Welcome back to your Georgia Tech Library

Hello, and welcome back to all our wonderful students, faculty and staff – whether you are new on campus or back from the summer. We cannot wait to see you all in the Library and look forward to the excellent scholarship you will produce in our spaces and using our resources. 

WHERE ARE THE BOOKS? 

First, let’s address the elephant in the room (or lack of it): Many of the books are off the shelves. Don’t worry – this is merely an effect of the cooled water outage this summer. Temperatures and humidity rose in the Library for several weeks in late July and August, so we moved all of our physical collections to Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons. It was a big effort – one which continues with cleaning every single book, as well. 

It will take us several months to ensure all the collections are in good shape, and as we do, we’ll be able to move them back on the shelves where they belong. But don’t worry – the majority our collections, more than 99.9 percent, are still available online and through delivery from our Library Service Center, managed collaboratively with Emory University. 

WHAT ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE? 

Everything you love about the Library – our open spaces, our collaborative study rooms, our workshops and classes, our 24-hour help, our monthly events – is still happening. You’ll use the Library just as you always have. 

And don’t forget that we have 24-hour, up-to-the-minute occupancy monitoring, so you always know which parts of the Library have space for you and your friends. 

Also, keep an eye out for the recently completed Interactive Media Zone, located on Grove Level of Price Gilbert. We are testing content on it right now in anticipation of our Artist-in-Residence, Bojana Ginn, who will use the IMZ in October. 

ROOM CHECK-IN

There is one change, though: You now must check into your reserved study space when you get there. You have a 10-minute window before the reservation is released and the room becomes available again. This decision was made in response to the tremendous amount of use the rooms receive, and we think students will be happy to know we listened.

There is so much more I could go into, but instead I’ll let you look at this month’s newsletter to see what we have available. Remember, we’re here 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week when school is in session. So, stop by and use the Library. We think you will be very glad you did.