A big hello from all of us in the Customer Services team! For those of you who don’t know, we’re the team you see behind the Help and Support desk on Level 1 when you come into the Library, and the ones walking the floors and shelving the books to ensure you have a nice study space to work in! We are also supported by a fantastic team of Security guards who help keep the building open overnight and at weekends when Library staff aren’t around.
This semester, we’ve been busy ensuring that the Library is COVID-secure and a safe place for you to study. Pretty much every process or procedure we used to have in place pre-COVID has changed, and continues to change in order to adapt to the changing pandemic landscape in which we’ve found ourselves. For us, it’s been a huge balancing act – providing you with the study space and access to collections that you need to support you in your studies, whilst ensuring the Library remains a safe place for everyone. Our Study Space booking system (otherwise known as Juno StudyTime, which can be downloaded via the App store) has really helped with this – allowing you to book your desks in advance, whilst also allowing us to gather and provide the necessary information for Test and Trace purposes. More information about the booking system can be found on our Library updates page on MySurrey.
We have also launched our Click and Collect/Click and Post services. Whilst you can continue to borrow items as usual if you are already in the Library, these particular services are aimed at those who either just want to collect books from the Library, or those who are studying from home and unable to come onto campus. They have allowed us to extend our collections to all students, in line with the University’s hybrid learning approach this year.
We’re also the team who sit behind our Live chat and video service and monitor the library-enquiries@surrey.ac.uk email address! Our brand new chat service is a favourite for us, as we love being able to deal with your enquiries quickly – whether we’re actually in the Library or providing this service remotely from our own homes!
We all agree that one of the best parts of our job is that we get to play a part in your learning journey – helping you make the most of our resources and finding the information you need to help achieve your potential whilst here at University. We know this year has been a strange one – but please know that we are always here to support you: as Ron Weasley in Harry Potter once said – ‘If in doubt, go to the Library.’
We couldn’t agree more.
