Covid-19 impact on the Caribbean academic library: Jamaica's preliminary response to people, place, product and services

Abstract

PurposeThis 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/approachThe local academic libraries in higher education in Jamaica (also referred to in this paper as university libraries) were surveyed.FindingsGovernment 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/implicationsThis 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 implicationsThe 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/valueThis 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.