Save Me A Seat

When the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries' locations reopen for the fall semester, visitors will encounter many new changes, including modified seating arrangements, plexiglass barriers, restricted access to spaces and a new online seat reservation system. "We're committed to welcoming the CMU community back into our spaces in a way that protects the safety of our employees and our visitors," said Joelle Pitts, associate dean for administration, planning, and assessment for the Libraries who has led the reopening preparations. "We held a soft open the week of Aug. 24 to allow our staff to familiarize ourselves with these new-to-us procedures before our revised fall hours begin on Aug. 31." The doors of Hunt, Sorrells and Mellon Institute Libraries, which together recorded over 1,023,140 visits in 2019, have remained closed to the public since the university's move to online instruction in March. In that time, access to online services and resources has continued uninterrupted and new services - such as the shipment of print books to users' homes - have been introduced to address the information needs of students, researchers and instructors. Modified seating arrangements and an online seat reservation system will be implemented at the University Libraries this fall.