Research Services has experienced higher than usual staffing shortages in the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, weather emergencies, and position vacancies. As a result, Research Services has had to impose service delays, such as adjusting hours of operation, setting time limits on research assistance, and closure of the Special Collections Reading Room. The reactive nature of these measures is primarily due to a lack of documentation that informs Research Services on how and when service delays should be implemented. Furthermore, ambiguity surrounding who should approve service delays has led to conflicting communications between staff and administration, and perhaps more importantly, staff and patrons.  

Therefore, the Special Collections Service Delays Policy will address when and why services should or should not be delayed in Research Services, and Special Collections more broadly, and how implementation should occur.   

Services: in the context of Research Services; access to Special Collections Reading Room, photocopy services, reference/research assistance (remote and physical).

Service delays: adjusted hours, closure, delayed delivery of photocopies and high-resolution scans, delayed access to Special Collections Reading Room, limited remote reference/research assistance.  

Instances when Research Services should request to delay services:

• A significant percentage of staff are unable to be physically present in Special Collections due to inclement weather, COVID-19 exposure, or other personal emergencies.
• A significant percentage of staff positions are vacant, making it impossible to operate under normal conditions.
• Special Collections Reading Room or Special Collections facilities are undergoing maintenance, planned or otherwise.
• A major power outage or other facilities issues that hamstring essential services (ex/reading room access, internet connection) for extended periods.

Instances when Research Services should request to delay services:

• Staff request sick or annual leave but there are enough Research Services staff present to maintain normal operations (at least two people) in the short-term.
• Minor facilities issues that do not prevent essential services from being delivered (e.g. heating/cooling issues, short interruptions to internet access).

Library Administration must approve any service delays before implementation. To request implementation of specific service delays in Research Services: 

• Research Services staff will assess the need to implement a service delay.
• The Director of Special Collections Services will notify the Associate Dean of Special Collections of Research Services recommendation to activate a service delay and include context/rationale for the recommendation.
• The Associate Dean will communicate the recommendation from Research Services to the Dean of Libraries.
• The Dean of Libraries will pass their decision on to the Associate Dean, who will pass it on to Research Services.

Responsibility for communicating with Library Administration will follow the organization’s chain of command. If the Division supervisors are unavailable due to personal/familial illness, weather emergency, or facilities issue, the next person in the chain of command will contact Library Administration. E.g., If the Associate Dean for Special Collections, the Director of Special Collections Services, and the Research Services Coordinator are all unavailable to communicate with Library Administration, then the Research Services Specialist will notify the Dean of Libraries of the recommendation and why they are making that recommendation (e.g., the Research Services Specialist is the only person present).  

If Research Services has been cleared to adjust hours or close the Special Collections Reading Room temporarily, a Research Services staff member will contact researchers scheduled to come in on the date in question to notify them of the changed hours and provide the opportunity to reschedule for a different date and time. Ideally, this responsibility would fall to the Research Services Coordinator; however, if they are unable, the responsibility would shift to the Director of Special Collections Services, the Research Services Specialist, or the Associate Dean of Special Collections.

Research Services staff should promptly update the Special Collections landing page to notify patrons of any service delays.  The Research Services Coordinator will contact Web Services to request the addition of a service delay alert to the Special Collections landing page and/or the Duplications page.  The Research Services Coordinator will also communicate with the Circulation Systems Manager who will update the hours on the Library Calendar page any adjustments to hours of operation.  In addition, upon receiving permission from the Dean of Libraries or the Associate Dean of Special Collections, Research Services staff will notify patrons and subject specialists, Interlibrary Loan, Digital Services Department and User Services of changes to services and provide an end date for those changes, if possible.  

1. University Dean of Libraries/Associate Dean notifies Special Collections staff of adjusted hours, closures OR University Dean of Libraries/Associate Dean approves Research Services requests to implement service delays.

2. Research Services staff reports service delays, specifically changes to hours of operation, to the Circulation Services Manager.

3. Research Services requests that Web Services updates the Special Collections landing page alert to the situation-specific template.

4. Research Services staff review the Reading Room Appointments calendar.

5. Research Services staff delete (cancel) appointments that conflict with the adjusted hours/closure.

6. Research Services staff edit the automated cancellation template email sent from the uark.specoll@gmail.com email to the specoll@uark.edu email upon deletion of the event from the Reading Room Appointments calendar.

   1. Delete/edit the template for the appropriate situation: closure, adjusted hours, requested cancellation

7. Research Services staff sends the edited cancellation notification email to the patron.

8. Research Services staff alerts subject specialists of delayed services/appointment cancellations/adjusted hours.

9. Research Services staff notify Web Services of the shift back to regular hours/normal service offerings.

Upon notification from the University Dean of Libraries or Associate Dean of Special Collections of adjusted hours or closure, Research Services staff should contact Dylan Hurd in Web Services to add an alert to the Special Collections landing page.  Situation-specific alert templates have been prepared and can be shared with Dylan when needed. Be sure to include any specific dates/times.  

The Research Services Coordinator or the Director of Research Services should also contact Sherryl Faulkner-Robinson, the Circulation Systems Manager, of any changes to hours of operation.  Currently, communication regarding changes in hours of operation should happen in the Library Hours Teams channel.   

Note: this procedure will change in the coming months due to the implementation of Alma.