Purpose

This paper examined the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on people, place, product and services in Jamaican academic libraries. It also compares the Jamaican academic library’s COVID-19 experience with US academic library’s COVID-19 preliminary experience.

Design/methodology/approach

The local academic libraries in higher education in Jamaica (also referred to in this paper as university libraries) were surveyed.

Findings

Government mandates, university mandates and the absence of a vaccine influenced academic library response. The measures implemented, though unplanned and developed on-the-go, constituted a behavioural change model (BCM). COVID-19 has had a positive-negative impact on library people, place, product and services and has created a new normal for Jamaican academic libraries.

Research limitations/implications

This paper captures the preliminary response of Jamaican academic libraries to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on library people, place, product and services. As such, a follow-up survey on changes, challenges, strengths, impact, lessons and plans would be a useful complement to this paper. As COVID-19 information is rapidly evolving, this preliminary response of Jamaica is neither the final nor complete response to the pandemic.

Practical implications

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed a gap in the literature on disaster management generally and pandemic management in particular, and on the management of health disasters in academic libraries; this paper seeks to fill this gap, albeit incrementally, through Jamaica's preliminary response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Originality/value

This paper gives voice to the Caribbean academic library’s COVID-19 experience, through the voice of Jamaica. It is the first scholarly paper on the impact of COVID-19 on university libraries in the Jamaican / English-speaking Caribbean, and so presents the elements of the BCM implemented by Jamaica, which provides an important guide to Caribbean academic library leaders. The findings can also inform the Latin American and Caribbean section of international library papers on COVID-19 impact on academic libraries globally.

中文翻译：

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Covid-19 对加勒比学术图书馆的影响：牙买加对人、地点、产品和服务的初步反应

目的

本文研究了 2019 年冠状病毒病 (COVID-19) 大流行对牙买加学术图书馆中的人员、地点、产品和服务的影响。它还比较了牙买加学术图书馆的 COVID-19 经验与美国学术图书馆的 COVID-19 初步经验。

设计/方法论/方法

调查了牙买加当地高等教育学术图书馆（本文也称为大学图书馆）。

发现

政府命令、大学命令和疫苗的缺乏影响了学术图书馆的反应。实施的措施虽然是计划外的并且是在旅途中制定的，但构成了行为改变模型 (BCM)。COVID-19 对图书馆人员、场所、产品和服务产生了积极的消极影响，并为牙买加的学术图书馆创造了新的常态。

研究限制/影响

本文介绍了牙买加学术图书馆对第一波 COVID-19 大流行的初步反应及其对图书馆人员、场所、产品和服务的影响。因此，关于变化、挑战、优势、影响、经验教训和计划的后续调查将是对本文的有益补充。随着 COVID-19 信息的迅速发展，牙买加的这种初步反应既不是对大流行的最终反应，也不是完全的反应。

实际影响

COVID-19 大流行揭示了一般灾害管理特别是大流行病管理以及学术图书馆健康灾害管理方面的文献存在空白；本文旨在通过牙买加对 COVID-19 大流行的初步反应来填补这一空白，尽管是渐进式的。

创意/价值

本文通过牙买加的声音表达了加勒比学术图书馆的 COVID-19 经验。这是第一篇关于 COVID-19 对牙买加/英语加勒比地区大学图书馆影响的学术论文，因此介绍了牙买加实施的 BCM 要素，为加勒比学术图书馆领导者提供了重要指南。调查结果还可以为国际图书馆关于 COVID-19 对全球学术图书馆影响的论文的拉丁美洲和加勒比地区提供信息。