WSU Pullman Libraries will not have physical copies of course reserves like books, articles and movies as reserves are available in electronic formats only. 

Beth Blakesley, WSU associate dean of libraries, wrote in an email that WSU Pullman libraries closed March 22. 

The Holland & Terrell, Owen Science and Engineering as well as Animal Health buildings are temporarily closed for fall, she said. 

Committees met on campus over the summer to discuss how libraries could reopen, Blakesley said. This included examining a document from the university listing things the libraries had to agree to do in order to reopen. 

There was concern over meeting requirements such as cleaning items that people have touched and putting one-way arrows for every book stack in the libraries, she said. Another requirement includes putting materials in quarantine for 72 hours, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

She said quarantining a two-hour reserve book for about three days would have made things very difficult to maintain. 

More items have been made available digitally over the years and fewer items are on physical reserves, she said. 

Switching to an online-only environment was not a big problem for the libraries because most of the materials are delivered online, she said. Librarians are working with instructors who normally use the physical reserves to identify what materials could be digitized legally for the electronic reserves. 

WSU history professor Jesse Spohnholz said librarians put together lockers in front of Holland & Terrell Libraries where students can pick up items after ordering them from home. 

Spohnholz said librarians have been mailing books to students since closing, and they will continue to do so through the postal service free of charge.

He said he has been using the mailing services, and it has worked fine for him. However, it takes a while to come in the mail. 

Spohnholz said he will make sure his students understand the need to order materials in advance so the materials arrive in time. He said he will be more time flexible, so his students can find the books they need and get access to those books. 

The libraries will be closed for fall but there has not been a decision made for spring, Blakesley said. 

She said books can be returned by mail. If students are in Pullman, books can be returned in the dropbox. More information can be found on the WSU Libraries website.