Seeking Libraries for Pandemic Profiles

Pandemic Profile

Will your library participate in a profiling exercise?
  • We are looking for libraries to work with students from the University of South Carolina's library science program. The class is building case studies of how libraries are responding to the pandemic, the resulting economic downturn, and the wide-scale racial protests. The course and profile focus on community engagement and services.

    What do the case studies consist of?

    • The Situation: An overview of the library including quantitative data like Service Area/Population, community demographics, a description of the Library, the library’s Mission Statement
    • The Closing: A review and narrative of how the library closed or changed services at the onset of the pandemic in March of 2020. This can include community messaging, what services were available during lock down, a sense of the community impact from the virus and racial protests.
    • The Reopening: Current Status, internal Narratives (the messaging being shared within the organization/library), external narratives (the messaging being shared with the community)
    • The Plan Forward: What changes will be implemented within the library in a new normal established after the pandemic?

    What is required to participate?

    • You will need to provide about 3 hours of your time to talk with students.
    • Students will need to record interviews with an administrator, a front-line librarian, and a community member. In the case of school libraries or single librarian libraries, the interviews will be with the librarian and two community members.
    • You will be asked to review the case study
  • The best way(s) to reach you: email, phone
  • We want to match student teams to library settings they are interested in. Please check all that apply (hold down the control key for multiple selections)
  • Add information here for special libraries or special circumstances (or questions).

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