The 2024 Bike Lackawanna Season has ended today. We were happy to be participants in this green initiative again this year. Plan to join us again next April!
Category: News
New “My Account” feature in PALCI/EZBorrow
A new “My Account” feature has been added to the EZBorrow search platform (https://ezborrow.reshare.indexdata.com).
This feature allows you to view current and past requests and authenticate before initiating a search. You’ll also have the option to save searches, save items, and create lists of saved items.
To access the new features, please follow this quick guide.
Celebrating Open Access Publishing and New OA Publishing Opportunities
This week (October 21-27), we celebrate International Open Access Week!
International Open Access Week is a global initiative sponsored by the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resource Coalition (SPARC) that aims to engage communities in discussion about the importance and benefits of open access.
The ability to share and access research and scholarly information is important to us here at the Weinberg Memorial Library, and we know that it is equally important to our faculty here at the University of Scranton. Did you know that in 2023, nearly 50% of works that were published by University of Scranton authors and indexed in OpenAlex were published under some form of open access?
We think that’s amazing and would love to hear more! If you’ve recently published open access and would like to share your experience and what open scholarship means to you, please message us at affordablelearning@scranton.edu. We’d love to highlight some of your stories as we continue to celebrate Open Access Week.
If you’ve always wondered about publishing open access but were worried about cost prohibitive article processing charges (APCs), fear not! The Library is excited to announce partnerships with some of our publishers to provide Read and Publish opportunities which will cover APCs in select journals for authors affiliated with the University of Scranton.
Our current agreements cover publishing opportunities with the Association for Computing Machinery, Cambridge University Press, the American Chemical Society, and Springer Nature. You can learn more about these opportunities by visiting our Open Access Publishing Research Guide or reaching out to the OER Committee at affordablelearning@scranton.edu.
We hope you’ll take advantage of these exciting offers, and we look forward to providing more opportunities in the future.
Weinberg Memorial Library Honored as 2024 Library of the Year by the Pennsylvania Library Association
The Pennsylvania Library Association has named the Weinberg Memorial Library as the 2024 Library of the Year!
Each year, the Pennsylvania Library Association (PaLA) honors the service of their members, as well as those community volunteers, who go above and beyond the call of duty to support the work of libraries throughout the commonwealth.
The Weinberg Memorial Library’s vision is to promote “an accessible, inclusive, supportive, and welcoming environment where everyone can learn and grow creatively, intellectually, and spiritually.” The library staff embodies this vision in their day-to-day operations, and prides themselves on service to the community, professional development, and service to the Pennsylvania Library Association.
Over the past year and a half, the Weinberg Memorial Library has accomplished much in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion. They collaborated with campus groups, offices, and faculty to host a series of films to celebrate Black History, Arab American Heritage, and Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander months for both students and the Scranton community at large. Library staff created new research guides for gender and sexuality and accessibility, and a Statement on Harmful Language to address systemic problems in the Library of Congress subject headings. They also created an Accessibility/Sensory Map to highlight the library’s spaces and features with general accessibility, types of lighting, and noise level. The guide is helpful to all, but particularly valuable to neurodiverse students. From library support for open educational resources to a collection diversity audit focused on children’s books to support the greater Scranton community, and to hiring an outside consultant to review DEI efforts, the Library has demonstrated their ongoing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Deserving of recognition is the Library’s focus on professional development. The Weinberg Memorial Library has been a long-time institutional member of the Pennsylvania Library Association as well as supporting their staff both financially and with time as personal members of the Association. They not only support their own staff, but were a 2023 conference sponsor so that all librarians could have an enhanced experience through coffee and conversation.
Many staff attend, volunteer, and lead within the Association. Sylvia Orner served as conference chair in 2020 and is currently President. Kate Cummings was previously Treasurer on the statewide board of directors and is now serving as Intellectual Freedom Committee Chair. Rebecca Dzikowski is the current Mentorship Subcommittee Chair. Ian O’Hara serves as the College and Research Division grant funds manager and is on the EDI Committee. Sheli Pratt-McHugh was 3rd Vice-President, Membership Committee Chair, and served on the conference committee and EDI committee. Marleen Cloutier was the 2023 Conference Chair for Technical Arrangements and is now the vice-chair elect for the Technical Services Round Table. Melissa Gallo is the treasurer for the Northeast Chapter. As the nominator indicated, “We all individually have gained so much from our time and efforts within and for the Association, and it has collectively contributed to the Weinberg Memorial Library’s ability to serve its community in impactful ways.”
