Frequently Asked Questions

FAQS: Student FAQs

Generally, student positions in the Library for the Fall semester are posted the previous March and hires are made before the end of the Spring semester.   Sometimes openings do occur during the Fall semester and the new Spring semester.  Any openings are listed on the Library's website and Facebook page, with links to an online application.
As our popular collection continues to shrink due to full-text online access becoming available, the Library does not actually have a supply of issues ready to be discarded at any one time. We also bind some of the popular weekly periodicals, as their visual content is important for research in some courses. Check with the campus mail room for surplus issues that have not been picked up. Also, check with the Tompkins County Public Library Friends group for remainders of magazines they could not sell. Here is their website for the booksale : Contact page
Printing from personal laptops is not available at this time. You can upload your document to webprint.ithaca.edu, select lucida/webprint-library and then print from the Library's Release Station, located to the right of the Circulation Desk.

Yes, we do -- we have all current volumes of the Orchestral Musician's CD-ROM Library available in the library.

You can find links to contents and call numbers here.

Credit cards are not accepted at this time, however, money may be transferred from a credit card to ID Express at ithaca.managemyid.com, and then paid at the Circulation Desk.
As a general rule, the Library does not collect textbooks for courses offered at the College. This is not because we are trying to make students' financial situations more challenging.  

During a typical academic year, there are approximately 2800 undergraduate and 450 graduate courses taught at IC. Using 3 texts as the average required for each course, this equals approximately 9750 books.  Also, textbooks tend to be frequently updated.

In recent academic years, the Library budget has allowed for the purchase approximately 5,800 new books and ebooks to support the current research needs of all departments and programs on campus.

We  do not have the funds to purchase current textbooks, while at the same time supporting student and faculty research needs.

Faculty sometimes place copies of textbooks or chapters from texts on reserve or ereserve.  If you’re not sure whether your professor has put your course’s textbook on reserve, search the Reserves site to see what is available.

Please note that, as academic libraries generally do not purchase textbooks, they are not available on interlibrary loan.   The IC Library does not fill Interlibrary Loan requests for textbooks in current use at the College.  

The Ithaca College Bookstore provides a rental service and sells textbooks.  Additional rental/purchase sites:
Amazon (also rents textbooks)
Bigwords.com
BookLookr
BooksPrice
BookRenter
BookSpot: Textbooks
CampusBookRentals.com
CengageBrain
Chegg
CollegeBookRenter.com
Half.com
Open Access Textbooks
OpenStax College
PickTextBooks
SlugBooks
Textbookspy
The Saylor Foundation has opened its Media Library to the public, providing thousands of open educational resources, videos, articles, and full-length textbooks.
See this handy page from the Library of Congress.
  • The Safety & Accessibility Map shows power door access to campus buildings, parking lots, also blue light phones & defibrillators
  • The pocket-size Ithaca Campus Map (available at the Campus Center, Admission Office, Library Reference Desk, Safety Office, etc.) also provides this information
  • Detailed accessibility information for each building is provided on the Accessibility Guide (entrances, elevator if any, handicapped-accessible bathrooms, listening devices) & also at the door to each building
Peer review is the process by which articles are selected for publication in academic/scholarly journals.  The articles are evaluated for accuracy, proper research methodology, and the correct interpretation and use of data by other experts in the field.  No other publications undergo this level of vetting.

