You are here: McCain Home > Services > Faculty Guide to the Library

McCain Library

Faculty Guide to the Library

McCain Library supports the educational program of Agnes Scott College by providing library resources, services and facilities to meet the teaching, learning, and research needs of students, faculty and staff. Through a combination of locally owned materials, resource sharing arrangements, and an extensive array of electronic information sources, the library seeks to foster academic success and individual growth.

An important component of this mission is the cultivation of library and information literacy skills necessary to intellectual independence and life-long learning.

The library seeks a close partnership with faculty so that we can best understand and meet the curricular needs of the community. Your questions, advice and feedback are welcome at all times.

Circulation
- Course Reserves
- Bookings
Collection Development
Interlibrary Loan
Interlibrary Use
Library Instruction
Reference and Research Assistance

Circulation

Your Agnes Scott College ID is needed for all circulation transactions.
Most circulating materials are loaned to full-time faculty for the academic year and to part-time, one-term, or visiting faculty members for the semester.
Some materials, such as course reserves, videotapes, DVDs, or browsing collection books circulate for a shorter time period.
Non-circulating materials (periodicals, reference books, etc) may occasionally be loaned to faculty for short-term purposes (e.g. class presentation). Ask for details at the main Circulation Desk.
There is no limit on the number of items checked out.
All material is subject to recall after three weeks if needed by someone else. Items needed for reserve are subject to immediate recall.
Student proxies may check out items for faculty (with a signed note authorizing them to do so); faculty members remain responsible for the materials checked out in their name. Ask for details at the main Circulation Desk.
McCain Library may ask that you return items to the library for check in or renewal at the end of the academic year to facilitate collection inventory.
Like other borrowers, faculty members are billed for replacement cost and a handling fee if materials are lost or not returned within a reasonable length of time.

Faculty (and students) can also check out media equipment at the main Circulation Desk, including video cameras, digital camcorders, digital still cameras, tripods, tape recorders, slide projectors, overheads, data and video projectors, CD and tape players. Due dates vary for these items. In order for your students to check out media equipment, they must present a valid ASC I.D. card and a signed Permission Request Form (online or available at the main Circulation Desk). This document requires a faculty signature authorizing the use of media equipment for classroom-related projects or functions.

Course Reserves

The reserves collection is provided to ensure that materials assigned for a class will be accessible to all students who need them. Books and other items are placed on reserve for a specific course at the request of a faculty member.

Search reserves by course | Search reserves by Instructor

Most reserves have a 2-hour loan period (which allows for overnight checkout two hours before the library closes) or a 4-hour loan period. It is also possible to designate a library-use only/2-hour loan period for reserve items (upon request). Items that will be used less intensively but need to be shared by a class may be designated as 1 day or 3 day reserves.

To ensure timely service for your students, please submit reserve requests at least 1 week in advance of the date when they will be needed. In addition to items in the McCain collection, personal copies of books may also be placed on reserve.

For general instructions on submitting reserve requests, please review Placing Materials on Reserve. Prior to the beginning of each semester, detailed instructions will be sent out to all faculty about placing items on reserve. General questions about reserves may be directed to Elizabeth Ann Blake at x5154.

Commercially rented items (i.e. videos from Blockbuster) or ILL materials (which belong to another institution) cannot be placed on reserve. Photocopied articles to be placed on reserve must meet copyright guidelines. For any questions about reserves & copyright issues, contact Liz Bagley, Director of Library Services (x5277), and/or consult the following:

Photocopies for Reserve (request form and information for placing photocopied documents on reserve).
Copyright Guidelines (information about "Fair Use" and related copyright issues).

Bookings

General circulating and reserve items, particularly videos and DVDs, that are needed for a specific class showing can be booked in advance. Questions about bookings may be directed to Elizabeth Ann Blake, at x5154.

Collection Development

Most of the library monographic budget is allocated to the academic disciplines for faculty book selection. In addition, a general fund is used by the librarians to ensure a balanced collection, to purchase reference and general resources, and to replace damaged or missing items. Library funds are not used for the purchase of materials to be kept within a department for classroom teaching. Please see our complete collection development policy for more information.

