Services

Students will soon be able to hit the books into the early morning hours at three key University of Georgia study spots. Extended hours at the Main Library, Science Library and the Miller Learning Center will begin April 5 and continue through spring semester finals.

The Miller Learning Center, the busiest academic building on campus, will close two hours later Sundays through Thursdays, closing at 2 a.m. from April 5 through May 10. The Main and Science Libraries will transition to a closing time of 1 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays April 5 through April 25, and the hours will extend to a 2 a.m. closing time April 26 through May 10.

As part of the UGA Libraries’ commitment to affordable access to learning materials, the Libraries recently ceased the collection of late fees from students who return overdue books.

“Overdue book fines are educational materials costs borne directly by our students. Those with the least ability to pay feel the effect of fines most keenly, as do graduate students who are particularly heavy users of the Libraries’ print collections,” said Toby Graham, associate provost and university librarian. “This step will save students about $25,000 per year.”

EITS will conduct campus-wide network maintenance on Saturday, March 6 from 6:00 a.m. - midnight. As a result, there will be periodic outages of campus Internet and information systems. Since the exact timing of outages on Saturday will be unpredictable, please assume that online resources will be unavailable. 

For the Libraries, this means that access to the following will be intermittent or unavailable: GALILEO databases; online journals and ebooks; ILLiad interlibrary loan requesting; Aeon special collections requesting; EndNote installation; the Digital Library of Georgia and New Georgia Encyclopedia sites; and the Libraries' website.

The campus wireless network and Libraries' computers will also be unavailable during outages.

UGA students can earn more than an A by meeting with a librarian. They can also win some cash, thanks to the Libraries’ Undergraduate Research Awards.

With a top prize of $800, the awards provide an extra incentive for students to sign up for a free online research consultation with a librarian. Students are eligible to enter the contest for their work on any research project, including a policy paper, a scientific study, a music composition, a thesis, whether it is for a class or not.

All of the tools that students need to write dynamic papers and create innovative projects will be on display in a series of workshops from the University of Georgia Libraries.

In the Spring into Research workshop series, librarians and staff will lead virtual discussions on navigating library resources, from the latest online journals to historical material held in digital archives, as well as using citation management software and technologies available for data visualization, map-making, virtual reality, and more.

On Friday evening February 5, EITS will perform maintenance to the UGA single sign-on system. There may be brief interruptions to online library resources and services, including:

• Online journals, ebooks, and databases (GALILEO)
• Your library account in GIL
• The ILLiad interlibrary loan and Aeon special collections requesting systems
• EndNote downloading

The maintenance period will last from 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm.

GIL Express requesting has been suspended for the winter break from 12/14/2020 through 1/3/2021. The GIL Express service will resume on Monday, 1/4/2021.

UGA Libraries will continue to provide course reserve services for faculty planning their courses for spring semester, with some changes due to the continuing COVID-19 situation. Requests submitted by December 11 are guaranteed to be completed and accessible by the first day of Spring Semester classes, January 13.

Students and faculty in the University of Georgia community can continue to take advantage of library services after the Thanksgiving transition to online classes, whether in Athens or at home in another state.

In addition to online resources and virtual consultations with librarians and archivists, library facilities, including the Miller Learning Center, will remain available to students, faculty, staff, and the community through the remainder of the year and into the spring semester.

A new online app can help UGA students find a place to study on campus.

The mapping tool, which includes indoor and outdoor locations, is intended to help students find areas to practice safe social distancing while they study. Initiated by the Office of Instruction, partners on the project included the Office of the University Architects, UGA Libraries, the Office of Sustainability and the Facilities Management Division.