Tufts Library’s Remote Resources for Faculty and Students
by Alicia Russell & the Tisch Librarians
The buildings may be closed, but the Tufts libraries are open! CELT asked Tisch librarians to tell us how the libraries are helping faculty to access resources remotely, develop assignments and work with students.
Q. What are three remote library resources/supports you’d like faculty to know about?
- Tisch, Lilly, and SMFA librarians and expert library staff are available to answer your questions via chat, email, or individual consultation with subject experts. Chat is available Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. We have configured our chat service to allow us to open up a Zoom session and share screens.
- We are already working with faculty to adapt their assignments and create useful online learning objects to add to Canvas to support final projects that rely on library resources and information literacy concepts. We can create more interactive tutorials on how to use Zotero, for example, but also low-fi handouts to walk students through concepts like keyword searching. Check out the Digital Design Studio’s growing list of resources to support digital editing, sound recording, poster design, and more. If you have an idea for something that would be helpful to your students, contact your department’s librarian.
- For the latest information on our services, visit your library’s website:
- Tisch Library Covid-19 page (Tisch, Lilly Music Library & SMFA Library)
- Ginn Library Covid-19 page
- Hirsh Health Sciences Library
- Webster Vet Library
- Digital Collections & Archives Covid-19 page
Q. What are the most frequently asked questions?
- Do you have this book electronically?
- Here are a couple of tips for finding your materials:
- Check JumboSearch. We already have access to hundreds of thousands of e-books and are working to add some of the great, free resources that publishers are making temporarily available during the crisis.
- If we don’t have what you are looking for, recommend a purchase or contact your department’s librarian. Many, many e-books are available for libraries to purchase and we’re happy to do so where we can. Unfortunately, some e-books just aren’t sold to libraries, and are only available to individuals; this can include some textbooks or books in a Kindle format. But we’ll do the legwork looking for options and let you know what we come up with.
- What about my overdue book or interlibrary loan?
- Don’t worry about it! All late fees will be suspended for all items, including books, interlibrary loan materials, calculators, and reserve materials. All due dates will be extended past the start of the fall semester.
- Can I still use interlibrary loan to borrow materials?
- Libraries around the world are able to lend their digital material — articles, e-book chapters, and in some cases, whole e-books. Login to ILLiad to request content and we’ll try our best to track down an electronic version. Unfortunately, we cannot borrow physical materials from other libraries at this time.
Q. Do you have any other resources we should know about?
We have loads of great resources that supplement our more academic content:
- New York Times campus pass
- Financial Times campus pass
- Ancestry.com
- Mango Languages (including Little Pim modules if you’ve got kids at home with you!)
- Kanopy streaming films
- Streaming music & video resources
Anyone who works for or attends a school in Massachusetts can sign up for an eCard at the Boston Public Library, which provides access to apps like Overdrive, Hoopla, and all of the BPL’s electronic resources.
See Also
