Welcome to the University of Washington and the University Libraries! This guide is intended to provide information about basic library services available to support your course of study.
Nancy Huling, Head of Reference and Research Services, is the Libraries liaison to the Information School. She can help you to identify sources for your research and assist you in formulating a search strategy. Questions regarding any of the Libraries' databases and how best to use them, as well as general Libraries-related questions can be sent to Nancy. Her mail address is hulingn@u.washington.edu, and the telephone number is (206)685-2211. Lauren Ray is the Educational Outreach Services Librarian. Contact her for questions regarding access to online and print collections, technical issues related to the Libraries, and delivery of materials. Feel free to contact her with your subject questions as well -- we work closely and confer often. Lauren's email address is olray@u.washington.edu, and her phone number is (206) 543-6847. We are here to help you have a successful research experience. Please don't hesitate to contact us with questions or comments!
In addition to reference support available from Nancy, reference services are provided through two AskUs online services: 24/7 live chat and email. You can also chat with Nancy online.
In order to check out books at the UW Libraries and at libraries in the Orbis Cascade Alliance, you will need to obtain a Student ID card (also known as a Husky card). This serves as your library card. . If you do not have a Husky Card, you can obtain a library card by bringing, faxing or mailing a copy of your transaction summary to the Library Cashier. To check your library record, renew books and pay library fines, access Your Library Account online, using your UW NetID and password. You can also call (206)543-0242 for assistance. For more information on borrowing services for Graduate students, see this page: http://www.lib.washington.edu/services/borrow/grad.html.
To take advantage of the many resources provided by the Libraries for your research, you will need to be able to connect to the Libraries from your home or office. Although the UW Libraries Catalog can be accessed by anyone, most of the research databases are available only to UW students, faculty, and staff under licensing agreements with publishers. It is necessary for you to be "authenticated" as a UW student in order to use the licensed resources from an off-campus location.
In order to connect to the databases from home, you will need to use the UW Libraries Proxy server. You will login to the proxy server with your UW NetID. For more information on connecting from off-campus, see http://www.lib.washington.edu/help/connect.html.
Course Reserve Readings
Reserve material, including electronic reserves, can be found in the UW Libraries Catalog or by linking the Course Reserves site from the Libraries' website. You can search the course reserves either by course (LIS 500) or instructor's last name (e.g., Hill). Course reserves are also linked from your class lists in MyUW.
Electronic reserves are indicated by an item named "ELECTRONIC READINGS FOR [course number]." Click on that item to get to a link that says "Connect to this title online". Click on that link, then enter your UW NetID to bring up a list of electronic files for the class. The list is in alphabetical order by author.
While you are in
residence on the UW campus, you can borrow books (and journals that circulate) from the UW Seattle, UW Bothell, or UW Tacoma libraries. The loan period for most books is one quarter. Books
can be renewed online.
If you are near the UW Seattle, Tacoma, or Bothell campus
libraries, you can request books through the Libraries catalog Request/Place
Hold function and have them sent to any UW library for pick-up.
Through Summit,
the shared catalog of the Orbis Cascade Alliance (academic libraries in Washington and Oregon), you can request books in the collections of the members, as well
as the UW Libraries, directly and pick them up at any of the member libraries.
UW students also have in-person borrowing privileges at the Orbis Cascade Alliance member libraries. For information on members and services, see http://libweb.uoregon.edu/orbis/.
Interlibrary Loan supplies materials not owned by the UW Libraries to current UW students. (For those students near an Orbis-Cascade library, items that can be requested through Summit will not be borrowed through ILL ). Books or articles from journals owned by the UW Libraries can be shipped to your home address for a separate fee. However, journal articles requested through ILL can often be delivered to you via email. For more information on Interlibrary Loan services and fees, see http://www.lib.washington.edu/ill/
When you are on the campus, we hope you will become familiar with the resources and services of the Libraries. The Suzzallo and Allen Libraries houses the collections most applicable to the program, although you will also find many materials in the Engineering Library. Reference librarians on the first floor of Suzzallo Library will be happy to help you get started on your research, acquaint you with the Libraries online system, and answer questions.
Performing research and trying to identify and obtain relevant materials is a challenge for all students, but can be particularly so for those in distance learning programs. Below is some advice that might help facilitate the research process:
The Services
for Faculty and Graduate Students page also provides some of this same information.
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