COVID and Consortia: Solving our Information Challenges at Scale

摘要

Writing about the impact of COVID on consortia and longer-term effects on collaboration (staff, programs and services) seemed risky in April when the editor approached me about this article. The country was still watching diagnoses and deaths climb each day, and our educational institutions were scrambling to adjust to online-only environments. What could my consortial colleagues share about their experiences and their predictions for the long-term impact, when most everyone was working on the fly, and remaking priorities and communication channels daily? Now, almost six months later, these questions still remain. How long will our libraries continue with primarily remote workers, and how long will we provide services almost entirely online? Has the pandemic fundamentally changed our priorities?