3 Services
You’ll notice that around the libraries there are several places where a person is sitting at a public desk. Generally speaking, those are often places to receive library services. While you can start at any of them with your specific question, you might get bounced around from desk to desk to eventually be referred to the right place. To ease that process, here’s an overview of which services is for what and where to find them
Circulation Desk
Circulation desks are primarily there to help you check books out and return materials you’ve borrowed. Materials for undergraduates are checked out for 45 days, and for graduate students, faculty, and staff the check out period is 120 days. Specific materials from different collections can deviate from this norm though.
“But how do I check out a book?” You might be wondering. You just bring the materials you want to check out to the circulation desk along with your Crimson Card, and the person at the desk will scan you card to pull up your account, then scan the materials to check them out to your account.
This is also the desk you’ll want to go to if you’ve lost or left something in the library, since this is where the Lost and Found items head to first.
Reference Desks
These desks are either at the same place at the circulation desk or nearby. Reference desks are here to help you identify and locate information and resources. Questions you can ask people at these desks can range in specificity from “Where are your books on photography?” to “What’s the chemical formula for rubbing alcohol?” and everything in-between. If you’re on any of our library webpages, you might also notice a “Need Help?” chat box come up. It’s this desk that is on the other end of that chat line who will be helping you find what you need.
Research Consultations
Research consultations are much like reference questions, but typically last much longer. They can be scheduled ahead of time. Many libraries offer consultations based on their specialties, so we’ll focus on the general Research Desk at Wells Library. Consultations can happen at any point in the research process, from narrowing down your topics and developing your interests, to gathering resources from our vast array of databases and books, all the way to organizing and making use of all of the resources you’ve read.
