Collections and Services by Level
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Level 1
- Management, Economics, Government Information
- Social Sciences / Education
- Special Collections / Manuscripts
Level 2
- Map Collection
- Religion / Family History
- Periodicals
- Science / Maps
Level 3
- General Reference Desk
- Information Commons
- Circulation
- Course Reserve
- Interlibrary Loan
Level 4
- Asian Collection
- Learning Resource Center
- Juvenile Literature Collection
- Humanities Reference
Level 5
<4h>Level 6
- Technical Services
- Processing Book Materials
Library Web Site
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Through the library's home page, you can search:
- Online library catalogs (for BYU and for other libraries worldwide)
- Selected periodical indexes
- Databases containing the full text of a variety of publications
- Scholarly Web sites.
For more information about using these resources, contact your library subject specialist.
Circulation and Check-out Information
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The Circulation Department is located on Level 3.
- Faculty check-out period for books is 6 months
- You can renew books online (through Renew Materials) or over the phone (call 422-6061)
Proxy Checkout
You can authorize a secretary or research assistant to check out materials for you
- Fill out the Proxy Request Form, available at the Circulation Desk.
- Send the form to Circulation (3445 HBLL) through campus mail.
- Pick up the proxy card at the circulation desk within 2-3 days.
Courtesy reminders are sent at two weeks and one week prior to each item's due date.
Recalls
Circulation may recall a book if another student or faculty member requests it
- All books are subject to recall after three weeks
- Recalled books must be returned within seven days
- There is a fine of up to $20.00 per recalled book for late returns
Faculty Document Delivery Service
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The library offers document/book delivery and retrieval service to faculty. Books not readily available from our holdings will be recalled from the patron or requested from another library. The Faculty Document Delivery Service is located in the Interlibrary Loan Office (ILLiad) of the Lee Library (3421 HBLL)
- Log all delivery requests into the ILLiad system
- 1-2 day turnaround time for deliveries for materials in the library; inter-library loans and recalls may take longer
Books are held for pickup at the Circulation Desk for Graduate Students and are delivered to department offices for Faculty free of charge.
Articles or other copied materials are delivered electronically free of charge as a PDF.
Pickup service for return or renewal also available; please call 422-5282
Interlibrary Loan
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Access to materials that are not held by the Lee Library, or that might be missing or unavailable, may be available from other libraries.
Please log all requests into the ILLiad system.
The Interlibrary Loan office checks requests against Lee Library holdings and performs bibliographic searches worldwide for research material and delivers the materials as quickly as possible.
- Articles delivered within 1-3 days
- Books delivered within 7-10 days
For more information, please refer to the Interlibrary Loan website.
Course Reserve
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Procedures and deadlines for placing library books, personal books, or photocopies on Course Reserve (including online course reserve) are available at the Course Reserve/Faculty Services area of the Library.
- Most items remain on Reserve until the end of each Winter Semester
- The Course Reseve office contacts instructors for renewal options before Spring Term
Note: All photocopies need to be in compliance with copyright laws. If you have any questions, please contact the Course Reserve Manager at extension 422-3745.
Electronic Reserve
The Library will provide electronic access to non-monographic materials. Electronic reserve lets many students use the same material. Items well-suited to electronic access include:
- Journal articles
- Single book chapters (usually only one chapter per book)
- Short stories
- Essays or poems
- Class syllabi and notes
- Practice tests, quizzes or exams.
Please note: Course packets may NOT be placed on reserve.
To place items on Course Reserve or electronic reserve,
- Supply bibliographic citation information (including copyright and title pages)
Faculty Request Form
- Submit request by these dates
Fall: July 15
Winter: November 20
Spring: April 1
Summer: June 1
Note: Requests that come in after these deadlines are processed on a first-come, first-served basis.
For answers to questions, contact the Reserve Processing staff at extension 422-3745 or 422-2947 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m,. M - F.
Reciprocal Borrowing Privileges
- Present your current BYU ID card at the circulation desk of any universit or college library in Utah to check out circulating materials from their collections.
- You also have borrowing privileges from the collections of nearly 100 major American research libraries and institutes through the Research Libraries Group (RLG).
- Return materials borrowed from other libraries to our Interlibrary Loan Office
Other Research Services
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Librarian Assisted Research Services
- Fee-based online access to hundreds of bibliographic and non-bibliographic databases
- Charges depend on the database(s), the complexity of the search, and the number of references found
- The Library pays for the first $15 of each search
See the Librarian Assisted Research Services page to contact the appropriate subject librarian for assistance and information about databases for your subject area. For the complete list of subject librarians, see the Subject Librarians Directory
RLIN
- Computerized bibliographic database sponsored by the Research Libraries Group (RLG)
- Represents the combined holdings of many of the nation's largest research libraries.
- Contains approximately 85 million titles, including the acquisitions of the Library of Congress since 1968
- Useful in determining BYU holdings and call numbers
- Available to search at no cost from the Library Home Page under "Other Libraries"
For assistance searching RLIN, inquire at the reference desks.
The Center for Research Libraries (CRL)
- Cooperative library intended to increase the availability of research materials to members
- Provides access to rare archival materials, foreign dissertations, and uncommon government documents, journals, monographs and newspapers
- Available to search at no cost from the Library Home Page under "Other Libraries"
To borrow an item from CRL, inquire at the Interlibrary Loan Office.
Faculty Research Rooms
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If you are involved in a special writing or research project you may apply each semester for a faculty research room.
