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7 J. New Librarianship 1 (2022)

handle is hein.journals/jnwlibsh7 and id is 1 raw text is: JOURNAL OF NEW LIBRARIANSHIP Vol. 7, No. 1, 2022 ht ;'n.o 0 1 nwiJ1 Column: Innovation in Libraries Come Together, Right Now, Virtually Zoe Bastone, University of Tennessee Knoxville ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has been a driving force for academic libraries to reexamine how they provide services and supportto their communities. This was certainlythe case at my academic branch library, where we were also preparing for a major construction project that was slated to begin during the Fall 2020 semester. The combination ofthese two circumstances complicated the question of how to engage students safely and effectively when the library was more inaccessible than ever before. In order to meet students where they were, I collaborated with the Coordinator for Student Life and Diversity, a member of the Dean's Office, to develop a virtual learning commons that supports intellectual, social, physical, and mental wellbeing. This column will explore the process of creating the Virtual Learning Commons and provide reflections for how this tool has become a necessary component of the student experience. KEYWORDS Academic libraries, virtual learning commons, whole-person librarianship, wellbeing SUGGESTED CITATION Bastone, Z. (2022). Come together, right now, virtually. Journal ofNew Librarianship, 7(1), 1- 9. t oor1.X01n,lb111 1 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (h ://creitivecommons.or/icenses/b /4.o), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.