Hours & Access Policy
Library Hours
University Libraries strive to make our spaces and physical collections as widely available as possible to our primary community of researchers – OHIO students, faculty, and staff as our resources allow. We also endeavor to be good partners with our local community of Athens and southeastern Ohio.
Each year, we review the hours our spaces are open to the OHIO community and the broader community and work to balance our resources in support of clean, functioning, safe spaces available in the broadest manner reasonable.
Available hours for the OHIO community for Alden Library, the Music & Dance Library in Glidden Hall, and the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections in Alden Library, and the regional campus libraries are published on the Libraries’ web site.
Library spaces may be closed or limited due to the cost to mitigate risks related to the safety of people, collections, and technology.
Stacks Passes & Paging
Ohio University faculty, graduate students, HTC students, or Cutler Scholars, may present their Ohio ID to the service desk staff for a stacks pass in order to access other floors of Alden Library when only the 2nd and/or 4th floors are open. Visitors must vacate the other floors and return the stacks pass to the service desk 30 minutes prior to closing. Other students with special projects or needs can request limited access by contacting Chad Boeninger, Interim Assistant Dean for Research and Education Services.
When Alden Library’s 2nd and/or 4th floors are open and the other floors of Alden are closed, service desk staff will retrieve known items from circulating collections on closed floors. Bring the title and call number for an available item to either the 2nd or 4th floor service desks.
During breaks or holidays, or other times when staffing is limited, retrieving materials or stacks passes may be unavailable.
Please also consult the following related information: