Midway through October sees many students in the midst of midterms and other assignments. When students ask for a particuar article or textbook, remember to check the "course reserves" section of the library's policy page, especially if you aren't finding anything through the usual journal search techniques. In many cases, if specific articles are assigned then the professor will place copies on reserve. Check this field to provide instruction to the students on how they can access course reserves at their school. Chatting librarians can use this field to check for articles in the course reserves. Make sure to ask the patron for the class and the professor's name before checking. Tip: if you can't find the requested item under one professor, look at listings for the same course by another professor, or the same professor for another course. There is a fair bit of piggybacking in course reserves at some schools (thanks to the Backup librarians for that tip!).
When students seem to be asking the same questions over and over, it may be based on an assignment – and there is an Assignments section of the Policy Page. This field contains tips for the chatting librarians on any recurring assignments.
Even more important is to check for course research guides created by a campus. These are portals specifically for classes and save a huge amount of time when answering questions for assignments.
Posted by: lynn jones | November 06, 2013 at 01:41 PM