Welcome back to the Spring semester!

Welcome back to the Graduate Center in Spring 2021, for what we hope will be a productive and engaging semester. As we move into the Spring, I would like to share a few updates from the Mina Rees Library, as well as a recap of our services in Fall 2020. 

We continue to focus on remote services and resources, while we navigate a pandemic that we all wish was over. This month, we will move to the next stage of our on-site service plan: processing materials returns, managing backlogs of mail, and setting the stage for the services that we know matter most to our community. Like you, we long for ready access to print collections, both our own and those we can access through our resource sharing partnerships. As soon as we can provide this access safely, we will. Stay up to date on our service plans on the Library’s website

As we all continue to work away from the GC campus, we urge you to take advantage of our extensive online resources and services. Connect with your subject librarian for a personal research consultation. Access the hundreds of electronic books we’ve added to our already robust digital collections. Get copies of articles, book chapters, and other hard to find sources via interlibrary loan. Register for workshops on online research basics, using research tools like Scrivener, Zotero, and specialized databases like Web of Science, and a slate of sessions that address every stage of the scholarly communications cycle.  

In January, we coordinated the Open Pedagogy Fellowship, which provided 15 students with an intensive training in how to use and implement OER in their Spring courses at 8 different CUNY campuses. This will lead to tangible savings on textbook costs and other materials fees by undergraduate students. This semester, we’ll also be hosting a robust Open Knowledge Intensive, made possible through the generous support of a DCEG grant, administered by the Publics Lab.

Have a question or concern? Please get in touch with us. You can locate your library liaison here, and my email inbox is always open. 

See you online!

About the Author

Emily Drabinski is an Associate Professor and Critical Pedagogy Librarian at the Graduate Center library.