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Within a day of the notification that College was essentially shutting down, our library team set about taking the academic support of the library entirely online so that it can continue to be an essential resource for our students near and far.

The first page they set up, Using the library at a distance has already had hundreds of visits — it's very commendable that so many of our students are keen to keep studying! Now they are ready to roll out online versions of their popular Shut up and write sessions, a new WolfWorks programme, virtual offfice hours, and personal writing support from Librarian Meg Westbury. Like much of our staff both Meg and our Academic Skills Librarian, Laura Jeffrey, are working from home. We checked in to see how they were getting on.

"As for so many of us, working from home is a collective affair. I am side-by-side with two homeschoolers who are trying to stick to their usual timetable. I've loved getting involved in their learning but work is definitely more disjointed than usual!

Last week I was in planning mode. This is an amazing opportunity for Â鶹ËÞÉáµçÊÓ¾çto rethink and redesign existing academic skills materials so that we can support all distance learners or those unable to take advantage of face-to-face offerings, both now and in the future.

I have found the technology pretty straightforward; meetings on Google Meet and Teams have been trouble-free and have been a great opportunity to keep in touch with colleagues. I am fortunate that I am able to log on to most of my work (website, LibGuide, email, Moodle) without going near a VPN, while the odd excursion back to my college desktop has been successful. Virgina (the) Woolf has been keeping me company and making quite a few appearances on Twitter ().

Something I really miss is my commute to work on the bike so we've made the most of our single outing per day and been on few rides around the South Cambridgeshire villages after 'school' finishes. They've provided necessary headspace and fresh air to round off the day." - Laura Jeffrey

"For me, home working has meant taking over a corner of my living room with good natural light!

What you ³¦²¹²Ô’t see in the picture, however, is that I’m also sharing the room with my two teenage boys who are now homeschooling. So it’s an interesting environment to work in. Fabulous to be so close to family, but also somewhat distracting! We all break in the late afternoon for a walk or run, which helps keep an even keel. 

In terms of what the librarian staff are up to, first and foremost we are dedicated to making sure that students continue to have access to the resources and academic-skills information that they need. So to that end, we are receiving many book requests from students and then seeing if we can provide them electronically. We are also figuring out how to offer virtual Shut up and write sessions, virtual help with academic writing, as well as getting online classes ready to offer after the Easter vacation. The Â鶹ËÞÉáµçÊÓ¾çlibrary will shortly announce our upcoming planned online sessions, as well as ‘office hours’ where students can contact us to ask questions about access to books/articles as well about as academic skills such as referencing and using tools such as Zotero.

What I miss most about Â鶹ËÞÉáµçÊÓ¾çis not being in the physical space of the library every day. I miss creating a friendly and welcoming presence for students – and of course miss chatting with students about their studies! I am, however, learning the joys of Teams, Skype, Zoom and GoogleMeet, and think they’re wonderful ways of keeping in touch. " - Meg Westbury