Reflection from Julie Garrison

2021 turned out to be another extraordinary year for Western Michigan University Libraries! Our library staff and faculty have continued to employ creative strategies to fulfill our community’s needs. We have adapted services and programming to meet the challenges of an ever-evolving global pandemic and were able to fully reopen the Waldo Library and Zhang Legacy Collections Center at the start of the fall 2021 semester.

Among our many accomplishments, we were able to:

• Respond to increasing demand for more private spaces for study and course-related activities by dedicating 11 study rooms for individual use and creating a private testing room equipped with a webcam and browser lockdown software.
• Support future innovators and facilitate access to new technologies for experimentation. Students can use our 3D printing service to take their designs from the screen to a 3D object. Students can use our new Flight Simulator Lab to gain hands-on experience in an aircraft cockpit and learn the fundamentals of flying.
• Invest in new strategies for our collections that adapt to WMU’s changing community, continuing to prioritize electronic subscriptions to increase access and flexibility and identifying opportunities to promote our unique and special collections and expand digital collections.
• Expand virtual and asynchronous library instruction and event offerings, delivering convenient learning experiences and preparing students to work in a complex information landscape.

Our creative, dedicated library staff and faculty moved these projects and many other initiatives forward this year, and we couldn’t be more pleased with our team’s accomplishments. Thank you for your continued engagement and support of our mission. We will continue collaborating with our community to drive discovery and student success to new levels.

We look forward to an energizing year ahead and sharing our future progress with you.