Dear Faculty and Staff,
The University Library would like to keep you informed about upcoming changes to hours and services, primarily in the Loop Library. Please know that we remain committed to maintaining the core services essential to teaching, learning, and research at DePaul. Over the next year, we will continue to make adjustments to ensure we support our patrons as effectively as possible. Here is an overview of the changes:
Library Hours
The John T. Richardson Library will now open at 8 a.m. Monday through Friday, with continued weekend hours. The Loop Library will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and will be closed Friday through Sunday. There are no changes to our Ask a Librarian (chat support) service.
These schedule adjustments are based on library usage patterns and have been designed to minimize the impact on our students.
Services
Research Help at the John T. Richardson Library will remain unchanged, and research assistance at the Loop Library will be available by appointment. In addition, we will not be able to accommodate all library instruction requests, particularly for classes held on the Loop Campus.
Overall, some services may require more lead time. Course reserves processing times will be extended, so please submit your reading lists as early as possible. Electronic thesis and dissertation submissions and updates to the institutional repository will also take longer. We will also be reviewing all library liaison assignments with our current staff, and if your primary library contact changes, we will notify all affected faculty directly.
We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work toward determining more sustainable service models in the coming year.
Changes to journal collections
You may also notice changes to the library’s journal collections. DePaul previously spent roughly 25% of its library budget on large journal bundles with Springer, Wiley, Sage, and Elsevier. Many universities have shifted away from these deals to regain control over collections and costs. DePaul has also decided to move away from these serial packages, as of Jan. 1, 2026.
This approach allows us to reduce overall serials spending while minimizing the impact on students. It will allow us to adjust subscriptions in response to faculty and student needs and emerging areas of scholarship at DePaul.
Our librarians carefully evaluated each journal using factors such as usage data, alternative access, subject relevance, impact rating, and DePaul faculty citation and publication patterns. As part of this process, we have also added new databases to address content gaps, enhanced our interlibrary loan services, and are exploring additional tools to ensure continued access to essential resources. A complete list of our current journal holdings is available in Journal Finder.
Over the next year, we will continue to refine and adjust all of our services, collections, and physical spaces to creatively and effectively support to all our patrons. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your library liaison.
Sincerely,
Robert D Karpinski, PhD
AVP, Academic and Library Administration