If you are looking for peer reviewed articles, one way is to limit your database searches to only articles in peer reviewed publications.  Many databases allow you to do this.  For example, most EBSCO databases have a box labeled "Scholarly" or "Peer Reviewed" in the limiters section under the main search boxes.
There are a few reference books that might be useful including:
  • Past Worlds: Atlas of Archaeology has maps, illustrations, and some supportive text. REF G 1046 E15 P3 1988
  • The venerable 12 volume set Cambridge Ancient History, published in the 1920s. REF D 57 C25
  • The 3d edition of the Cambridge Ancient History (1970) was shorted to four volumes. REF D 57 C252
  • Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life, Volume 1: the Ancient World, which is kind of cheesy but gives short overviews of different regions in a variety of aspects of life. REF GT 31 G74 2004
  • Also in reference are some geographical based historical encyclopedias on Africa, Asia, Europe, America, and elsewhere that include ancient time periods.
For periodical articles about prehistoric civilizations, you should give JStor a try first. AnthroSource may have some materials, but its focus is more on Anthropological topics than Archaeological ones. Historical abstracts, unfortunately, only covers the word from 1450 onward. For the archaeology of Indians of the United States and Canada, you can try America: History and Life.

There are many books in the Ithaca College Library collection that should not only give you a good starting place, but may overwhelm you with information on your topic. When you are searching the online catalog, don't start with the word Archaeology. That will lead you mostly to books on the discipline of archaeology. When the subject is the archaeology of a particular place, the best subject headings to explore will begin with the name of the country, region, or other place. Subheading that will be most relevant include Antiquities, Civilization (especially followed by "To [some early date]," and History (especially followed by "To [some early date]."

Be careful of geographic names. Use both the names of regions and of countries. Since the names of countries have changed frequently over the centuries, avoid the use of modern names. Use Korea, for example, not Korea (South) or Korea (North), when exploring any topic before 1945.

Examine these examples for ideas:
  • For the research on ancient Middle East, try MIDDLE EAST -- ANTIQUITIES, MIDDLE EAST -- CIVILIZATION -- TO 634, and MIDDLE EAST -- HISTORY -- TO 634.
  • For resources on life during the earliest time periods in Ireland, you might try IRELAND -- ANTIQUITIES, IRELAND -- CIVILIZATION -- TO 1172, and IRELAND --- HISTORY -- TO 1172.
  • For the archaeology of ancient China, try CHINA -- ANTIQUITIES, CHINA -- CIVILIZATION -- TO 221 B.C., and CHINA --- HISTORY -- TO 221 B.C.
  • For Mayan civilization and archaeology, use as broad a heading as  MAYAS -- ANTIQUITIES or as narrow a heading as MAYAS -- MEXICO - SOCONUSCO REGION -- ANTIQUITIES.
  • For archaeological digs in Peru, use EXCAVATIONS (ARCHAEOLOGY) -- ANDES and EXCAVATIONS (ARCHAEOLOGY) -- PERU
An all region/all format DVD player is located in viewing station #V3. The remote must be checked out from Multimedia Services in order to access the menu options.

You may also choose to download VideoLAN, open source cross-platform multimedia player.

PAL DVDs can be viewed on any computer with any media player. Headphones for in-house use are available for check out from the Circulation/Reserve Desk.
 
Submit a Multimedia Scheduling Request.  Scheduling in advance will help ensure the item is available when you need it.

There will be no cost to your organization as long as the Library holds Public Performance Rights and the showing is free and limited to the Ithaca College community.   If the Library does not hold Public Performance Rights, we can provide you contact information in order to obtain it.
When citing an image, the caption should be labeled as Figure (usually abbreviated Fig.), assigned an Arabic numeral, and given a title or caption.

For photos of artwork, include the book's publication information of the text in which the image appears.

A label and title or caption ordinarily appear directly below the illustration and have the same one-inch margins as the text of the paper.

Captions should be numbered consecutively

Fig. 1. Mary Cassatt, Mother and Child, Wichita Art Museum. Illus. in Novelene Ross, Toward an American Identity: Selections from the Wichita Art Museum Collection of American Art (Wichita, Kansas: Wichita Art Museum, 1997) 107.

Source: Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed.  New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2009.

You wish to cite a source you know only through quotation in another source. For example, in Charles L. Griswold's book Forgiveness: A Philosophical Exploration you encounter a quotation you would like to use: "Dori Laub argues in his study of Holocaust testimonials that 'there is, in each survivor, an imperative need to tell and thus to come to know one's story.'" You wish to use the Laub quote, but you cannot locate the original article that Griswold cites.

