Nancy Huling, Reference and Research Services
Getting out of the office to browse in the Libraries provides a pleasant diversion from the often lonely scholarly pursuit and allows serendipitous discovery of a variety of materials. But juggling teaching, office hours, research and university servic e may not permit you to meet your information needs through a leisurely trip to the Libraries. Fortunately, a number of library services are now offered to your desktop.
The UW Libraries' "armchair" services are available to campus users at the UW Libraries Web page. The Health Sciences Libraries and Information Center (HSLIC) offers similar services.
Through the UW Libraries home page, UWIN or a new Windows version of Willow called WinWillow, you can search the Libraries' centrally-supported databases from your office or home computer. In addition to the UW Libraries Ca talog, faculty will find Books in Print and the Publishers Directory particularly useful.
The Libraries' branches and divisions provide listings of and links to materials in appropriate subjects. For example, the Business Administration Library offers links to Business Information on the Internet and the Fisheries-Oceanography Library presents a list of Electronic Journals.
Renewals may be made by phone or e-mail in addition to the online form.
You may also send e-mail to borrowme@u.washington.edu for a request form.
The Grants and Funding Information Service (GFIS) supports faculty and staff in the humanities, arts and sciences who are seeking funding for research, projects and other activities. Co ntact 616-3083 or gfis@u.washington.edu.
Faculty and staff in the health sciences should contact the Research Funding Service (rfs@u.washington.edu), located at HSLIC.
The Zephyr service provides faculty and graduate students with free customized monthly reports on new library resources. You set up an interest profile and Zephyr searches the UW Libraries Cat alog using the individualized search terms. The resulting citations are sent to you via electronic mail. To subscribe to the service send a list of your interests to zephyrme@u.washington.edu.
UnCover Reveal keeps you up to date on the latest articles published in more than 16,000 journals covering all subject areas. You create a personal profile of the subjects or journals in which you are interested, and UnCover Reveal wi ll send any matching citations or table of contents listings directly to your e-mail account once a week. To receive a copy of the printed directions for UnCover Reveal, send an e-mail request to refquest@u.washington.edu. Online directions are also available.
The interactive form goes directly to the Acquisitions Division, which places the order with a publisher or vendor.
The Library Express service will send photocopies of articles from journals held by the UW Libraries directly to your campus address for a fee. Send e-mail to docme@u.washington.edu for an interactive form.
The Libraries' branches and units offer e-mail reference service. Questions typically answered through e-mail include citation checks, quick factual information, advice on which print or electronic resources to check for a particular subject, and assis tance with library databases. If you aren't sure where to direct your question, send a message to refquest@u.washington.edu, the e-mail service of the Reference and Research Services Division.
Each librarian has one or more subject specialties and is responsible for ordering books and journals in that subject, teaching students research methodology and strategies for finding course-related electronic and print sources, and for providing refe rence and research consultation. A list of subject specialists is found on the Libraries home page.
As the world of information continues to grow and the advent of the Internet and World Wide Web have added to the expansion, it is more important than ever that students gain critical thinking and evaluation skills as they relate to the research process. Librarians offer research sessions tailored to the subject of your classes. Sessions are done during class time and cover appropriate print and electronic resources. Contact your subject librarian to discuss your students' instructional needs.