General information * Copy machines/cards * Flash drives/CDs * Borrowing privileges * Reserve materials/lockers * IRIS (Integrated Rutgers Information System)
Rutgers libraries are described briefly in the following pages. Alexander, the social sciences and humanities library, is the one you will use most often. A brief walk-around guide to it should be available at the Alexander Library information desk. For policies and guides to research, see the Libraries' home page, http://www.libraries. rutgers.edu/. The Library of Science and Medicine (LSM) is next in importance to you, but you will benefit from visiting some of the other libraries as well. Each has its unique role and atmosphere: Kilmer specializes in business information, and Douglass in women's studies, for example. There are also libraries devoted to single subjects, such as the Art Library or the Jazz Institute, or to specific formats, such as Media Services. You may reach each library's home page through the main Rutgers Libraries home page, http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu.
The major Rutgers University libraries have copying centers where copy cards may be purchased. These avoid having to get change, but you must be careful not to leave them in the machine when you finish!
Gateway 32 MB flash drives are available in the Imaging Services offices on the lower level of Alexander Libraryand on the 3rd floor of LSM, for $15. They are usable in all RUL PCs, in RUCS labs, and most commercially purchased PCs. Blank CDs are also available for $2. For more information, and a list of additional locations where flash drives will be available beginning November 1, 2005, see Take your data with you, easy!
In order to borrow materials, you will need to have proof that you are enrolled and have paid your term bill (i.e., your student ID). As a graduate student, you may keep materials for an entire semester. In return for this privilege, however, there are stiff penalties if you do not respond promptly when another user recalls an item checked out to you.
Reserve materials are found in the Graduate Reading Room on the third level of Alexander Library (have student ID with you!). You may also have to ask at the desk by the door, where photocopied material and professor's personal copies are housed. You may wish to inquire about renting a locking study carrel.
IRIS, the online catalog, can be searched not only from the terminals in the libraries, but also from the computer labs in SCILS, and through your home computer. Once you have an account at Rutgers, you can execute online requests for material held at other Rutgers locations, or interlibrary loan orders for items not held by Rutgers. For a preview of the resources that will be available to you via Rutgers, see http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/.