UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State University Libraries is adjusting in-person service hours at most of its locations University-wide through the end of the fall 2020 semester. Virtual services, resources and assistance from subject-expert librarians remain available to assist all library users through several options, such as Ask a Librarian, which offers email, text message, phone, chat and scheduled virtual appointment options.
Peer-to-peer assistance for University Park students is available from the Search Bar, which holds virtual drop-in hours 10 a.m.–6 p.m. weekdays while fall classes are in session.
All weekly in-person service hours are listed on the University Libraries’ hours and locations page, which has tabs for University Park and Commonwealth Campus Libraries locations. The page also includes links to each location's monthly calendar of hours linked under its name via its "calendar" link.
Scheduled pickup service, multiple campuses
Scheduled pickup service of checked out materials continues at several campuses’ library locations. With the arrival of cold weather, scheduled pickup locations may have changed. At University Park, pickups are now available just inside Pattee Library and Paterno Library’s Curtin Road entrance.
Pattee Library and Paterno Library, University Park campus
On the University Park campus, Pattee Library will have reduced hours of 11 a.m.–5 p.m. from Nov. 21–23 and will be closed Thanksgiving Day through Sunday, Nov. 29.
From Nov. 30 through the end of finals week, fall 2020 semester standard hours will resume: 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Monday–Thursday; 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Fridays; closed weekends.
Dec. 21–23 hours will be 11 a.m.–5 p.m., then the library will close for the winter break, reopening on Monday, Jan. 4, 2021, with weekday hours 11 a.m.–7 p.m. and until 5 p.m. on Fridays.
Spring 2021 semester standard weekly hours of 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Monday–Thursday and 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Fridays will be observed beginning on Tuesday, Jan. 19.
Pattee Library and Paterno Library’s monthly schedule of operations, available online, includes hours with access to the ground floor West Pattee Library’s Collaboration Commons via its entrance just west of Pattee Mall, and most of the first floor via the Curtin Road entrance, although Special Collections is not open for research. The Pattee Mall revolving door entrance remains closed during COVID operations.
Starbucks at Paterno Library, which operates while classes are in session, will shift its hours starting Monday, Nov. 30. It will operate weekdays 8 a.m.–5 p.m., 4 p.m. on Fridays. Paterno Library's Curtin Road doors open early for access to Starbucks service prior to the 11 a.m. opening of the library itself.
Branch locations, University Park campus
The Libraries’ four University Park branch locations — Architecture and Landscape Architecture Library, Earth and Mineral Sciences Library, Engineering Library and Physical and Mathematical Sciences Library — will operate virtually only after Nov. 20 until spring classes begin on Jan. 19.
Commonwealth Campus Libraries
Hours vary by location but are listed with the current week’s hours and also with each location's monthly operating hours listed under each location's name at the "calendar" link. Most locations will remain open with slightly reduced hours after Nov. 20; visitors are advised to check the Libraries website for each location's schedule prior to visiting.