October 15 EZproxy server upgrade
An upgrade to the library’s EZproxy server is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, October 15. Access to library databases may be impacted while the upgrade is underway, but it should require no more than 30 minutes of downtime. We will post updates if there are any changes, and once the upgrade has successfully completed.
Last chance to sign-up for the Heritage Hunt!
First-year students, join us at the Library for the Heritage Hunt!
As part of New Student Orientation, incoming first-year students participate in the Library’s Heritage Hunt. The Heritage Hunt is an interactive introduction to the Library and its resources. First-year students must register for a time slot to participate and receive credit.
We still have session times available for Thursday August 29th & Friday August 30th.
There will be no sessions held after Friday, August 30, 2024.
Visit our webpage for more information and to sign up!
Autumn Heritage Room Exhibit: Gems of Flourishing from The Zaner-Bloser Penmanship Collection
Flourishing is the act of adding sweeping, decorative strokes to penmanship. However, many professional penmen went beyond adding decorative strokes to lettering and created flourished artworks. Since writing prior to the 19th century was usually done with a bird feather quill, penmen paid tribute to their flying equipment suppliers by drawing birds. The exhibit will feature birds flourished by some of the greatest 19th and early 20th century penmen and calligraphers as well as other animals and designs. The exhibit will run from August 28 until December 13. Please contact Special Collections at 570-941-6341 or Michael.Knies@Scranton.edu for more information.
Does the Library have my Textbook?
Maybe, but likely No
The Weinberg Memorial Library typically does not purchase textbooks for the circulating collections. Some textbook publishers and copyright holders limit libraries from holding copies of their textbooks. Textbooks are also updated much more frequently than the traditional library book, thus making them difficult to keep up-to-date. Additionally, the quantity of copies needed and length of the loan can also be problematic for libraries. Due to space limitations the Library would only be able to hold a few copies in the circulating collection and once those copies are checked out, other students can’t use them. However, the Library does have a small collection of textbooks in our Textbook Reserves Collection.
Textbook Reserves Collection
The Library does have some textbooks on reserve in our Textbook Reserve Collection, these textbooks were generously donated to the Library by other students. Titles in this collection have the word “Textbook” before the call number and can be requested at the Library Services Desk. However, they are limited to a one-day loan, so that many students can use them over the course of a semester. To view a list of titles in the Textbook Reserve Collection – type “Textbook Reserve Collection” in quotes into either Royal Search or the Library Catalog to view a list of titles.
Searching for a textbook
If the Library did acquire a print copy of a textbook being used for your class, it would be found in the library catalog. To search for your textbook, go the Library’s Home Page and go to the Library Catalog search bar. Change the pull down menu to “title” and type in the exact title of the textbook into the Library Catalog search box. It can be helpful to know the editor, author, or edition, since most textbooks have generic names such as Fundamentals of Psychology, Microeconomics, etc. and often have multiple editions. Novels and supplemental reading, such as a short story or essay, may potentially be found in the circulating collections of the Library. Use the same procedure listed above to see if the book is in the collection. For more information see our How do I … find my textbook? Research Guide
Course Reserves
Some professors put their textbooks or course materials on reserve for classes. Textbooks on reserve can be borrowed at the Library Services Desk. Typically, textbooks on reserve for classes have shorter loan periods of only a few hours and are meant to be used at the Library. For more information on course reserves see our How do I … find what my professor put on reserves? Research Guide.
EZBorrow
If the Library does not have your textbook here, you may also want to try searching EZBorrow (PALCI), a direct borrowing service. You can find a link to EZBorrow from the Library’s Home Page. EZBorrow is an interlibrary loan system providing access to books not available in the Weinberg Memorial Library. The system simultaneously searches the catalogs of over 50 libraries in PALCI (Partnership for Academic Library Collaboration and Innovation). Books are mailed free of charge and available to pick up at the Library Services Desk.
If you have additional questions about finding or borrowing books from the Library, please reach out to Ask a Librarian.
Welcome Class of 2028 to the Weinberg Memorial Library!
The Weinberg Memorial Library is pleased to welcome the Class of 2028 to The University of Scranton!
Sign up for the Heritage Hunt, the interactive introduction to the Library and its resources for first-year students!
Watch our welcome video to learn more about the Weinberg Memorial Library.
To consult with a University of Scranton Librarian during our service hours, you can ask for research assistance at the first floor Library Services Desk, call 570-941-4000, or use the Ask a Librarian chat boxes on our website. Assistance is available 24/7 through the chat box, which is covered by librarians not affiliated with the University of Scranton outside service hours.
The Library’s Research & Scholarly Services department, located on the second floor, can assist you with research, such as finding, evaluating, and citing information. Look for the purple “Research Librarian on call” signs to locate a librarian available for drop-in research assistance. Research consultations can be scheduled by using the Ask a Librarian chat box or by contacting your subject liaison librarian directly by email.
