Prepping for Success: Academic Resource Tools and Tips (BMC)

Your BMC Bookshop offers the most complete collection of required course materials and the most convenient way to purchase everything that you need. At your campus bookshop, you get instant pick-up and the exact book your professor requested.  At the BMC bookshop, text purchases are exempt from sales tax: the price you see is the price you pay. Online sites are obligated to charge tax, so don’t forget to add 6% to online prices—in addition to any shipping charge.

If you need to annotate and highlight your texts, then purchasing is a must. Additionally, some faculty require that you purchase your own copy. 

If faculty place required readings on reserve, you can check the item out for up to 3 hours at a time. 

To find what library has the item on reserve, look up your course in Tripod (our library catalog). On the Tripod homepage, click the dropdown menu in the “search anything” bar, and select course reserves. Enter your course code to view the reading list and see the library location for the reserve. See the video below on how to search for a course reserve. 

• To check out a reserve item give the circulation worker the item call number and your OneCard.
  • Canaday Library is the College's main humanities and social sciences library. Reserves are behind the circulation desk.
  • Carpenter Library collections support the College’s programs in History of Art; Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology; Greek, Latin, Classical Studies; and Growth and Structure of Cities. 
  • Collier Science Library is located on the third floor of the Park Science Center, which is the core academic and research community for mathematics and the sciences at Bryn Mawr College. Collier is open but under renovation. Reserves are held in the Circulation Office (room 371A).

For other course readings that are not on reserve, but part of the library collection, you might be wondering if you can just check the book out when you're ready to use it. This is not a reliable way of accessing required course materials. The book could be checked out to another patron when you need it. You could check the book out and then the item could be recalled by someone else before you are finished using it. 

You might also be wondering if you can't just find the item you need online rather than using a physical copy. If an online version is available, your professor will indicate that. A search in Tripod will also reflect if it is available online.