- Rooms are assigned on a priority basis (due to more applications than available rooms)
- Submit applications to the Library Administrative Offices (422-2905) one month before the beginning of each semester
- The location of your room will not be disclosed to others without your written permission
Note: You may have to share your room with other faculty researchers.
Fill out an online application.
Book and Journal Ordering
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You can request that the Library acquire specific material to support your research and department.
Ordering Books and Serials
To order a book, serial, or journal for your teaching or research, submit a request to your department's library representative or your subject specialist
Requests may include:
- Publisher announcements
- Bibliographies
- Memos indicating the author, title, publisher, and publication date of the item
Note: Because of budgetary limitations, you may be asked to specify your needs and assign priorities to your requests.
Ordering Non-Print Media
Requests for non-print materials, such as videotapes, compact discs, or DVDs, can go through
- Your department's library representative
- The Lee Library Learning Resource Center (Level 4)
- The Learning Resource Center (LRC) supporting your department
Acquiring Archives and Manuscripts
Forward requests to purchase specific archival and manuscript collections, or leads as to where the Library might acquire material as a donation, to the appropriate archival curator. Call 422-3175 for further information.
Donations and Gifts
The Library selectively accepts gifts that build its collections. Donors should inquire at the Library Administrative Offices, 422-4301, where personnel can assist them in the process.
Library Instruction
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Library instruction programs help you teach your students to pursue independent scholarly research, and thus augment your efforts to provide them with a superior academic experience.
Note: Basic library skills are taught in units within the required freshman- and junior-level English writing courses. (More specialized skills can be taught in any course.) Many of your students may not yet have completed the English Department programs and may have inadequate instruction in performing library research.
Basic Library Skills Instruction
The library unit taught in all first-year writing courses teaches students about:
- The organization of the Library
- How to use the library catalog
- How to use periodical and newspaper indexes
- How to conduct basic library research
Two required self-instruction programs support this library unit.
- A taped tour of the Lee Library introduces students to library facilities and services.
- The Library Research Skills an online course introduces them to the library catalog and article indexes, and presents a model for efficient library research.
In Advanced Writing courses:
- Students meet with subject specialist librarians to learn the primary information resources and skills for their majors
- Sessions are held primarily in the Library's computerized classrooms.
Special Library Skills Instruction
- Library subject specialists are available to give classroom presentations on library resources that relate directly to the subject matter of a course
- You can schedule demonstrations of the Library's automated information retrieval services and programs and hands-on practice sessions
Individualized Instruction and Service
- Library subject specialists are available by appointment for individual assistance
- Subject specialists can provide individualized student-orientation lectures, subject bibliographies, and instruction in a variety of library tools
- You can also arrange consultations on research methodologies and strategies
Effective Library Assignments
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Course-related or course-integrated library assignments are excellent ways to introduce students to information-gathering and evaluation skills.
The Lee Library Instruction Program can help you develop library assignments that offer meaningful, positive, learning experiences.
Tips for creating effective library assignments:
- Contact your Subject Librarian. Librarians with expertise in various academic subjects are available to help plan effective library assignments.
- Schedule an instruction session. Bring your class to the Library for instruction on how to effectively use library resources in your subject area. You and your subject librarian can decide on the date and time. The librarian will schedule an appropriate instruction room.
- Assume minimal library knowledge. Students will approach your assignment(s) from a wide range of information-gathering experience and skills. For example, some may know how to use the catalog to find books by author or title but might be unfamiliar with subject or keyword searching. Others may know how to surf the Internet for social or consumer purposes, but may not know how to use it for academic research. Encourage students who have not participated in a first-year writing program at BYU to take the basic library instruction and tests.
- Determine the feasibility of assignments. Work through the library assignment(s) to make sure the instructions are clear and that the Library's resources are adequate. Provide a copy of each assignment and due dates to the appropriate reference desk.
- Establish deadlines. If the assignment is an extended project, establish deadlines for individual stages to help students avoid procrastination by pacing their work.
- Integrate technology in the assignment. If students will need to use copy machines, computer resources, learning resource center equipment, or microfilm/microfiche readers, make sure they know what they are, where they are located, how to use them, and where to ask for help.
- Allow for variety. Let students choose a specific subject within a broad range of topics so that a large number of students are not looking for the same library materials at the same time. If the assignment requires students to use one specific resource, put it on reserve or have it set aside at the appropriate reference desk.
- Encourage critical thinking. Choose assignments that require students to integrate knowledge rather than using "scavenger hunt" assignments that generally do not teach the research process or require students to evaluate resources. A better approach is to design assignments that require students to compare articles in popular and scholarly journals, work from both primary and secondary sources, evaluate commercial and educational Web sites, and so forth.
Assignments That Teach Valuable Skills
As an alternative to the traditional short research paper, try these suggestions for library assignments that teach many valuable skills including evaluation of source, critical and creative thinking, search techniques, and organizing and synthesizing information.
- Locate a popular magazine article, then find a scholarly journal article on the same subject. Compare the two for content, style, bias, etc. Use one electronic index and one print index to locate the articles.
- Compile an annotated bibliography instead of a fully written paper. If it includes Web sites, require students to list the sites they rejected and explain why.
- Read an editorial, then find factual information to support or refute the opinions expressed.
- Analyze the content, tone, style and audience for three journals in a particular discipline.
For more ideas and information, visit the LI&IL Department offices (2224 HBLL) or call Suzanne Julian (801-422-2813) or Kimball Benson (801-422-7089).
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