To find resources, such as books, periodicals, and media, use Royal Search located on the Library’s home page. The Library’s large collection of e-books, e-journals, and streaming media are available 24/7. To access the Library’s online content, you must first authenticate through my.scranton.edu.
The Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service is available for requesting articles not currently accessible at our library. For ILL questions/concerns, please email interlibrary-loan@scranton.edu.
Circulation Services, located at the first floor Library Services Desk, can help you borrow and return print materials and laptops. You can also pick up items on reserve, books placed on hold, and interlibrary loan materials. In the lobby area in front of the Library Services Desk you will find New Books recently added to our collection, our Recreational Reading Collection which offers a variety of new and popular fiction and nonfiction, our new Graphic Novels collection, and our Featured Media Collection that contains recently acquired and popular DVDs.
The Weinberg Memorial Library has five floors and offers a variety of spaces to support your study and research needs including computer workstations, individual study space, group study rooms, quiet study areas, and the Charles Kratz Scranton Heritage Room.
The Library’s Pro Deo Room, Reilly Learning Commons, 2nd floor, and 3rd floor remain accessible to students 24 hours a day when campus is open and include printing stations, group study rooms, and lab computers.
The Reilly Learning Commons (RLC), located on the first floor, is a collaborative space with access to high-powered computers, video and audio recording rooms, and reservable group study rooms equipped with white boards and monitors.
The Media Resources Collection (MRC), located on the third floor, provides media materials for instructional support and student learning. Students can borrow films on DVD or Blu-ray, music on CDs or LP records, and audiobooks. The EdLab collection, found within the Media Resources Collection, consists of children’s literature and K-12 textbooks.
University of Scranton Archives and McHugh Family Special Collections, located on the fourth floor, collects, preserves, and provides access to historical materials including medieval manuscripts, rare books, American penmanship and local and University history. Appointments are recommended.
The Digital Services Department provides access to digital content related to University Archives and Special Collections. You can search our digital collections online at https://digitalservices.scranton.edu/.
New Library Catalog Search for Print and Media Collections
You may have noticed a change to our Library home page search box on our website.
A new Library Catalog search option was added to allow users to exclusively search our print and physical media holdings. This new search box replaces the “Print and Media Only” checkbox that was previously found beneath the Royal Search search box and provides a drop down menu that allows you to limit by Keyword, Title, Author, ISBN, ISSN, or Subject before you begin to search.
The Library Catalog user interface, a product by EBSCO known as Locate, can also be accessed directly by going to https://scranton.locate.ebsco.com/search
This new user interface eliminates the need to filter out electronic content and provides a real-time view of our catalog inventory for print books, manuscripts, DVD’s, CD’s and other print and physical media formats. Results can be refined through additional filtering options along the left hand side of the screen. This is especially helpful if you are looking for a specific format such as a DVD or materials in a particular language. The Sort by pull down menu on the right provides the option to sort your results by Relevance, Title (ascending or descending), Author (ascending or descending), and Year (Oldest or Newest). To see an expanded record with collection location and call number information click on View details.
Within the expanded record you can find collection location and call number information under Availability & locations.
Similar to Royal Search, you can click the Place a hold button to place a hold on items in our circulating collections. Please note that non-circulating items and items on reserve at the Library Services Desk and Media Services Desk do not have a place a hold option.
Additionally you will find a Browse this shelf feature which allows you to view books or media located adjacent to the title you have selected. Clicking on the blue bubbles below Related subjects will create a new subject search based on the subject term. If you scroll further down within the record you can explore expanded details and additional information about the title you selected including content notes and summaries.
To Place a hold or to view the contents of My bookshelf, where you can view your holds and checked out materials, in the Library Catalog, you will need to sign into your Library Account.
To do so, click on the icon in the upper right hand corner and then click sign-in. The sign-in will take you to the University Single Sign-on (SSO) page where you will need to authenticate using your Royal ID number if you are not already signed in.
If this is your first time signing into MyEBSCO after May 29, 2024, you will be asked to personalize your account.
Click on the blue button that says Continue personalized, this will connect your MyEBSCO account to your Royal ID number.
While you can search Royal Search and the Library Catalog without signing in or personalizing your account, you will need to sign in and personalize your account if you wish to place holds on materials. Once you personalize your account you will not see that pop up window again, you would only receive prompts to sign in and authenticate.
If you have any additional questions about the Library Catalog please reach out to Cataloging and Metadata Librarian Marleen Cloutier at marleen.cloutier@scranton.edu or Ask a Librarian.