancel your hotel as quickly as possible to receive the maximum refund.
o That you try to change or cancel your flight for a voucher for future travel.
o That you try to cancel your registration for the conference.
· MIT Libraries is committed to covering the costs of these trips not taken so that you will not be out of pocket.
o Please contact Nikki immediately if some portion of your trip was approved as covered by professional development funds and some was to be covered by you personally.
o If your trip was paid on your personal credit card but approved as professional development, we will ensure that you are refunded.
· We have not yet determined what the impact of this will be on our professional development funds/allowance for staff. Determination of that will be forthcoming.
I am grateful to everyone for their planning and understanding. Please feel free to send any questions to travel-lib@mit.edu - Nikki and Stephanie will endeavor to answer as necessary.
Best,
Chris
Chris Bourg, PhD (she, her, hers)
Director, MIT Libraries
77 Massachusetts Avenue, NE36-6103
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
From: Suzanne Blake <smblake@mit.edu>
Sent: Thursday, March 5, 2020 9:45 PM
To: MIT Emergency Management <em-staff@mit.edu>
Subject: Message to NE36 MIT Staff Regarding COVID-19
Dear MIT Staff in NE36,
We wanted to reach out to you because we were informed of the three positive cases of COVID-19 detected in individuals who visited Biogen Headquarters for meetings last week. Please know that the risk for transmission of COVID-19 is considered to be extremely low in absence of “close contact.” Close contact is defined as:
a) being within approximately 6 feet (2 meters) of a COVID-19 case for a prolonged period of time; close contact can occur while caring for, living with, visiting, or sharing a healthcare waiting area or room with a COVID-19 case
– or –
b) having direct contact with infectious secretions of a COVID-19 case (e.g., being coughed on).
We want to assure you that there is no reason to think that staff who work in NE36 have met the criteria for close contact, even though there may have been shared cleaning staff who were in the other building when the meeting occurred. For further information, please see our COVID-19 FAQ and see the attached informational document from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Additionally, please refer to the attached letter from Biogen to occupants of NE36.
Please forward this along to anyone who may not have received it. If you have any additional concerns, please feel free to reach out to us.
Suzanne M. Blake, CEM
Director, MIT Emergency Management
Cecilia Stuopis, MD
Medical Director
Dear Libraries’ Colleagues,
President Reif’s email contains important information related to the Coronavirus outbreak, including travel and gathering restrictions. In addition to this guidance, please know that the Libraries will be doing the following:
Again, if you are feeling unwell, please take care of yourself first.
All best,
Rachael and Stephanie
