University of Mississippi Library: Your Gateway to Knowledge and Academic Success

The J.D. Williams Library at the University of Mississippi serves as the central hub for academic resources, research support, and lifelong learning opportunities for students, faculty, and researchers both on and off campus. This comprehensive guide explores the library's diverse resources and services, designed to empower users in their pursuit of knowledge.

Accessing Library Materials

Borrowing and Returning Items

The cornerstone of any library is its collection, and the University of Mississippi Libraries makes accessing this collection as seamless as possible.

Book Checkouts: The primary function of the library is facilitating the borrowing of materials. Users can check out books and other physical items for a designated period.
Renewals: To extend the loan period, borrowers can renew materials, provided no other patron has requested them.
Reserves: The library also offers a reserve service, providing access to materials specifically designated by instructors for course use. These items typically have shorter loan periods to ensure equitable access for all students.
Off-Campus Access: Recognizing that learning extends beyond the physical campus, the library provides resources for off-campus users, ensuring access to essential materials regardless of location.

Borrowers bear the responsibility of returning materials by their due date. To ensure proper handling, the library encourages in-person returns at either the West or East Circulation Desks in the J.D. Williams Library. A convenient Library Book Drop is also available near the library for after-hours returns. Short-term loan materials, such as those placed on reserve, must be returned to the service point from which they were checked out.

Circulation and Access Points

For in-person assistance, the library has designated service points:

West Circulation Desk: Located inside the west doors (fountain side) of the J.D. Williams Library, this serves as the primary circulation and access service point. It also functions as the Reserve Desk and headquarters for Collection & Stacks Maintenance.
East Circulation Desk: Situated inside the east doors (Lyceum side) of the J.D. Williams Library, this desk provides another convenient point for borrowing and returning materials.

Digital Resources

Digitization Services

Recognizing the increasing demand for digital content, the library offers a digitization service. Users can request digital copies of eligible items from the library's collections. This includes chapters from books, journal articles, and archival content. Library staff review each request and provide a scanned copy when possible. The requested item is checked out to the user and held at the Access Services Desk for pick-up.

Online Databases

The University of Mississippi Libraries subscribes to a vast array of electronic resources, including databases. A database is a collection of organized information. Academic Search Premier is an example of a database. The UM Libraries provide access to many databases, some full-text and others bibliographic. These databases offer access to a wealth of information across various disciplines.

General Databases: For broad topic research, general databases like Academic Search Premier, LexisNexis Academic, or JSTOR are excellent starting points.
Subject-Specific Databases: Many databases cater to specific disciplines, allowing for more targeted searches. The library’s databases touch on various subject areas, ranging from English to Biology to Psychology to Art to general subjects. For instance, Mergent Online provides resources about business and IPA Source provides works regarding music. You can filter these databases to ones relevant to your research by pressing the “Filter by subject area” bar on the database home page and selecting your desired subject area.

Many databases provide the option to print within the database; just look for the print icon. Using the in-database option will save you from printing unwanted and redundant pages. Many databases also allow you to save articles. Your can filter your search results by checking off categories on the left sidebar of your search results screen. When you find a result you would like to see, take a look at your presentation options. If it say’s “Full Text HTML” or “PDF”, you can just click on those and access the item right away. You will also see a “Find It” button. “Find It” will help you locate the item. If it we have it in more than one format, links will be shown to other formats or you may be taken to a publisher site.

Electronic Journals (eJournals)

In addition to databases, the library provides access to hundreds of eJournals, offering a vast collection of scholarly articles and research publications.

Digital Collections

For researchers interested in primary source materials, the Digital Collections provide access to a wealth of archival resources. There is an advanced search feature at the top of the page, it can search all collections or specific collections.

Resources Beyond the University

The University of Mississippi Libraries extends its reach beyond its own collections through resource sharing and collaboration with other institutions and agencies.

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Mississippi Library Commission (MLC) Resources

The Library Commission’s online catalog provides online access to the Primary Resource Collection. This collection is developed to serve as the primary support for Mississippi public libraries and to meet the information needs of Mississippi state government. The Beehive Resource Sharing System provides a single point of access to participating Mississippi public library catalogs. Patrons registered with the Mississippi Library Commission can place requests on the Beehive by logging into the Commission’s online catalog.

The Library Commission maintains several online databases for staff and patron use. MAGNOLIA is a collection of online full-text resources funded by the Mississippi Legislature for access through any publicly funded school, library, university, or agency. Access is available from home or office with a password that can be obtained from your local public library, or by calling MLC’s Information Desk at 1-877-KWIK-REF. For information about how EBSCO curates content for MAGNOLIA, click here and here. MLC is pleased to offer access to e-books and e-audiobooks through hoopla! With an MLC library card, patrons can download up to three materials per month. In order to comply with Mississippi Code, §39-3-25, materials in hoopla are not available to those under 18. MLC staff have online access to several periodicals, many of which include an archive of past issues. Mississippi’s WPA County Files have been digitized and are searchable PDFs. These files detail the history of each Mississippi county and were compiled by field workers in the 1930s.

Talking Book Services (TBS)

Need help? The Talking Book Services (TBS) catalog provides online access to the specialized collection of digital cartridge and cassette books, Braille, and descriptive videos contained in the collection. This online catalog is accessible to anyone with an Internet connection; however, loan of materials is limited to those meeting specific federal eligibility criteria for individuals with visual impairments, physical limitations, and reading disabilities. Need more information?

Research Assistance and Tutorials

Recognizing that research can be a daunting task, especially for newcomers, the University of Mississippi Libraries provides comprehensive support and guidance to help users navigate the research process effectively.

Research Tutorials

If you are struggling to begin your research, the library has tutorials on how to familiarize yourself with research strategies. These tutorials answer an array of questions, such as how to use advanced searching in online databases, how to use TRAAP evaluation, and how to find eBooks or articles.
When conducting these searches, you might find it useful to conduct an Advanced Search to ensure you get the most relevant information and waste as little of your time as possible when searching for information! (Unsure how to conduct an Advanced Search? Try this tutorial).

Library Staff Assistance

Along with the online resources, the library has an abundance of physical resources in the forms of books and periodicals. Once you locate the resource you want to use, you can check the availability of the work, write down the call number of the resource, and use this call number to locate the work in the library. Additionally, you can locate books and periodicals in the library by asking for assistance from the library staff. Helpful, cheerful, and heralds of learning, the library staff is always willing to show you where a work is located or where works of a particular genre are stored.

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