Book orders

Each fall department chairs and program directors receive information on the book fund allocation and procedures for placing book orders. The library will periodically send Choice review cards to the departments, and these cards can be used to place orders.

To order a book:

complete a yellow order card (available at the circulation desk), or
indicate on any Choice cards of interest if we should purchase (include subject allocation info) and
send to the Acquisitions Assistant (vacant - contact Resa Harney), or,
submit an electronic form via email (contact Resa Harney, Systems and Technical Services Librarian, x6141, for more info)

Items on order will appear as brief records in the catalog.

Periodical Subscriptions

Periodical subscriptions consume more than half of the library’s materials budget, and price increases occur every year. Other serials, such as annual reviews, come out of the monographic budget. A campus-wide review of all serial subscriptions was conducted during the 2004-2004 academic year, resulting in substantial cancellations to reduce the annual serials commitment by about $50,000/year. New serial subscriptions can only be entertained if they represent a critical resource for a new or existing field of study, and if the additional cost can be offset through cancellation of alternate titles or another strategy. For additional information, please contact Liz Bagley (x5277).

Media Orders

The library accepts requests for the purchase of video materials and DVDs (contact Resa Harney, x6141). For media rental requests, contact Emily Gwynn (x6313) in Media Services (ITS) or visit http://etc.agnesscott.edu.

Interlibrary Loan

The library is committed to providing access to materials needed for research, study and College operations. Through Interlibrary Loan, faculty may request the loan of books or photocopies of articles not owned by or accessible to McCain Library. A week to 10 days turn-around time is typical, although emergency requests can be expedited.

Requests are placed online. Complete bibliographic information (author, title, publication date, ISBN or ISSN number, etc.) is essential to filling requests quickly. If you are missing any of this information, or are unsure of how to fill out the form, please see a reference librarian for assistance. It is not necessary to identify other libraries that own the material.

Charges for photocopies ($1 per article) are the responsibility of your department, while the library absorbs the costs of book loans.

Interlibrary Use Privileges

An important asset to the College is our membership in the Atlanta Regional Consortium for Higher Education (ARCHE), which includes 20 colleges and universities in the Atlanta-Athens area. Through a joint agreement with these institutions, Agnes Scott College faculty in good standing may request borrowing privileges at most other ARCHE libraries.

You may obtain an Interlibrary Use Card at the reference desk (first floor of McCain) for each library needed, valid for the academic year. Each library establishes its own policies on loan periods, number of items that can be borrowed, etc. Borrowing privileges at ARCHE libraries do not usually extend to audiovisual materials.

Please note: While our students have similar privileges, student ILU cards are issued for a much shorter time period, and for a specific academic purpose. When counseling your students about library access, please be aware that we are required to ensure that students have exhausted the resources available at McCain Library before we can issue a card.

Library Instruction

Part of the library's mission is to help students develop information literacy skills that will support them throughout their undergraduate years as well as in graduate work, their careers, and throughout their lives. These skills include the ability to search for, select and evaluate resources appropriate to specific research or other information needs. While some of this training is provided through reference consultations and orientation tours, library instruction is most effective when coordinated with specific course assignments.

Instruction classes are usually held in the library, where a room is available with a projection screen and 12 computers for hands-on activities. Instruction can also be given in your classroom. In addition to class groups, librarians can also work with department majors and other interested groups.

Instruction classes usually provide:

search strategies for specific assignments
training in use of the catalog and online periodical indexes (GALILEO and others)
introduction to specialized resources relevant to the discipline
basics on conducting research (e.g. topic narrowing, using primary sources, citation, etc.)

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association, has established Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. The section Standards, Performance Indicators, and Outcomes is useful for faculty developing research assignments and learning outcomes.

To schedule a class or for additional information, contact Patti Lee, Reference and Instructional Services Librarian, x6343. Please allow two weeks advance notice for scheduling and class preparation.

Reference and Research Assistance

All librarians provide reference service and at least one librarian is available nearly all hours the library is open. There are several ways to reach us:

in person at the reference desk (first floor) or in individual consultation (by appointment)
on the phone at x6096
via email at library@agnesscott.edu (or see the staff directory for individual email addresses)
via IM - ASCLibrarian on AOL and Yahoo!

Faculty are encouraged to seek out our services for any research or information needs.