Research Assistance
RIT Library's Reference librarians are the library's liaisons
to faculty, staff and students of the various RIT colleges.
They also provide research assistance/consultation, library
instruction and other general and subject specific services
described below. There are a variety of specific Reference
instruction and liaison
services available by request. To take advantage of any of
these services, contact
your liaison by phone, electronic mail, or stop by their
offices. The Reference Desk on the first
floor of RIT Library may also be of assistance to you,
please call 475-2563 or 475-2564 (tty).
Online Reference Assistance
Do you have a reference question that you can't answer?
Members of the RIT community can use RIT Library's Virtual
Reference Desk. The Virtual Reference desk is an online
chat service offered in real time. You may pose questions
of a general nature to the library's online Reference Desk
or if you have a question a Subject Specialist can assist
you with, the Reference Librarian/Bibliographer for your
college/major may be available online for chat.
When the Virtual Reference desk is unavailable you may use
the Library's electronic reference
service to submit reference questions electronically to
the Library's reference staff. You will receive an answer
to your questions within 24 hours. (Sorry - no outside users.)
.
Reference Desk
The physical Reference desk
is located on the first floor to the right of the library's
main entrance. This is the central focal point of the Reference
department and the place to ask general research questions
or questions concerning the use of library resources. Personal
assistance is available at the Reference desk for scheduled
hours during the normal quarter schedule. Hours may
vary during breaks, holidays & summer quarter.
The Reference
collection on the first floor of the library near the
Reference Desk contains printed Reference material, this
includes: encyclopedias and dictionaries of many types,
subjects and languages), directories, atlases, glossaries
and many other fact books
A large bank of pc workstations with internet access to
our numerous research
databases is located to the right of the Reference desk.
Collection Development
As bibliographers, the reference librarians are responsible
for selecting materials for the library's collections in their
subject areas. A list of new
library titles is available in both a weekly library acquisition
format, and in a subject specific acquisitions format (which
is updated monthly).
Contact the reference librarian who selects material in your
topical area with your suggestions for new books, exhibition
catalogs, periodicals, annuals, multimedia products, or other
print or electronic resources, or to discuss development strategies
for particular areas of the collection. Or you may wish to
fill out our Suggest
New Library Materials Form.
Curriculum Related Library Instruction:
Reference librarians welcome the chance to discuss class
assignments before they are distributed. Valuable information
can be shared with faculty members about Library holdings,
related electronic databases or pertinent research strategies
in the subject area, thus paving the way for a more successful
research experience for students. Reference Librarians are
available to offer library
instruction classes directly tied to the curriculum.
To assist with good communication between students and
Library staff, please consider distributing printed assignment
sheets, as students often misunderstand or misinterpret
what is expected. Unfortunately, when many students are
instructed to use only a few sources, the incidence of theft,
mutilation, and misplacement increases greatly. Please notify
the Reference Department when making research assignments
so that heavy usage of subject area materials may be anticipated.
Faculty strategies, such as giving as wide a choice as possible
for resources or placing required reading materials "On
Reserve", can reduce the occurrence of this frustrating
and expensive situation.
Librarians prepare bibliographies and guides on popular
research topics. The guides include instructions for the
use of the library's electronic databases, subject lists
of books and periodicals, and general research assistance.
The guides are available on the wall directly in front of
the Reference Desk on the first
floor of the library. All of the Research
Guides are also available electronically through the
library Web. Upon request, librarians will develop topical
bibliographies tailored to particular class assignments
or guides to assist students with the use of specific research
tools. You may make suggestions for new guide topics or
revisions to existing guides by filling out the Research
Guide Suggestion Form. There are also Online Instruction
tutorials available
covering a variety of topics including: database skills,
research skills, Internet help and course specific instruction.
Maintained by: Margaret
Bartlett
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