Journal of Balkan Libraries Union

Abstract

Information centers aim at meeting the information requirements of the society they serve, while they become active parts of all kinds of experiences within the society in this process. However, it is more important for information centers (which can become social institutions of culture in that way) to show their adaptation skills in extraordinary times. Thus, they contribute to the normalization of life within the identity of a public institution. In their quality as active and integral contributors of formal education provided in our country, the university libraries are among the most important information centers that are expected to turn this responsibility into a priority reflex. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic that continues to cause severe trauma and chaos globally has introduced an atmosphere in which university libraries are expected to show such a reaction. The present study aims to show how the university libraries in our country have been affected by the pandemic and the new conditions, and to what extent their services will adapt to the new normal, as will be exemplified by the case study of Izmir Katip Celebi University (IKCU) Library. To that effect, a comparison has been made between 2019 (the former "normal" for the libraries) and 2020 (when the pandemic broke out in March also in Turkey). As a result, an analysis based on specific keywords and on the comparison of qualitative data related to these keywords was made to understand how the library was affected by COVID-19 outbreak and how this effect reflected on the services of the library and on the users. The findings obtained after the comparison has shown that the pandemic has caused a significant setback both for the IKCU Library, which is still in its infancy, and for its efforts to prove itself. The study was concluded by making suggestions for the IKCU Library with regard to its efficient service delivery during the ongoing pandemic period. At this point, successful practice examples throughout the world provided inspiration. Contributing to the reduction of the negative impact of the pandemic on the library on the hand, and attracting the attention of other university libraries in our country on the other, will be the main successes of this study.