Reserves

Assigned Course Readings. Reserves makes assigned course readings available to students for short loan periods (1 hour, 2 hours, 1 day, 2 days, or 7 days). Materials accepted for placement on Reserve include:

• CSULA Regular circulating books
• Personal copies of books and other course-related material
• Most government publications
• Copies of articles (photocopied in adherence to the United States Copyright Law).

Electronic Reserves. Most articles and book chapters can be placed on Electronic Reserves; this permits students online access to course reserve material 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Place heavily used material on Reserves to ensure access for all students.

For the quickest service faculty members may bring their material for placement on reserve to the Circulation Desk, First Floor, Library North. The Library will also retreive books, copy articles and process requests submitted via Web Form. For complete information see the Faculty Guide to Placing Materials on Reserve.

InterLibrary Loan (ILL)

Materials not owned by our Library are usually available from other libraries via ILL. Current CSULA faculty are eligible for this service. For detailed information concerning how to request ILL material, please see this page .

Document Delivery. Faculty and graduate students are eligible for Document Delivery Service. Through Document Delivery, you can get articles we do not have faxed directly to your home, or to the Library, if you do not have a home fax. In either case, the turn-around time is typically less than 48 hours, and at no cost to you!

Delivery or Pick Up. If your ILL materials arrive in printed form (i.e., books, photocopied articles, or electronic faxes from our Document Delivery Service), you need to pick up these items at the Circulation Desk in the Library (1st Floor, Library North). If your ILL material arrives in electronic (PDF) format, these will be forwarded to you via email attachments, and they can be retrieved from your Network/E-mail account.

Responsibilities. Faculty are subject to all ILL borrower responsibilities including late charges or demand fees incurred for items not returned on time.

Music & Media Center

The Music & Media Center maintains the CSULA Library's collections of:

• CDs
• LP records
• VHS videocassette
• DVDs
• Multimedia CD-ROMs
• Music scores

Services for faculty include:

• Advanced booking of media for classroom use
• Placing media on course reserve
• 24/7 online music reserves.

See this special faculty page for additional information.

Information Literacy and Library Instruction

What is information literacy? Information literacy (also referred to as information competence) is a core academic literacy and a CSULA graduation requirement. Accrediting bodies such as WASC and discipline associations are increasingly recognizing the concept and practice of information literacy. An information literate student is able to:

• Define the research topic and the information need;
• Access the needed information effectively and efficiently;
• Evaluate information critically;
• Organize, synthesize and communicate information for a specific purpose; and,
• Ethically and legally access and use information.

Information Literacy at CSULA. In 2005 the CSULA Information Literacy Advisory Committee was established in response to the need for a campus-wide dialog on integrating information literacy into the curricula. Several collaborative projects between the Library and classroom faculty are in progress.

For more information on information literacy at Cal State L. A., click here.

Library Instruction. Liaison librarians provide information literacy instruction to a variety of classes at both undergraduate and graduate levels. These librarians work with the teaching faculty to develop course integrated presentations and demonstrations geared to teach students how to find and evaluate information using online and print resources available through the Library's website. See this page for more information concerning scheduling instruction, workshops, online tutorials, and orientation tours.

Book and Periodical Purchase Requests

Requests for purchase of new monographs and periodical titles should be processed through the Library Liaisons. These Liaisons work closely with librarian subject specialists and the Library's collection development program.

Reference Services

The Reference Center is the Library's main service center. Here research assistance is provided for all Library collections, including circulating books, reference books, periodicals, online databases and reference resources, the Government Publications Collections, and Special Collections.

Special Assistance. The Reference Center provides research assistance to all (students, staff, faculty, outside users, etc.) on a first-come-first-serve basis. No priority is given to faculty at the desk; however, faculty members having in-depth research questions are encouraged to make appointments with their Department Library Liaison for special assistance.