APA:

Dori Laub maintains that "there is, in each survivor, an imperative need to tell and thus to come to know one's story" (as cited in Griswold, 2007, p. 106).

This would be accompanied by a full citation for the Griswold book in your References:

Griswold, C. L. (2007). Forgiveness: A philosophical exploration. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

see Publication Manual of the APA (6th ed.), section 6.17

MLA:

Dori Laub maintains that 'there is, in each survivor, an imperative need to tell and thus to come to know one's story" (qtd. in Griswold 106).

This would be accompanied by a full citation for the Griswold book in your Works Cited:

Griswold, Charles L. Forgiveness: A Philosophical Exploration. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2007.

see MLA Handbook (7th ed.), p. section 6.4.7

See the series of YouTube tutorials created by ARTstor.
See the Library's Guide on Evaluating Resources.
Check out our General Reference Guide.
To find primary sources in the Library catalog, do an Advanced Catalog Search and enter keywords such as sources, journals, correspondence, personal narratives, diaries, papers, letters, documents, interviews, speeches, or pamphlets. Combine any of these terms with your subject.

Many of the library's subject research guides have a primary source category, for instance: see also: The research guide the describes primary and secondary sources.
  • Check, money order, or ID Express at the Circulation Desk.
  • Cash may be added to your ID Express acccount using the Value Added machine, which is located to the right of the copiers on the main floor.
  • Unpaid fines/fees are automatically billed to the Office of Student Financial Services after 30 days. All charges are non-refundable after this point.  Transfers may be initiated earlier upon request.
  • IC Affiliate and Staff fines/fees not paid within 30 days will be sent to Financial Services for collection at which point they will be non-refundable.
Go to the IC Services desk in the union (307B) fill out a form, and you will receive a refund.
Log in to your Interlibrary Loan account. Use the Journal Article request form and enter the chapter in the article title field.  Sometimes the lending library will opt to send the entire book. If the book does not circulate, the lending library may send a PDF copy of the chapter.
See this helpful guide from the University of North Carolina's Writing Center.
If you are an Ithaca College student or a member of our faculty or staff, you may check out as many as you like.  Undergrads are limited to 15 interlibrary loan items at one time.

There are approximately 75 desktop PCs in the Library. 21 laptops, 2 Mac Books and 2 iPads can be borrowed for 6-hour use in the Library.  Laptops can be checked out at the Circulation Desk.  We also check out cords to connect laptops with power outlets.  The desktop PCs are located in the following areas:

  • on the 3rd floor - along the north (Lake) side
  • in the Multimedia Listening area
  • clustered around the pillars on the Main (2nd) Floor
Students may renew library-owned books, music scores and multimedia materials twice if the item(s) has not been recalled.

If an item has been renewed twice and is still needed, please contact staff at either the Circulation or Multimedia Services Desk.

See the Circulation Policy for more information.
Chapter 4 in the MLA Handbook (7th ed.) and Chapter 2 in the APA Publication Manual (6th ed.) describe how to format a research paper and include visual examples. Both books are available at the Research Help Desk on the Main Floor.

 Please see the Writing and Citing guide for help with MLA, APA, and other formats.




 


Special permission to remove the item from the library and an extended loan period may be approved as needed.  Please submit a Media Scheduling Request

Color printing is available from any library desktop computer; .30 cents per single side, or .56 cents for double-sided. Select File -> Print -. librarycolor.

The Library has a color printer / copier, located on the main floor of the Library. It prints PDF, JPG, and TIFF files - the charge is 30 cents per copy. If you need to print a Word or Powerpoint file, convert it to PDF first. 

The Center for Print Production, located in the Public Safety/General Services Building (open M-F 8am-4 pm) provides large format printing and laminating. Jobs may be submitted through WebCRD, and picked up at the Library during open hours.

