COVID-19 Response: Library Research Services

The following statement was released by Professor Peter Sherlock (Vice-Chancellor) and Kerrie Burn (Chair, Library Committee) on 16 April 2020.

Library Research Services for Academic Staff and HDR students

The University’s response to the COVID-19 crisis is guided by two priorities: to safeguard the health of our members and the general public, and to ensure continuity of our mission of education and research, especially for students.

Library premises associated with the University are now closed to public access, although some libraries are able to support mediated loans (“Request & Collect”) or extended loan renewals. Support for online tuition is available through the e-resources supplied by the Library Hub, however there is a significant need for special research services to support academic staff and higher degree by research (HDR) students.

The University therefore announces the following measures:

1. A virtual document delivery service for academic staff and HDR students, to provide scanned copies of journal articles or book chapters which are not available digitally but are held in the print collections of participating libraries listed below, for research purposes only and subject to copyright requirements.

2. An e-consultancy service for academic staff and HDR students to navigate electronic resources and to assist with access to print collections where possible.

3. A grant of $10,000 to the School of Graduate Research (SGR) for the purchase of e-books and digital resources required by HDR students, through the Library Hub. HDR students will be contacted by the SGR with details of how to identify and request purchase of digital resources and can make requests here: https://divinity.edu.au/forms/hdr-ebook-request-form/

4. An initial grant of $1,000 for the provision of document delivery and interlibrary loan services for resources held in library collections in Australia or overseas.

Detailed information is available from: https://divinity.libguides.com/covid-19/research

Virtual document delivery, interlibrary loan and e-consultancy service requests can be made by academic staff and HDR students by emailing libraryassist@divinity.edu.au

Through these measures, the University and its associated libraries aim to support ongoing research and research training at a time of critical need.

Participating libraries include:

• ALC Library
• Campbell Edwards Library (Stirling)
• The Carmelite Library
• Eva Burrows Library
• Geoffrey Blackburn Library (Whitley)
• Gilbert Wright Library (Morling)
• Leeper and Mollison Library (Trinity)
• Mannix Library (CTC)
• St Athanasius College Library
• St Paschal Library (YTU)

Kerrie Burn

Kerrie Burn is the Library Manager at Mannix Library in East Melbourne. While primarily serving the needs of staff and students of Catholic Theological College, Mannix Library welcomes all members of the University of Divinity community. Kerrie manages the University’s online Library Hub, which was launched in February 2016.

staff.divinity.edu.au/staff/kerrie-burn/