10 Top Things to Know About Libraries  Tags: research libraries  

Top 10 Things You Should Know About Libraries

1.      Libraries collect, organize, and preserve information. Today, libraries hold books, newspapers, magazines, journals, microfilm, government documents, and audiobooks, as well as other electronic and Web-based information. SNHU’s Shapiro Library even has video games and game consoles!

2.      Not everything is on the Internet! Most current material is copyrighted and not freely available through search engines like Google. Libraries are essential for scholarly academic research.

3.      Libraries collect materials that support their communities: public libraries have fiction, gardening, local history, and crafts resources; Shapiro Library has business, education and liberal arts materials that support the university curriculum.

4.      Your SNHU ID card is your library card: undergraduates can take out up to 20 books for 3 weeks at a time.  You can also borrow materials such as books and music CDs from a number of public libraries in the Greater Manchester area.

5.      Academic libraries, like Shapiro Library, shelve books by Library of Congress Classification system, not the Dewey Decimal system as school and public libraries do. The numbers look different but the process of using them to find books on the shelves is the same.

6.      Libraries organize material by subject: similar items are shelved next to each other for convenient browsing.

7.      Libraries today allow you to research from home! E-books, business and statistical information, and periodical information, such as newspapers, magazines, and journal articles, can often be read online through the Shapiro Library’s subscription databases (Electronic Library Resources).

8.      Even library resources need careful evaluation: check for authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, and coverage. Not every resource is appropriate for every project.

9.       Need to take out books, borrow a laptop, locate reserve material, or return things?  The Circulation Desk can help you check out items, return things, and pay overdue fines.

10.  Need research help? The Reference Desk can help you find materials on the shelves, in subscription databases, or in libraries across the world. At SNHU, stop by, email reference@snhu.edu or call the Reference Desk at x 2161.