The document provides resources and information for students at the EDPL library, including research help available by phone or online chat during library hours or 24/7, how to borrow books, DVDs, textbooks and other materials through circulation and reserves, where to find journals, magazines, newspapers and other collections, how to search the online catalog to find materials, an explanation of the Library of Congress call number system to locate items by subject area, and a list of article databases, reference materials, ebooks and an online tutorial available through the library.
Welcome to the library. You have access to scholarly information and research help from librarians at the “reference” desk or by phone during library hours (look on our website for library hours). You also have 24/7 access to our online resources via our articles/databases link and 24/7 research help via an online chat with reference librarians. Look for the “askwa” link on our home page.
This is a picture of the “reference desk” in the library and of all of the faculty librarians that share the job of helping you with the research process.
The Circulation Desk is the first desk you see as you enter the library. The circulation staff are here to help you with checking out materials. They can also help you with the photocopy machines that are adjacent to their desk. The reserves collection is behind this desk and you can request materials that your instructor has set aside for your class. The reserves collection also has selected textbooks that you can check out for two hours. The textbooks cannot leave the library!
This is our (physical) journal collection. The sign above says “periodicals-backfiles,” which is another name for a journal or magazine or anything that is published periodically, or, regularly. Backfiles indicates that there are older copies shelved under the displayed journal. A much larger collection of journals can be found online (see slides 11 and 12 )
All of the materials in the library’s physical collection are in the library catalog. If the location in the catalog says “stacks,” you can assume that the book (or CD or DVD) can be checked out and that it resides upstairs. We do have some mini-collections that have the “stacks” status, because they can be checked out, but they are shelved in a more convenient spot, on the main floor. ESL Readers, Music CD’s, Children’s books and our Good Reads are on the main floor. When in doubt, ask a librarian! Materials from the reference collection must be used in the library and are shelved on the main floor. The is an equivalent collection of e-books, films, music and reference material that can be found in our online collections, (see slide 11)
To find a book, look for the record in our online catalog, on our webpage.
Once you have entered a search and selected a title/link, you will see a record that resembles this. Notice the “call number. This is the address of the book on the shelf.
The call number can be found on the spine of the book and will match the call number in the catalog record. Our library uses the Library of Congress classification system (not the Dewy Decimal system) in an attempt to shelve materials with similar subject matter in the same location.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFzQbknKJM4 This call number has an additional line. The yellow tab at the top indicates that this book belongs in the reference section.
The library maintains (and pays for with your tuition and tax dollars) more books, films and music in our online collection, which can be accessed by selecting the Articles/databases link on our homepage.
The first page of the Databases page contains links to our major journal databases. If you scroll further down the page you will find an alphabetical list of all of the “databases” that contain journal articles, reference materials and more. If you need a particular type of information, ask a librarian to help you. We are familiar of what resides in the databases and can recommend places to go.
Scholarly journals are a pivotal resource for research. Maintaining a good scholarly (or peer-reviewed) journal collection is the responsibility of an academic library. If you need to know more about what a scholarly journal is and why it’s important, see a librarian or visit IRIS, the library’s online tutorial (see slide 13)
If you need to know more about the research process or about the scholarly information available at our library, ask a librarian at the reference desk or visit our online tutorial on our webpage.
The libraryalso has great places to study. Think of us when you need a place to get work done.