Yesterday, College announced through an email to students that further new arrangements regarding the Library are to come into effect from February 22.
These new arrangements come one month on from the previous amendment to library usage, which saw the decrease of opening for various libraries, such as the Berkeley, Ussher and Leckey, with the Hamilton library temporarily closed.
The email was sent out to students by John Coman, Secretary to the College and Dr David McGrath, Director of the College Health Service.
This change follows the slowing down of the decrease in case numbers of Covid-19, following the sharp spike in cases this previous January.
The new arrangements concern the minimising of risks surrounding the transmission of Covid-19 among the student body. This will be done through shortening the period of time students will have at a given work station before they are asked to move to a different station.
From February 22, students will be given 1 hour and 45 minutes at a “specific work-station”. Students will then be asked to take a 15-minute break outside before moving to their “next booking” which will be a separate station, elsewhere in the Library.
Students are being asked to ensure that they only book seats they intend to use, and they are being asked to cancel any bookings they will not manage to be present for.
Advice given in the email states that “if an individual were to develop Covid-19, any person who has spent a cumulative period of more than two hours during a 24-hour period in an enclosed space with that person would be considered a close contact and would be required to self-isolate for 14 days”.
To facilitate this complication in the booking of the workstations, a revised booking system will be implemented. Advanced bookings for February 23 onwards will only be possible for students from 10pm on Monday February 22.
Other changes to be introduced will be the temporary shutting of the Ussher Library, John Stearne Medical Library and Research Collections Reading Room. These libraries will be closed until further notice.
The Hamilton Library is to remain closed.
Service counters will also be temporarily shut, however staff will be present to take online queries. Click and Collect services will run Monday to Friday, from 1-3pm.
The email wished to commend students and staff behaviour, which in response to the restrictions rolled out across all levels of College has prevented major outbreaks from spreading across campus.
