In order to protect the staff and community, both ULS Library branches will be closing completely, beginning March 19 through at least April 1. Before April 1, the Library and the COVID-19 Response Team will reassess the situation and any further cancellations or reductions in hours will be posted to the library calendar and here. After hours access to the Wentz Library is also being turned off. In order to greater assist the community during this period, the library will be instituting a number of policies and pracrtices. This information will be available on the Library website here, with more information coming in the following days.
Please check back over the coming days for further updates.
Please also regularly check the Seminary's COVID-19 Update Page for complete information on ULS's response to COVID-19.
In order to greater assist students during this period, the library will be setting up 1-hour drop-in sessions on Zoom and Skype for Business as well as several large group Zoom instruction sessions on library research from a distance. Look for more information in Friday’s Common Cup, the Library Calendar, and on this web page as more information becomes available.
Evan Boyd's Skype for Business account is his email address.
The ULS Library will be holding two Zoom sessions for basic library instruction for distance users. Zoom links will be added as they are made available. Currently, these sessions will be held:
- Monday, March 23 at 3 p.m.
- Monday, March 23 at 7 p.m.
- More dates and times will appear once students suggest preferred dates/times.
Beginning Friday, March 20, the Libary's Daily Zoom Reference Hour is:
- Mondays, 1 pm to 2 pm
- Tuesdays, 10 am to 11 am
- Wednesdays, 11 am to 12 pm
- Thursdays, 1 pm to 2 pm
- Fridays, 10 am to 11 am.
While our inital intent was to continue to provide print services through the mail, we are complying with Gov. Tom Wolf's directive March 19 that all “non-life-sustaining businesses in Pennsylvania” must close “physical locations” in order to slow the spread of coronavirus. Therefore, we will be unable to provide the delivery of print materials through the mail and scanning services will no longer be available until this directive is lifted.
Because the library’s course reserves are intended to be available at students’ convenience rather than as a replacement for students’ purchase of learning materials, course reserve material will not be mailed to students.
- Worship Resources: Contact the Library staff for student access to Sundays and Seasons for classroom-related needs.
- Bibles: The Library will not scan portions of study bibles at this time. Please see the Library’s Biblical Studies Guide and Oxford Biblical Studies Online , which includes both the New Oxford Annotated Bible and The JPS Study Bible.
Many libraries have already turned off their interlibrary loan delivery of print material. We will do our best to get students, faculty, and staff scans of chapters or articles not available elsewhere. Please use this form to make ILL requests or make them directly inside of WorldCat Discovery (All Content) .
The Writing Center will continue to be available to students via phone, email, and Zoom video conference. Check the Writing Center home page for more information. Check the library calendar for hours of online drop-in sessions.
Krauth Memorial Branch
7301 Germantown Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19119
215-248-6329
Wentz Memorial Branch
66 Seminary Ridge
Gettysburg, PA 17325
717-338-3014
library@uls.edu
7301 Germantown Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19119
215-248-6329
Wentz Memorial Branch
66 Seminary Ridge
Gettysburg, PA 17325
717-338-3014
library@uls.edu
Many publishers and vendors, in response to the current pandemic, are providing academic institutions free access to an expanded set of their materials. The library staff will attempt to include as many of those resources here so that students can have access to as many resources as possible to assist our researchers.
Project Muse, whom the library already purchases materail from, has worked with many of its publishers (including Liturgical Press) to open up 10,000+ ebooks and 150+ journals for your use. with most available through the end of June. To make sure you can see both the free content and content the library has purchased for you, follow this link:
JSTOR is bringing expanded access to much of its journal archives and at least 25,000 ebooks to authorized institutional users. The Library has joined this program, through 30 June 2020. Sign in as you normally would for JSTOR access here:
RedShelf, a platform and app for students to buy ebooks for their classes, has partnered with over 50 publishing partners to offer no-cost access to digitial textbooks for the rest of the semester. Each student may access up to seven free ebooks, with access ending on 25 May 2020. Access the RedShelf Responds page here:
HeinOnline Academic includes more than 100 million pages of multidisciplinary content in more than 100 subject areas, including history, political science, criminal justice, religious studies, international relations, women’s studies, pre-law, and many more. With more historical content than any other database, HeinOnline provides access to 300+ years of information on political development and the complete history of the creation of government and legal systems around the world. Among the many databases included, HeinOnline’s journal collection features nearly 2,800 periodicals relating to a variety of subject areas, with all coverage dating from inception to the most currently published issues in most cases. William S. Hein & Co. is offering us a free subscription through the end of the Fall term.
To address our unprecedented global and immediate need for access to reading and research materials, as of today, March 24, 2020, the Internet Archive will suspend waitlists for the 1.4 million (and growing) books in our lending library by creating a National Emergency Library to serve the nation’s displaced learners. This suspension will run through June 30, 2020, or the end of the US national emergency, whichever is later.
The Globethics.net Library is a free, open online library aimed at providing quality resources on applied ethics, education and religious studies from all over the world. Content in the library is available in multiple languages and is harvested from more than 3,000 open access repositories. There thematic and institutional collections that have been developed with experts and partners, and documents are uploaded by individual Globethics.net participants, making the library a unique resource for students, researchers and for all those interested in deepening their knowledge.
- Globethics.net Library from WCC ; free registration required.
OSU Press is opening up 699 ebooks for free use until the end of the current crisis. Please follow this link to access:
Over 2,700 ebooks from MIT Press are being made available freely in response to the COVID-19 health crisis. Please follow this link to access.
Universtity of Michigan is opening all of its titles to fre-to-read online until April 30, 2020. Follow this link to access: