Finding Information

• Assistance
• Catalog Systems
• Check-out Procedure
• Circulation Desk
• Classification System
• Data Privacy
• Interlibrary Loan - (MINITEX)
• Media Computer Center
• Minnesota Documents-(Minn. Docs.)
• MnLink
• On-line Indexes General Magazines, ERIC, Business, Company Profiles, Government Documents
• Over-due Policy
• Periodicals
• Photocopy Faclities
• Reserve
• SecuritySystem
• Social Issues Resources -(SIRS),
• Vertical Clip File

Assistance

• The library staff is here to help you obtain information. Be sure to ask for help when it is needed.




Catalog Systems

• Web Pals

  This internet link to the PALS system is your chief means of discovering and locating materials in the library.




Check-out Procedure

• You must have your identification card in order to check out materials! Books and periodicals may be checked out for a three-week period unless otherwise stated. Reference books, Electronic Media, vertical file items, and current periodicals must be used in the library; and do not circulate.




CirculationDesk

• Ask for reserve books, video and audio media at the Circulation Desk. To check out these materials, you must have your bar code identification card, which you can obtain at the Circulation Desk. Informational and reference assistance is also available at the Desk.




Classification System

• The library book and media collections are cataloged using the Dewey Decimal system. To find an item, you need to get the call number from the on-line catalog. Be sure to check all areas of the collection as follows: main, paperback, oversize, reference, (government, Indian, and children - Brainerd Campus only), and at the Circulation Desk for electronic media items.




Data Privacy

• In order to comply with the Data Privacy Act, you will be asked to present and use your bar code identification card number - not your name - when checking materials out of the library.




Interlibrary Loan (MINITEX)

• If the library's do not have the materials you need, you have access to MINITEX. This is a free service to all users, when local resources have been exhausted. The library reserves the right to limit or refuse MINITEX requests based on academic level appropriateness and quantity. Up to five MINITEX items can be requested, provided they are from unduplicated sources.





Media Computer Center

• Ask for assistance at the Media Computer Center Help desk for media equipment usage and for help with particular computer programs. It is expected that a computer user will be proficient in the program he or she wishes to use.




On-line Indexes

• EBSCOhost Electronic Journals Service (EJS) is your gateway to thousands of e-journals containing millions of articles from hundreds of different publishers



• ProQuest A full-text collection of the newspapers, magazines and academic journals including...




		Regional News-Midwest
		All in full text, Includes Chicago Sun Times, Detroit News, Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, Minnapolis Star Tribune, St. Louis Post Dispatch, andothers plus USA TODAY and the Wall Street Journal.
		International Herald Tribune
		News Major international newspaper. Published in Paris, France
		New York Times
		Full-text coverage of the US newspaper of record. Offers superb coverage of national and international news, plus coverage of important speeches and documents, Supreme Court descisions, and presidential press conference transcripts., Includes Chicago Sun Times, Detroit News, Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, Minnapolis Star Tribune, St. Louis Post Dispatch, andothers plus USA TODAY and the Wall Street Journal.
		Ethnic NewsWatch (ENW)
		An interdisciplinary, bilingual (English and Spanish) and comprehensive full text database of newspapers, magazines and journals from ethnic, minority and native presses. This current database begins its coverage in 1990.




• Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center A dynamic online library of current event topics --the facts, as well as the arguments, of each topic's proponents and detractors. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center's unique features include Topic Overviews -- frameworks that allow staudents to explore each topic's many facets.
  
  

  Over-due Policy

• You will receive only one over-due notice. You will be billed $45 per book or media item and $25 per periodical or photocopy item not returned. If you fail to return the over-due materials or pay the bills, your records will be sealed. Sealed records will not allow you to register for the next term or graduate.




Periodicals

• The magazines, journals and newspaper stacks are open for self-service. The collection contains the current five years of most titles. Some bound volumes date back to the early 1900s. Use the on-line catalog to locate the periodicals of your choice. When you remove a box of periodicals or the periodicals from the box, but do not check them out, please leave both the box and the unboxed periodicals on the table. We will put them away for you.




Photocopy Facilities

• The library will make photocopies for you at the Circulation Desk. There is a minimal charge of 10 cents per page for standard and legal size pages, 20 cents for 11 x 17 copies and 50 cents for a transparency copy. A second photocopy service is available in the Bookstore on each campus for the same services.




Reserve

• Materials are placed on reserve at the circulation desk by instructors. You may check to see if an instructor has anything on reserve by asking at the Circulation Desk. Reserve material can be used in the library only, but a user will need to have their patron user card in order to remove the material from the Circulation Desk.




Security System (Brainerd Campus only)

• All library materials have been sensitized. An alarm will sound unless the materials have been checked out at the Circulation Desk.




Vertical Clip File

• The on-line catalog can be used to identify loose-leaf materials maintained in the clip files. The files are arranged alphabetically by topic, geographic area or person. This is a good source for current material which is not found in periodicals; and may be more statistical in nature. This material can be used in the library only.