Course Reserves and e-Resources: Reserve materials, electronic books and Interlibrary Loan are a few of the additional materials and services the library provides.

Course Reserves

Your professor might put materials on reserve at the library. You can use the Simmons OPAC to locate this material by clicking the "Course Reserves" link on the left-hand menu in the OPAC. Note that you can search in different ways:

Course number (remember to use the prefix "LIS" for library science classes, i.e. "LIS 415"
Professor's name (i.e., "Schwartz, Candy")

Locating your course reserve materials

The search results for a course reserve search will note the item's location and current availability. Anything that says "Reserve (Beatley)" will be located at the circulation desk on the first floor of the library. If the call number is listed, write it down and give it to the circulation staff so they can retrieve the item for you. These items can usually be used for up to two hours, and cannot leave the library.

Electronic books and digital copies of articles are also placed on reserve. You can access these e-Resources anywhere, anytime: just click on the hyperlinked title, and sign in with your Simmons username and password.

Note for Mount Holyoke GSLIS Students: At Mount Holyoke, GSLIS Print Reserves are listed in the Mount Holyoke OPAC and located at the Mount Holyoke Circulation Desk. (Electronic Reserves can be accessed through the Simmons OPAC.)

A visual example explaining the course reserve search is available: Course Reserves Tutorial.

Electronic Books

Simmons College subscribes to three different electronic book collections: Ebrary, Books 24X7, and Netlibrary. E-books are cataloged in the OPAC just like print books, but they have [electronic resource] added to their title when looking at the full record display. If you'd like to see an entire collection of e-books, write "Netlibrary" or "Books 24X7" in the Author field. From the results list, you can limit your search for a specific keyword like "Dreamweaver". Technology books are often great as e-books because you can open the book in a window while you are learning software or hardware in another.

Interlibrary Loan

When Simmons doesn't have what you need

Through Interlibrary Loan (ILL), you can request a book or journal article that we do not own. This process usually takes at least 6 business days, but it may take longer.

Before you make a request, check to make sure that Simmons does not own the item. Be sure to check the OPAC for both print and electronic versions. After you have determined that Simmons does not own the item you want, there are two ways to place an Interlibrary Loan request.

Through the Simmons OPAC. Go to the library's home page at http://my.simmons.edu/library" and click on "Interlibrary Loan (ILL)" under "Find it." You will be asked to login with your Simmons username and password.
via WorldCat. WorldCat is the world's largest bibliographic database, built and maintained collectively by libraries that participate in the OCLC global cooperative. It shows you which libraries own the material you want. WorldCat search results offer a convenient ILL option, which sends your request to the Simmons College Library ILL department. Telling the ILL staff person where you found the item might expedite the ILL process.

You can search WorldCat through the OPAC (it's under "Other Libraries").

Or, if you can't wait 6 business days...

If you could travel to another library, you might be able to up your item faster than ILL. Simmons students have borrowing privileges at the nearby libraries of the Fenway Library Consortium (FLC) and may use their Simmons ID to check out books. Your Simmons ID will not allow you to borrow books from most of the Boston Library Consortium (BLC) libraries, but you can visit most of those libraries and use books and materials in-house.