973-618-3312Information For Faculty
LIBRARY INSTRUCTION
What the Library Offers | When and Where | Tips for a Successful Session | Schedule a Session
Students who are assigned projects requiring library research often lack basic library skills or are overwhelmed by the variety of information resources. The library instruction program at Jennings Library is designed to teach students how to use the resources available here while developing skills in lifelong information literacy. Library instruction sessions give students an opportunity to meet with a Librarian, learn about the research process, and get specific information on using the Jennings Library.
All teaching faculty are invited to take advantage of the library instruction program and schedule library sessions for their classes.
WHAT THE LIBRARY OFFERS
The library offers instruction sessions tailored to the needs of your students. A librarian will introduce your students to the resources and search strategies that are most appropriate for the assignments, topics, and level of expertise. Most often, sessions combine demonstrations of electronic resources, discussions of search strategies, and hands-on practice.
Topics covered include:
- Searching the Library Catalog, CALCAT
- Using electronic databases to find articles
- Exploring the World Wide Web
- Evaluating sources
- Exploring resources in the reference collection
WHEN AND WHERE
Sessions can be scheduled in the library during regular class time (evenings as well as days) or as an additional class session. Multiple sessions to cover topics may be arranged.
TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL SESSION
To ensure that your library instruction session is successful, we offer these suggestions:
- Contact the library at least two weeks prior to your desired date for library instruction.
- Schedule the session close to the time when students will actually need to be using the library.
- Give a copy of the class' assignment and/or syllabus to the librarian who will be meeting with your class.
- Accompany your class to the library session and add your comments and questions.
SCHEDULE A SESSION
To schedule a library session please fill out and submit the Request for Bibliographic Instruction. All requests will be confirmed. To talk about what the library can offer your class or any questions, concerns, etc., contact Mary Ladany, Coordinator of Instruction, at 618-3928 or mladany@caldwell.edu.
RESERVE REQUESTS
Placing Materials on Reserve
The Circulation Desk handles course reserves. Only required readings or video tapes should be placed on reserve. Space and time limitations preclude placing suggested readings on reserve.
Procedures
- Give the books/photocopies you want placed on reserve to a circulation staff member.
- Fill out a reserve form. Our reserve request form is now available online (click here).
- Allow three full days for processing the materials before you expect students to use the material.
INTERLIBRARY LOAN
Before you proceed, please use JerseyCat. If you have done so, you can expand borrowing options by using Interlibrary Loan.
Jennings Library can borrow books and articles from journals not owned by Jennings Library from other institutions. You should count on a request taking at least two weeks to fill. Although every attempt is made to get the materials for free, there may be a fee charged by the lending library for which you would be responsible. Use the Interlibrary Loan Journal Article Request Form for journal requests which cannot be initiated through JerseyCat.
You will be notified when the materials arrive. The books you request must be picked up as well as returned to Jennings Library. The due date for books is determined by the lending library (usually about four weeks). Photocopies of articles obtained through interlibrary loan are yours to keep.
VIDEO/DVD BORROWING POLICY
Audio-visual materials may be viewed by faculty in the Media Center or may be checked out by faculty for two weeks. Students may check out audio-visual materials overnight.
VALE RECIPROCAL BORROWING PROGRAM
As of January 2002, the college and university libraries in the VALE consortium agreed to extend reciprocal borrowing privileges to their respective full-time faculty, and staff. Effective July, 2004, a number of VALE libraries have agreed to extend reciprocal borrowing privileges to each other's graduate students.
For details, visit our VALE program page.
Creating Persistent Links to Database Articles
- Persistent links are URLs that connect users directly to specific articles in a database.
- Persistent links can be copied into syllabi, e-mails, blackboard course pages or other web pages.
- These links are constructed slightly different depending on the vendor of the database. For directions on how to create persistent links for four of our database vendors and corresponding databases, click here.
- When adding a persistent link to your course in Blackboard, select EXTERNAL LINK from the Edit view and paste the URL where indicated. This EXTERNAL LINK button is available from multiple views in Blackboard. For best viewing results, select the option “open in new window”.
IMPORTANT!
All Wilson, Ebsco and Proquest databases already have our proxy information in the persistent link. When creating a persistent link in any of our other databases, you MUST add the EZproxy prefix to the article’s URL manually. The EZproxy prefix guarantees that off-campus students will be authenticated as Caldwell College users and authorized to use the database. The library’s EZproxy prefix looks like this:
- http://ezproxy.caldwell.edu:2048/login?url=