Although Google can be good for simple searches, such as finding answers to crossword puzzle clues, it should not be a primary tool for doing research projects. The reason is that very little research literature is publicly available and therefore accessible through the main Google search engine. Instead you should concentrate on the periodical databases available through the library.

Not to be confused with the main Google search engine, are two related Google search tools that can be good resources for research.

Google Books is a collection of books in the public domain that Google, in cooperation with several large university libraries, has scanned. Because of copyright laws, only books for which there is no copyright protection are fully accessible. That means, in most cases, the materials are more than seventy years old. For some topics this is not a problem; for others it is pretty useless. You can specifically search Google Books, but a regular Google search will include Google Books result mixed in the list.

Google Scholar is a separate search engine for a broad range of research areas. Google Scholar competes with some commercial periodical databases and includes some features not included in some others, such as citation searching. In addition to peer-reviewed journal articles, records will include preprints, and technical reports. Results of a Google Scholar search will include Google Books records. Each Google search citation will include a link to the full-text resource provided by the IC Library, when available, but if you click the wrong hyperlink, you may bypass the library connection and be asked to pay to view an article.                     
If you need a reserve book or a laptop that is currently checked out, the Circulation Desk can send you a cell phone text message when the item becomes available. You may request this service at the Circulation Desk.
The Library will no longer charge students overdue fines for library-owned books, music scores and laptops.

Overdue fines are charged for:
*Interlibrary loan items
*Multimedia items
*Recalled and special permission items

Items not returned within fourteen days of their due dates are charged the replacement cost; hourly loan items, such as laptops, are billed one day after their due dates. The replacement cost is waived if the item is returned within thirty days. After that time, charges are sent to the Office of Student Financial Services and are non-refundable.
For more information, please see the Circulation Policy.
There is a fax machine in the bookstore that accepts cash or ID Express. Alternately, you can scan documents at one of the public scanners or photocopiers on the main floor of the Library or the scanner in the Digital Media Center and then send the document as an e-mail attachment.
The Circulation Desk has external USB CD/DVD drives, which may be borrowed for seven days.
The Office of Academic Support Services provides a variety of specialty software programs and adaptive technology services are available for use by students registered with the Office of Academic Support Services and faculty.  See the Office's website.
Please see the Dining Services site for the most current hours of the Library Café and other campus dining facilities.
Recall option will display for items Checked Out:
An item request will be placed in a queue and an e-mail notification will be sent when the item is availble for pickup ; items are held for 3 days.

Pickup/Delivery option will display for Available items:   
Click on this option to have an item retrieved from the library stacks and held for you at the Circulation or Multimedia desk as appropriate; items are held for 3 days.

NOTE: faculty may request items to be delivered by entering the department office in the Comments field.

Books and score are delivered Monday - Friday during regular business hours ; multimedia materials are delivered Monday-Friday at 8:30am.
Have you already renewed your materials? Remember that students can renew IC Library materials online twice, even if they are already overdue.

If you've already renewed, reply to the courtesy/overdue email and let us know the situation. We'll do our best to help you upon reviewing the situation.

Renewal limits and fines will waived in the case of a verifiable family or individual health emergency, or a required appearance in a court of law in accordance with Ithaca College's Attendance Policy.
An empirical study is any research that is based on experimentation or observation or quantitative measurement. It can be research in science or social science. The term "empirical" refers to the aspect of the scientific method in which a working hypothesis is tested using observation and experiment. An empirical study can be either quantitative or qualitative.

You will find empirical studies in scholarly journals, not popular magazines.
See this article in the Ithacan newspaper on the occasion of the 50th Cortaca Jug game in 2008.
Full text articles may be available from the Library's web site. Click on Article Quick Search and search by keyword.

Journal articles and book chapters may be requested through Interlibrary loan; you will be sent an e-mail with a link to the PDF.

