|
Access and Circulation Services
On-site
Access | Hours | Electronic
Access to Services and Resources | Borrowing
Materials | Reserve Room Services
| Using Area Libraries | Photocopies,
Faxes, and Document Delivery | Group Study Rooms,
Faculty Research Offices, and Storage Lockers | Interlibrary
Loan Service | Services for Persons
with Disabilities
On-site
Access
The Boston College Libraries are open to the public except
during reading and exam periods. The Law Library is open to Boston
College faculty, law students and staff, and those Boston College
undergraduates and non-law school graduate students requiring use
of materials from the library's collections.
Hours
The hours for the individual libraries vary and are affected
by holidays, inter-sessions, and exam periods. In general, the O'Neill
Library is opened 110 hours per week and the Law Library is opened
105 hours per week. Most libraries extend their hours during reading
and exam periods. O'Neill Library maintains a 24-hour study room
during exam periods. Hours are maintained on the Libraries' web
page and paper copies of hours are available to users at each library.
Electronic
Access to Services and Resources
Library users can search the Boston College Libraries'
online catalog and other library information sources through the
Boston College Libraries' home page.
In addition to searching, the BC community can take advantage of
the electronic forms available to them for asking reference questions
or performing circulation functions such as renewing books, requesting
interlibrary loan services, photocopying or remote storage retrieval.
Borrowing
Materials
In general, all Boston College students, faculty and staff
are entitled to borrow materials from any of the Boston College
Libraries, or the New England Deposit Library and the Kenny-Cottle
Library, the Libraries' remote collection sites. For the most part,
loan periods and overdue charges are standard across the Chestnut
Hill libraries, but all materials, regardless of loan period or
borrower's privileges, are subject to recall.
Guest
borrowing privileges are extended to all Boston College alumni and
the students and faculty from academic and research libraries belonging
to the Boston Library Consortium (BLC), the Boston Theological Institute
(BTI), and faculty from other higher education institutions where
there are reciprocal borrowing agreements in place. For instance,
the Libraries participate in the OCLC Reciprocal Faculty Borrowing
program which allows faculty from participating institutions to
borrow on-site at libraries other than their own. The Law Library
collections are available to BLC members through interlibrary loan
rather than through on-site borrowing. Guest borrowers are eligible
to borrow library materials, as well as use the services of most
of the libraries at Boston College. Some services, such as remote
access to certain databases and interlibrary loan are available
only to current Boston College students, faculty, and staff.
Reserve
Room Services
Books and articles required for course readings may be
placed on reserve at the request of a faculty member. Course reserve
materials are housed at most libraries and are available on demand
at the Newton Resource Center. The O'Neill Library is the center
for online reserves that makes readings available to BC users twenty
four hours a day, seven days a week.
Using
Area Libraries
Membership in the Boston Library Consortium gives our faculty
and students access and on-site direct borrowing at the 16 academic
and research libraries in the BLC. Other member libraries include
Boston University, Boston Public Library, Brandeis, Brown, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Northeastern, Tufts, Wellesley College
and the University of Massachusetts and its branch campuses.
Boston
College is also a member of the Boston Theological Institute, which
gives our theology faculty and graduate students use of a number
of theological libraries in the area, including those of the Harvard
Divinity School, Boston University School of Theology and St. John's
Seminary. (The holdings of St. John's Seminary Library are also
displayed in the BC online catalog.)
Photocopies,
Faxes, and Document Delivery
Photocopiers are located in all libraries, and over-the-counter
copy and retrieval services, combined with desktop delivery, are
available at the Document Services Center in the O'Neill Library
for a fee. Color photocopiers are located in the O'Neill Library
and the Bapst Art Library. For an additional small service charge,
printing on transparencies and color copying are also options. The
O'Neill Library Document Services Center, the Social Work Library,
and the Newton Resource Center are equipped with fax machines for
public use. The machines can also be used to receive faxes.
Group
Study Rooms, Faculty Research Offices, and Storage Lockers
Group study facilities are located in most libraries. Full-time
faculty may reserve research space in O'Neill Library. Graduate
students and faculty may request use of a locker in the O'Neill
or Bapst libraries.
Interlibrary
Loan Services
Materials from other libraries may be obtained through
the interlibrary loan service. Many items are delivered directly
to the user's desktop and there is no charge for this service. Request
forms for using this service are available online and paper forms
are available at each library.
Books,
photocopies of journal articles, microfilm, theses, and government
documents may be borrowed from other libraries. Except for unusual
items, the waiting period is from one to four weeks. Many items
borrowed for BC faculty arrive within one day due to the online
delivery methods used by the Libraries.
The
Boston College Libraries are members of the Boston Library Consortium,
and the MetroWest Massachusetts Regional Library System. Most of
the Libraries' interlibrary loan activity takes place on OCLC and
DocLine. Signifying the depth and breadth of the Libraries' collections,
we provide more items to the Boston Library Consortium members than
any other library in the consortium.
Services
for Persons with Disabilities
Library staff will make provisions as needed to help patrons
with special needs enjoy full use of the Libraries' resources. Adaptive
equipment for users with visual impairments is available in the
O'Neill Library and workstations equipped with screen enlargers
are located in the Educational Resource Center. The O'Neill Library
also provides access to a staff member via a TTY line. All buildings
that house Boston College libraries are barrier-free and accessible
by wheelchair.
Return
to Top
Next:
Reference and Instructional Services
Services
[
Access and Circulation ] Reference and Instructional
| Faculty Research Support | Teaching
and Learning Support | Technology and
Systems
|
