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WRPR 160: Borders, Walls and Bridges (HC): Books

Writing Program 160: Borders, Walls and Bridges: Cultural Approaches to Divided Cities (Farber) Spring 2015

Finding Print Books

 

1) Under the holdings tab, location is noted by individual college (H, B, or S) followed by the name of the library building, e.g., Magill.  

2) The Call Number is a unique identifier for each book on the shelf (e.g., JK524 P63 2012).  The Library of Congress system is used predominately and organizes material by subject broadly (J is for political science) and then by further subtopics (JK represents political institutions and administration, while 524 is for presidential elections).  The second combination of letter and numbers (e.g., P63) represents the author's last name. When you go looking for a title, browsing the book shelf is a good idea.  You will find more material related to your topic there. 

3) The status of the book is indicated in green or red.

"Available" books are on the shelves and books with dates are out to users

In-library use indicates items that are not normally checked out.  If you need one of these, talk to a librarian. 

Before you go get a book, look at the other tabs in the record to get more information.  Description includes the full summary and often something about the author's background.  Table of Contents gives you a preview of the topics discussed in the book.  Checking here can help you decide which titles will be most relevant.  

4) Magill Library has 6 floors of books and journals in print.  Each floor has a directory of call numbers near the main stairs, so that you can determine where to go to locate the titles you need. 

Requesting Materials

1) Request books and other items from Bryn Mawr or Swarthmore.  Most will arrive within 24 hours, and you will get an email message when they are ready for you at the Circulation Desk.

      Use the Request button in the Tripod record 


Fill in your name, the barcode on your OneCard (which is your library card number), and the library where you want to pick up the item.  

2) For books not in Tripod, use E-Z Borrow to get titles from regional libraries including the University of Pennsylvania.  Delivery is usually in 3 to 5 days.  Also use E-Z Borrow when the book you want is checked out in Tripod.  The book will come faster from E-Z Borrow than recalling the checked out book from a tri-college user.

3) For books not in E-Z Borrow and for other kinds of materials including DVDs and sound recordings, use Interlibrary Loan.  They can arrive in 3 to 5 days but sometimes take longer.  Some materials are not available through Interlibrary Loan, but librarians can suggest alternatives.

Using E-books



1) The library has many different ebook collections, and titles are all cataloged in Tripod with links for direct access.  Click on the link for a digital resource based on where you are accessing the resource.  For example, if you are at Canaday Library, use the "from Bryn Mawr" links.  

2) EBL is a book lending platform that needs a login: email name and password.   Users can view books online or download them.   To print (up to 20%) or copy (up to 5%), users need to be in the online version.  See the EBL guide page for information about downloading books to mobile devices.

3) Ebrary provides another large collection of ebooks in Tripod.  Users can print (with restrictions set by contributing publishers) and copy text (1 page at a time).  For information on downloading books, see the Ebrary guide page.

4) Note in the screenshot the other edition of I Must not Think Bad Thoughts; in this case it signals a print copy.  It is not uncommon to have a title in both digital and print formats especially for books published in the last decade.   

Your Library Record

You can see what is going on with your library record through My Tripod. Login with your last name and the 14 digit barcode on the front of your OneCard (it begins 21795…).

Self-service options include:

   o Renew items you have checked-out

   o See when things are due back

   o Find out if you owe fines

   o Check the status of things you have requested

   o View your reading history to see titles you have checked out earlier – you
      will need to “opt in” to use this feature.