If a book from the Library's collection is needed, send e-mail to iclibrary@ithaca.edu along with the title of the item, your name, and current address.

If a book is needed that is not in the Library's collection, please contact the Research Help Desk for assistance.

Due to licensing agreements, material in DVD or CD formats must be checked out at the Ithaca College Library. Please contact the Research Help Desk for assistance with media needs.
Here is a list of software, available on the Library's public computers.

* Bluetooth keyboard
* Calculators
* Dell laptops
* External CD/DVD drive
* External microphones
* Headphones/Headsets
* HD video camera/recorders - 7 day loan
* iPads (geneation 1 and 2)
* iPad chargers
* Mac books
* Power strips/extension cords
* USB web cam
* VGA monitor cables
 
 
 
 
Student accounts in the College's official LDAP directory (managed by DIIS) expire 90 days after graduation. Access to licensed databases ends at that time.
The College Archives houses Serling television scripts, movie screenplays, stage play scripts, films, published works, and secondary materials. Consult the Archives site for more information.
The Ithaca College Bookstore offers digital copies of some textbooks. See their textbook page for more information. See also the Saylor Foundation's Media Library which includes open educational resources, videos, articles, and full-length textbooks.
  • Current/previous courses are listed in the HomerConnect Class Schedule
  • Current courses in the School of H&S are on the Web  here
  • Current courses in the School of HSHP are on the Web here
  • Courses offered year by year (undergrad, grad) are at College Catalogs
  • The College Archives (Library 5th floor) has print copies of catalogs
You can browse a list of titles of newspapers available in one of the periodical databases. If you know the name of a specific newspaper, you can search for the title under "Search for a Journal".   

The Ithaca College Library subscribes to many different newspaper databases and periodical databases that index newspapers: Library databases: Historical news (pdf images)
For more information refer to these Research Guides:

 Search the Market Research Library provided by the U.S. Commercial Service. database.   It includes the current and historical international trade statistics (imports and exports), announcements of trade opportunities and market analysis. Included are the Best Market Reports, Country Commercial Guides and Market Research Reports.

Search the Trade Statistics page found at Business.gov

Trade Data and Analysis from Export.gov  . Includes import/export figures, by country/commodity and analysis by industry sector.

There are a number of financial aid websites and scholarship databases available.  The US Department of Education has a comprehensive student aid website.  

See also our Finding Scholarships webpage for a list of resources.

Also, please speak to the folks in Ithaca College's Office of Student Financial Services (located in Peggy Ryan Williams Center ) (607) 274-3131
For spot prices for energy and commodities go to CNN Money Commodities Market or to the Chicago Board of Trade.  An alternate source for energy prices is Bloomberg Commodities Market Data, Energy. An alternate source for metals prices, current and historical, is Kitco Market Data. The best source for minerals is the United States Geological Service's Commodity Statistics and Information site.
The Registrar's office does semester-by-semester reports on enrollment by school, gender, major, available here.

Institutional Research collects additional data such as the transfer rate, retention, ethnicity in brief, and in their "Common Data Set", all linked here

The Budget Office has the latest budget (covers 3 academic years) here
The College Archives has earlier data and copies of the online budgets.
The Library has a color scanner/copier located on the main floor, to the right of the Circulation Desk. There is also a scanner/copier on the 3rd floor in the middle of the music stacks. Both scan to a flash drive, which may be borrowed at the Circulation Desk. Finally, there is a flatbed scanner in the Digital Media Center, located on the 3rd floor of the Library.

See the DIIS guide on services for guests. If you own a laptop or tablet, you may connect to IthacaCollege-Guest, the College’s wireless network, which requires no authentication and allows visitors access to the Internet on personal devices. Information transmitted or received over IthacaCollege-Guest is not encrypted and could be intercepted and viewed by other network users.

U.S. News and World Report Rankings

College Navigator from the U.S. Department of Education

College Search from the College Board

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