In the last post we talked about why attending a library orientation can be good to learn about the physical layout of your university library. Today we’ll talk about what your library has to offer in terms of other resources. Of course, these vary by library and we can’t list them all, but rest assured that your university will have more than enough library resources for you to get through your course!
The most obvious of library resources are the books available. These should be pretty easy to find in general, although not necessarily to find the one you’re looking for. Library cataloguing can be a complex thing, so if you’re having trouble finding a specific book, don’t hesitate to ask the library staff! Remember that books on the same topic will be in the same section of the library, so generally you just need to find that section and you can browse around for loads more titles. More and more e-books are also becoming available, which you can “borrow” by logging onto a computer with an Internet connection.
Library resources will also have printed and electronic copies of academic journals, which are full of shorter articles and are excellent for writing those dreaded essays. Some libraries have a catalogue where you can search for books and articles in the same search bar, but often you’ll have to login to a separate electronic database to find these. You can get an idea of how to do this by attending a library orientation (a lot of libraries will have orientations on doing this specifically), or by talking to your librarian – this is what they’re good at and they’re there to help you, so do talk to them if you’re having trouble or just want to get better at finding materials!
Other library resources will vary between libraries, but can include DVDs (including popular films), laptops or tablets which you can borrow for a few hours at a time, newspapers and magazines, government publications, conference proceedings, reports, previous dissertations or theses and much, much more. If you can’t find what you’re looking for in the catalogue but you know it exists, talk to your library staff about how to borrow it from another library. Often an item can be delivered to your library in just a couple of days, so it’s well worth it if you need something. Don’t wait until the last minute though!
Remember that your library and the staff are there to help you in your studies. Making use of the library resources will improve your overall results. So attend a library orientation tour and don’t be afraid to go to the library staff with questions.