We are thrilled to welcome students back to our three locations — the Golda Meir Library, Waukesha Library, and Washington County Library — as we begin the Fall 2021 semester.
The Libraries are fully open, and all library services are operating normally. Staff are available on-site and online to help with your study and research needs. And the Grind in the Daniel M. Soref Learning Commons is back serving coffee drinks and other beverages.
The Libraries are the heart of UWM, providing critical resources and services to our 24,700 students and 700 faculty. Our students benefit from information literacy instruction, one-on-one research consultations with expert librarians, and spaces that support teaching and learning. We promote research excellence by acquiring, curating, and preserving scholarship as well as by providing access to resources from other libraries, often fulfilling requests for articles within 24 hours.
We have several exciting announcements about spaces and resources as we start the semester.
We have created a Contemplative Space on the second floor east wing of the Golda Meir Library. One of several new meditation rooms on campus, the space is intended to provide a quiet retreat from the stress of college and includes yoga mats, cushions, prayer rugs, ball chairs, and soft lighting.
New as well is a series of online tools to support teaching, learning, and research. Third Iron’s LibKey Suite and BrowZine simplify and accelerate access to full-text content, and can be found on the Databases A-Z list.
This summer, the Libraries built six group study rooms in the UWM at Waukesha Library. For the first time, students at Waukesha will have dedicated, accessible spaces with access to sharable technology. With capacity for 4-6 students, each group study room has seating and worktables, a white board, and a video monitor with laptop hookups. Walls contain sound-absorbing material to preserve quiet study elsewhere in the library. The rooms are reservable through the UWM Libraries’ online reservation system, D!bs.
Looking ahead, construction is slated to begin later this fall on the Archives renovation project, sited on the third floor of Golda Meir Library. The new Archives area will include public spaces to meet the research and learning needs of our community, including a dedicated classroom; consolidate and expand collection storage; and provide essential environmental controls for collection preservation. The UWM Archives contains the most significant civil rights collection in the city, WTMJ-TV news film from the 1950s to 1980, an extensive photograph collection of Milwaukee’s Polonia, and the largest LGBT collection in the state. This project will improve our ability to share these collections with the UWM community and the public.
Hours have changed at the Daniel M. Soref Learning Commons, which will close at 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday nights. The hours for all libraries and spaces can be found here.
For more information on the Libraries’ reopening status during COVID-19, visit https://uwm.edu/libraries/reopening-status/
If you have questions about Libraries’ services and resources, please connect with our staff via chat, email or phone. See our Ask a Librarian webpage for more information.
I wish everyone academic success as we navigate a more normal course through the fall semester. Go Panthers!
Michael Doylen
Director of UWM Libraries