Cabrillo College Library News & Events

Library Services for Fall 2021

Welcome back to the Cabrillo College Library!

We are excited to be reopening the Library building to work with you. You may notice some changes from the last time you saw us in person in March 2020.

New Hours of Operation

To support all students, faculty, and staff, we are changing our operating hours for the Fall 2021 semester to offer a blend of online and onsite hours.

• Aptos Campus Library: Monday-Thursday 8:45am-4pm; Friday-Sunday CLOSED
• Watsonville at El Patio: Librarians available Monday 10am-1pm, Tuesday 10am-3pm, Wednesday TBD, Thursday 10am-1pm 
• Online Chat & Ask A Librarian: Monday-Thursday 4pm-8pm; Friday 10am-2pm; Saturday-Sunday email responses within 24 hours

Fine Free Checkouts

The Library is no longer charging late fees or overdue fines for materials that are not returned by their due date and time. We may charge replacement fees for long-overdue materials that are assumed lost. We'll be sharing more details about this change in a future blog post. Stay tuned!

Longer Checkout Periods

We're checking out some of our books for longer timeframes!

• Main Collection & Folio: For students, items from these collections will check out for the full semester with an opportunity to renew for an additional term if necessary. For faculty and staff, items will check out for 26 weeks with an opportunity to renew for an additional time period. Community Users (formerly Special Borrowers) will retain their existing loan period of 3 weeks.
• Textbooks & Course Reserves: Items will still check out for 4 hours, but with the change to our operating hours, items checked out on Thursday after 12pm will be due back on Monday.

COVID-19 Safety Policies

We are providing hand sanitizer, sanitizing wipes, and disposable surgical masks (if you need them). Please wipe down your table and/or computer workstation before and after using it. At the computers, you can choose to use the supplied headphones or unplug them to use your own. Please do not listen to videos or music with sound on without headphones, as this disturbs others who are using the library. Seating is available outside on the Library veranda for Zoom meetings. 

New Seating Configuration

In order to comply with campus COVID-19 protocols for occupancy of our spaces, we've removed some of our seating from tables and computer workstations for adequate physical distancing. We've also reduced our seating capacity in our Quiet Study Rooms on the second floor. Please keep the chairs with the tables and workstations where they're assigned, and refrain from moving armchairs closer together or adding chairs to tables. If you plan to study in a group, please use outdoor spaces, as we cannot currently accommodate groups inside.

Group Study Rooms Closed, Outdoor Group Seating Open

For the time being, our indoor group study rooms are closed. We're using them to store our chairs from other parts of the library! We have installed new tables and benches outside on the Library veranda for groups to gather.

New Library Team Members

We've also had some changes in personnel since last March.

• Jolene Kemos (she/her/hers) is an adjunct librarian teaching Library 10.  She started at the Library in August 2020. Jolene is also a local Teacher Librarian for Santa Cruz City Schools at the Branciforte Small Schools Campus Library.  Her K-12 library serves public alternative school populations of The Ark, AFE, Costanoa and Monarch Community School. 
• Joanna Messer Kimmitt (she/her/hers) is our new Director of Library Programs & Services. She started at the Library in July 2021. Joanna moved here from southern California, where she worked as the User Services Coordinator & User Experience Librarian at CSU Dominguez Hills for four years.
• Shannon Tracy Greene (she/her/hers) is an adjunct librarian for Library 10, new to Cabrillo College this fall. She's also the Library Media Teacher at Harbor High and has been since 2012. She studied History at UCSC and received her Masters in Library and Information Science at San Jose State University. 

We're so glad to be back with you on campus and online. If you have questions about the Library's services, policies, hours, and programs, please visit our website or use our Ask A Librarian FAQ. You can also reach out to Joanna Messer Kimmitt, Director of Library Programs and Services, at jokimmit@cabrillo.edu.

Welcome back, Seahawks! We're so glad to see you.