Navigating Reed College Library Resources: A Comprehensive Guide
Reed College Library stands as a vital hub for students, faculty, staff, alumni, and visitors, offering a wealth of resources to support academic pursuits, research endeavors, and intellectual curiosity. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the library's services, collections, and specialized centers, ensuring users can effectively navigate its offerings.
Accessing the Library's Collection
The Reed Catalog: Your Starting Point
All Reed Library books are searchable through the library catalog, accessible from the library homepage. Logging in allows users to request items for pickup at their preferred location using the "Reed Item Request" option. For those needing only a chapter or a few pages, a digitization request can be submitted, typically requiring 4-5 business days for processing.
Loan Periods and Policies
Reed books have a checkout period of 28 days for students, with extended loan periods for thesis students, faculty, and staff. Replacement fees are charged for lost books. Reserve books, designated for specific courses, have limited checkout times. Rare books and Artists' books are housed within Special Collections and Archives.
Expanding Your Search: Summit and WorldCat
The Summit borrowing service allows users to access materials from a consortium of academic libraries in the Pacific Northwest. After locating an item in Summit, users can log in and select "Request from a Summit Library," choosing their preferred pickup location. Summit books and media have a 12-week checkout period, with fines for late returns or lost items.
For materials not available through Reed or Summit, WorldCat can be used to locate books in libraries worldwide. Interlibrary Loan (ILL) requests can be submitted for desired items, with digitization requests available for chapters or articles. Loan periods and replacement fees for ILL items are determined by the lending library, emphasizing the importance of timely returns to maintain borrowing privileges.
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Beyond Books: Specialized Resource Centers
Performing Arts Resource Center (PARC)
The Performing Arts Resource Center (PARC) caters to the needs of performing arts students and faculty. It houses a diverse collection of music scores, plays, performing arts media, equipment, and games. Users can filter searches by resource type, genre, instrumentation, and more. Items can be requested for the hold shelf via "Reed Item Request." The PARC also offers a range of equipment for checkout, including microphones, audio interfaces, green screens, lighting equipment, and instruments. Books, scores, CDs, and DVDs/VHS may be placed on course reserve at the PARC, while faculty can place texts and streaming media on e-reserve.
Visual Resources Center (VRC)
The Visual Resources Center (VRC) supports art faculty and students by providing expert image research support and specialized visual arts resources. The Visual Resources Curator manages the VRC and the Art & Architecture collection within Reed Digital Collections (RDC), offering student support in scholarly image use, including image citations, permissions, and quality. The VRC also offers equipment for checkout, such as microphones, cameras, anatomical models, and light pads.
Online Resources and Databases
Reed College Library provides access to a variety of online resources and databases to support coursework and research across disciplines. These resources, selected by librarians, offer access to scholarly journals, primary sources, and other valuable materials.
JSTOR
JSTOR provides a full-text archive of scholarly journals and primary sources in various disciplines. As of August 2024, Artstor's image library has been fully integrated into the JSTOR platform.
Other Databases
The library also offers access to multidisciplinary databases that provide full text and citations for thousands of journals.
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Services for Different User Groups
Services for Students
The library offers a range of services specifically tailored to students' needs. These include:
Support for scholarly image use, including image citations, permissions, image quality, and visual arts resources.
Subject librarians are available to help with all aspects of library research.
At Reed, students should gain an understanding of the nature and organization of information resources and the ability to formulate and carry out library research.
Services for Faculty and Staff
The library provides numerous services to support faculty and staff in their teaching and research endeavors. Key services include:
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Assistance with course reserves, including short-term book checkouts and electronic materials. Library staff scan and make accessible book chapters, manage copyright and fees, and link to journal articles for e-reserves.
Faculty and staff can recommend books for purchase using an online form.
Partnerships in building the library collection are highly valued.
Services for Alumni and Visitors
The library also extends services to Reed alumni and visitors. While specific services may vary, alumni often retain borrowing privileges, and visitors can access library resources on-site.
Additional Resources and Services
Multnomah County Public Library
All Reed students and faculty can obtain a free library card for the Multnomah County public library, granting access to books, ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, streaming video, and more. The public library also offers free passes to local attractions like the Portland Art Museum and the Portland Japanese Garden.
Renewals and Returns
Reed books can be renewed in the user's library account. Summit books can be renewed for an additional six weeks, subject to the lending library's approval. Books from Reed, Summit, or ILL should be returned during library open hours near the circulation desk.
Recalls and Acquisitions
If a needed Reed book is checked out, a request can be placed to be next in line. The library will send a recall notice to the current borrower. For thesis research, the library may purchase needed items and check them out to the student. Immediate needs can be addressed through Summit or Interlibrary Loan.
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