Frequently Asked Questions

FAQS: Student FAQs

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
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.
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.
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.
Go to the IC Services desk in the union (307B) fill out a form, and you will receive a refund.




 


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
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.
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.
Recall option will display for items Checked Out:
  1. Locate the item you want from the library search box.
  2. Click Sign in for full features and results.
  3. Click the Request link.
  4. Select the Pickup location from the drop-down menu.
  5. Enter the "Not Needed After" date and comments that may be helpful for library staff.
  6. Click the Request link.

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 7 days.

NOTE: faculty may request items to be delivered by selecting the delivery location when requesting an item.

Books and score are delivered Monday - Friday during regular business hours ; multimedia materials are delivered Monday-Friday at 8:30am.
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 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.

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