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From the Dean

Tyler Walters

Dear friends of the University Libraries,

Greetings from the University Libraries. In this magazine, you will find stories about our outstanding students, faculty, and staff and how expertise in the library helps advance Virginia Tech research. These stories were written before the COVID-19 pandemic, before all Virginia Tech classes moved online, and before the university facilities were closed to promote social distancing and reduce the spread of the virus.

It’s hard to believe it was only a few months ago, in a March 11 message to our Virginia Tech community, when Virginia Tech President Tim Sands announced the university would extend spring break and move to online-only instruction. Since then, I have seen library employees mobilize quickly and creatively to meet the needs of our faculty and students.

Many library resources have already been online, even before we imagined that our lives would change and our work would become mostly virtual. Faculty and students have used these services as a matter of course during fall, winter, spring, and summer semesters. We continue to enhance digital resources. Some of the stories you will find inside, like the digital preservation of the Virginia Tech Insect Collection and the 3D scanning of rare dinosaur bones, exemplify this commitment to providing accessible information and knowledge to our Virginia Tech community and beyond.

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All the best,

Tyler D Walters

Tyler Walters, Ph.D. Dean
University Libraries, Virginia Tech