Please see the latest updates on UMBC’s Retriever Ready website. Questions? Email covid19@umbc.edu.
The National Day of Racial Healing is on Tuesday, January 19, 2021. This annual observance was first introduced by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation on January 17, 2017 and has been celebrated every year since. The goal of the day is to promote racial healing and equity through collective action. To learn more click HERE.
As a Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Campus Center, we are honoring the day by welcoming you to join our letter writing campaign regarding the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Congressional Resolution, also known as S. Con. Res. 50. Introduced by Senator Cory Booker, this concurrent resolution calls for the establishment of a United States Commission on Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT).
Through our letter writing campaign, we encourage you to voice your thoughts on the TRHT resolution by writing letters to your senators. During the first hour of the event, you will have the chance to learn more about the resolution as well as the TRHT work that is happening on campus and in the surrounding community. The last 30 minutes will be an optional space for you to work through the thoughts and experiences that you would like to include in your letter with the facilitators.
Event details:
Tuesday, January 19, 2021 @ 12:30-2pm on Webex
Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery
Update on Library Services for Spring 2021
Updated 1/12/2021
The Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery will provide virtual and contactless services for the Spring 2021 semester. The Library and Gallery building will remain closed to users to ensure the safety of our staff and community.
We will continue to offer the following services and resources for our users:
Virtual research appointments and “Ask a Librarian” chat service with our Subject Librarians and Archivists.
Virtual information literacy and library instruction sessions and research workshops. Please contact a Subject Librarian to discuss your instructional goals and options for how to reach them. Use the Instruction Request Form to schedule a session for your class, or request a Special Collections Instruction session.
A robust collection of electronic resources, including ebooks, databases, journals, research guides, and more, all available from your device. Get started with this guide.
Purchasing additional electronic books and streaming media. Contact your Subject Librarian or send a request directly to libraryacq@umbc.edu.
Providing electronic Course Reserves, with scans of book chapters, journal articles, and archival materials from UMBC Library collections. Visit this page for information on how to submit your requests via Blackboard.
Scanning of book chapters, journal articles, and archival materials from UMBC library collections, as well as purchasing individual journal articles, all for electronic delivery. Submit your request via Interlibrary Loan. Chapter and article delivery from partner libraries may vary as conditions change.
Contactless checkout and return of books and media, including physical library materials from UMBC and, to as great an extent as possible, from our library partners in the University of Maryland System. Learn more about how to place a request or view a map of book return bin locations on campus.
Interlibrary borrowing for books and media from partners outside of USM will continue and/or resume as conditions permit.
Contactless checkout and return of digital media equipment, laptops, and accessories. Details available at the main curbside pickup page.
We’ve added a Virtual Study Room where you can work alongside fellow Retrievers for a focused study environment
For up to date information on our services and resources, consult the Library & Gallery website or our myUMBC page.
]]>Good morning,
Governor Hogan renewed the State of Emergency on December 23, 2020. You can read the Proclamation here.
Economic Impact Payments: Legislation enacted on December 27, 2020, provides that the new stimulus payments to individuals will not be withheld to pay federal debts or to pay state child support enforcement orders and cannot be garnished by debt collectors.
Health Insurance Open Enrollment: Citing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Hogan announced Monday that the state’s special health insurance enrollment period will be reopened in January and extended through mid-March 2021. Eligible residents who did not participate in the state’s extended special enrollment period in 2020 may now opt-in to Medicaid or private health coverage plans through the Maryland Health Connection.
To enroll in health insurance through the marketplace:
1) Go online to MarylandHealthConnection.gov
2) Call 1-855-642-8572 to speak to someone who will walk you through this process.
Student Loans: The automatic suspension of principal and interest payments on federally held student loans has been extended and will expire on January 31, 2021.
Lifeline: Lifeline is a federal program that provides discounts for limited income consumers on their telephone and internet services. In Maryland the program is called Tel‐Life. See the attachment to learn more about Lifeline services and how to apply. As the program phases out monthly support for voice only in favor of broadband support, beginning December 1, 2020 Lifeline has lowered the voice-only support to $5.25.
Training: If you would like the Office of People's Counsel to provide free training to your organization on the current state of utilities, in depth look at OHEP applications, or little known utility consumer protections please feel free to reach out to me and we can discuss your agency needs.
If you are struggling to pay your utility bill there may be resources available to help.
- Office of Home Energy Programs
- Office of People’s Counsel Community Resource Guides
- Call 2-1-1 for information about other financial assistance resources in your community
The DoIT Technology Support Center is looking to hire additional consultants to work during the Spring semester and beyond. Please see our job description below and visit our job posting on UMBCWorks to apply. (Search for TSC Student Consultant.) The application will be open until January 12th.
We're specifically looking for students available to work during the following hours:
Technology Support Center (TSC) student consultants are the first points of technical contact for the UMBC community and those who do well often go on to work in other areas of the Division of Information Technology (DoIT). Minimally, consultants are expected to provide initial triage and support for a wide range of information technologies including accounts, hardware, instructional technologies, networking, software, telecommunications, and basic web development.
Please see the latest updates on UMBC’s Retriever Ready website. Questions? Email covid19@umbc.edu.
Starting this week, the Retriever Ready Action Update is moving to a weekly format.