Info Lit 1 Tutorials - Copy of LibGuides Version : Tutorial 1: Library Orientation

Research Appointments

Librarians are available to help you develop your research question or thesis, find relevant resources on your topic, help you cite sources, and plan next steps in your research strategy. Click on the red Research Appointment button on the library homepage to schedule a research appointment!

Each Learning Foundations or Transfer Seminar class has a designated librarian. So does every academic department. What are you planning to major in? Click the Research Appointment button to see which librarian works with your major. Or check to see which librarians you could go to to get help with your other classes this semester. Research appointments can be held in person or via Zoom. In-person appointments are usually held in a librarian's office, so check to see if a librarian's office is at CSB Clemens or SJU Alcuin. 

(Note that while each librarian has subject specialties, any librarian is happy to help you get started on your research regardless of topic.)

Library Website

The CSB and SJU Libraries website (https://csbsju.edu/libraries) is your central portal to library information, resources, and services. Throughout these tutorials, we will highlight different parts of the library website to introduce you to important services and resources available to CSB and SJU students. 

Library Locations and Hours

The CSB and SJU Libraries include two main library buildings: SJU's Alcuin Library and Reinhart Learning Commons and CSB's Clemens Library. CSB also has the BAC Music Library.

The regular academic year hours, summer hours, and holiday hours for Clemens Library (CSB) and Alcuin Library (SJU) are posted on the library website. During the school year, Alcuin and Clemens both open at 8:00 a.m. Monday through Friday and 10:00 a.m. on the weekend. The libraries close at midnight Sunday through Thursday and at 6:00 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Borrowing Materials

You can use your Student ID Card to borrow (or "check out") resources from our libraries on either campus. These resources include books, DVDs, tabletop games, and media equipment like laptops, cameras, storage drives, video recorders, and microphones. 

The CSB and SJU Libraries provide access to millions of articles from scholarly and popular journals, magazines, and newspapers. The vast majority are available online (rather than in print) through the library's research guides and databases. You can directly access our library databases through either 1) the red Research Guides or 2) the red Databases A-Z links on the library home page. 

Research Guides

There are Research Guides, created by your librarians, available for every academic major at CSB and SJU. Each guide lists recommended library databases for that particular academic subject, along with other resources and information to help you complete research assignments related to that discipline. 

Databases A-Z

The CSB and SJU Libraries gives you access to 200+ different research databases. The full list of databases is found under Databases A-Z on the library home page. While the full list is alphabetical, you can also filter databases by subject to find ones that are appropriate for your class or research topic. 

Each database is a different collection of content. Many databases are primarily collections of journal articles and might contain thousands of articles that were originally published in hundreds of different journals. Some databases include a wider range of content and might include magazines, newspapers, book chapters, primary sources, images, and videos along with journal articles. 

NOTE: If you are off campus, you can access all of our library databases and electronic resources but you will need to log in first.

Interlibrary Loan

If the CSB and SJU Libraries don't have an article or book you need, you can request a copy from another library through interlibrary loan. Interlibrary loan is almost always a free service. For any special items that involve a fee you will be asked to approve that charge before the item is ordered. 

Most article requests are filled within a couple of days. You'll receive an email with a link to access the full text of the article online. Note that this link expires, so you will want to download or print interlibrary loan articles for future reference if you need it later in the semester. While requests for scanned book chapters are also usually filled within a few days, the majority of print books and other items that need to be shipped arrive within two weeks, so please allow at least that much processing time when making a request. Turnaround time for requests varies greatly, depending on the nature of the material and the location of the lending library.

Paywalls: Don't Pay for Articles Online!

If you are using an open-web search engine like Google, you can run into paywalls where a website asks you to pay to get access to the full text of an article. As a CSB and SJU student you should never need to pay for individual articles. Instead, talk to a librarian for help accessing the article within our collections or request a free copy of the article using Interlibrary Loan.

Interlibrary Loan from the Catalog

To request a book or article from the CSB and SJU Libraries catalog, select the item by clicking on the title and then click the blue "Request Item through Interlibrary Loan" button located to right side of the full record. Please be aware that you cannot normally request eBooks through Interlibrary Loan, so make sure it says "Print Book" in the catalog record before creating your request. You can request individual chapters or sections from eBooks, which is explained later on this page. 

Watch the following three videos to see how to 1) request a book through Interlibrary Loan, 2) request a copy of a chapter or section from a print book or eBook through Interlibrary Loan, and 3) request an article from the catalog through Interlibrary Loan.

1. Request a Book

2. Request a Chapter or Section of a Book

3. Request an Article From the Catalog

Interlibrary Loan from a Database

Sometimes the database you're using doesn't provide full text to the article you need. In that case, look for the Find It button for that article. The Find It button helps you discover if the full text of the article is available in a different database that we subscribe to or if you will need to request a copy through Interlibrary Loan.

To request an article found in a database:

1. Locate and click on the article's Find It button. 
2. Check for links to View Full Text, or the journal title under Full text availability for this item.
3. If the full text isn't available, click the Request Item through Interlibrary Loan button. 

Another Way to Request Interlibrary Loan

If you don't see a "Request Item through Interlibrary Loan" button, you can always go to the Interlibrary Loan page on the CSB and SJU Libraries website and fill out a blank Interlibrary Loan Request Form.

In a later module, you will learn how to get the full text of articles while searching a database.