“As I cannot come to the university, how can I get the book, that I really need right away…”. Opportunities for a university library (FH) to efficiently meet user requests in times of the COVID-19 crisis

Abstract

A lot of what we read today in the media about coronavirus waves, school closings, and soon available vaccines reminds of the influenza pandemic 1918–1920. An essential difference is the electronic infrastructure that allows us to supply users with online library services. This paper illustrates how the library of the University of Applied Sciences Burgenland managed to compensate the sudden decrease of physical borrowing with already available digital tools (Alma–Summon, Microsoft Teams), and new ones like LibAnswers. Finally, it will be shown how by simple means (Microsoft Office) a library seats availability dashboard was realized and shared with other libraries.