Presenter: Ipek Yarar, User Services Librarian (MEF University, Turkey)
Abstract:
The COVID-19 disease caused by the Coronavirus, which showed itself in the last months of 2019, has become a worldwide epidemic in a short time. The epidemic continued throughout 2020 and 2021 and continues. In addition to the unfavorable effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on public health, it has also impacted society in sociological and technological terms. There have been radical changes in working environments and business solutions, especially with the closing of working individuals at home during the epidemic period. Every professional group, the university librarians have been significantly affected by this change in order and structure. With libraries closed, the inaccessible print collection, which has a significant place in resource sharing, created new challenges for ILL librarians. The university libraries that attach importance to their electronic resources are less affected by these difficulties, this process was a bit more difficult for libraries that have the opposite collection development policy. In this study, how ILL librarians in Turkey were affected by the epidemic, their working practices, service models, and the role they played during the remote working period will be discussed and MEF University Library experiences will explain. According to official records, the first case announced in Turkey was on March 11, 2021. It will mention how the information access services provided by the libraries, which were closed as of this date, have evolved according to the new order. In this study, the Resource Sharing Beyond COVID-19 initiative, which runs out with volunteer librarians gathered from all over the world, under the roof of the IFLA – Document Delivery Resource Sharing Working Group will determine. MEF University Library has been the academic library that provides the most publications in the world and Turkey between April 2020 and July 2020, when the RSCVD initiative was launched and has maintained its place in the top 5 universities libraries with the most publications in the following periods. In this study, the experience of the RSCVD initiative in ILL services in the MEF University Library will be pass and determine the impact of the RSCVD initiative in Turkey. In light of the developments, it is thought that there will be significant changes in the university collection development policy. The study also made recommendations for the librarians will give more importance to cooperation and technology in the profession.
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