Services for TAs at WIU Libraries: Home

Borrowing Materials (from WIU or through Interlibrary Loan)

• Grad student checkout period for books in WestCat, our catalog, is 8 weeks. Two renewals are allowed.
• Grad student checkout period for videos in our catalog is 2 weeks with 1 renewal.
• If we don’t own a book, patrons may request it through I-Share, the catalog of materials owned by the 90-some libraries in our consortium. Checkout period for I-Share is 4 weeks, with three renewals allowed to grad students. Click “Sign In” at top right and use your ecom username and password. If you are already logged in to another WIU system such as WesternOnline or Gmail, you may automatically be logged in to your I-Share account since they all use the central sign-on system. Then place your request.
• If neither our library nor the consortium has the materials needed for your research, we can request them from a larger pool of libraries. For books, begin by searching in WorldCat and then use the “Request this item through WIU ILL” link. For books not found in WorldCat and for copies of articles/chapters, go directly to ILLiad and create a request. ILLiad uses WIU’s central sign-on. Copies will be scanned and sent to you digitally. Note: if you get an error message when you try to log into ILLiad the first time, use this form instead to request items.
• Questions? Call 309-298-2705 for help.

Course Reserves

We encourage your use of Reserves as a way to offer short-term access to important resources for all students. You can use the online form to place both library and personal copies of class materials on reserve. We can also provide password-protected access to scanned/digital materials via electronic reserves (ERes). Questions? Call 309-298-2411 for help.

Databases

The library provides access to numerous multidisciplinary and discipline-specific databases and e-journals.

• To access these from off campus, access them through our webpages. Doing so will let you authenticate as a WIU user by entering your ECom username & password.
• Many provide persistent link capabilities at the article and/or citation level, so you can include direct links to articles in your Western Online pages.
• Use our Link Converter to give your students remote access to the articles.

Digital Commons

The Digital Commons includes a 30-seat media conference room and a Digital Studio for developing digital media projects. Both are reservable. You can also check out some of our equipment. Questions? Call 309-298-2417 for help

Government, Legal, Spatial & Data Services

The unit houses federal and Illinois documents, maps, and legal reference materials. It also serves as a Patent & Trademark Resource Center. If you or your students need GIS help with data, ask here. Questions? Call 309-298-2722 for help.

LibGuides

Online guides and tutorials for specific class sessions, for academic disciplines, and for skills such as database searching and citation management are gathered at: https://wiu.libguides.com/. Feel free to consult them, refer your students to them, and post links to them in WesternOnline. The topics we cover are wide-ranging: using complex pagination in Microsoft Word; business and industry research; using EndNote and Zotero citation management systems, Illinois history; writing a professional email; finding survey instruments to use in research; and many others.

Library Instruction

Library faculty members tailor class sessions to your assignments and projects, highlighting the most effective databases and search strategies for your students. To arrange for such a class, in either your classroom or one of the two in Malpass, fill out the form with your preferred dates. Questions? Call Sean Cordes at 309-298-2785 for help.

Research Services

We have a Reference Desk for walk-up/IM/text/phone questions, but you can also make an appointment to see an individual librarian for help conducting more complex research or finding obscure sources. Please encourage your students to ask us for assistance as well. If it’s 3 a.m. and we’re not at the Reference Desk, send us your question through the email form and we’ll answer it within 24 hours if possible. Questions? Call 309-298-2700 or 1-800-413-6544 for help.

Adapted from:            https://www.wiu.edu/libraries/services/facultyServices.php

https://www.wiu.edu/libraries/services/graduateStudents.php