by Tricia Carey
Opening hours at Sterling Library and Bass Library have been extended to 10 pm Monday through Thursday. The two adjacent, connected libraries are now open 68 hours a week on the following schedule: Sunday, noon - 6 pm; Monday - Thursday, 10 am - 10 pm; Friday - Saturday, 10 am - 5 pm.
“Many students have reached out asking us to stay open later, and I’m thrilled we can do that now,” said Barbara Rockenbach, the Stephen F. Gates ’68 University Librarian. “Beyond the practical need for study space and access to physical collections, the libraries provide a shared campus experience that is more difficult for students to find during the pandemic.”
The new hours will be in place until residential students leave campus at Thanksgiving and classes move fully online. Plans are being finalized for a more limited schedule during the "quiet period" between Thanksgiving and the end of classes and during the extended break between semesters.
Since the beginning of the fall semester, Yale Library has reopened more than a dozen libraries and special collection repositories for use by current students, faculty, and staff who are authorized by the University to be on campus. For library staff, reopening has required a careful balance between supporting physical library access and providing an array of new services to support remotely enrolled students, online teaching, and online research.
Within Sterling, the evening schedule will include Gilmore Music Library and the contactless pickup service in the Sterling nave, but service desks in the nave and the music library will close in the evenings due to staffing constraints. Patrons are encouraged to seek assistance at the service desk in Bass or use the Ask Yale Library live chat service.
Yale Library continues to provide and support significant public access to digital collections.
Photos: Mara Lavitt