Post-Orientation Roundup: Five Things to Remember About the ISAW Library

The ISAW Library team would like to extend a warm welcome to all of our incoming students and scholars this fall. We offered two introductory instruction sessions during orientation this year, but in an day packed with new information, we thought a brief reminder of the most important facts about our library would be helpful. Here are the five most important things to remember about using the ISAW Library:

1. Shelving locations. In order to fit as many books as possible in our space, our main stacks are divided up into three main "collections": Small, Large, and Oversize. In addition to this, we have Reference collections on the third, fourth, and fifth floors, journals in the Oak Room, and still more journals in "Library 6" (in the hall on the sixth floor). When you find a call number in Bobcat, be sure to also note the collection that the book is in so you know where in the stacks to look for it.

2. Circulation cards. It's the most frustrating moment in any research project: You've found the book you need in the library catalog; you have the call number and shelving location; you go to the stacks—and the book isn't there. To minimize the frustration of your colleagues, please be sure to fill out a circulation card for any item you'll be using for more than a few hours, and put it on the shelf in place of the book. Note where you'll be taking it so that another researcher can find it if they need to.

3. Returning items. Currently, the entire ISAW Library collection is housed on-site, but we are rapidly filling up our available space. We'll soon begin making decisions about what materials to send into offsite storage, and we want those decisions to be informed by circulation data. But the only way for us to get that information is if the materials you've used come back to our circulation desk. Rather than reshelving books and journals on your own, please return them either to the circulation desk on the 3rd floor or the book trucks in the 4th and 5th floor reading rooms—that way we'll be able to get the most complete picture of how our collection is being used.

4. We're more than just books. The ISAW Library team is actively engaged in a growing slate of digital projects, including the Ancient World Digital Library, the Ancient World Online Index, the Pleiades gazetteer, and a variety of linked data initiatives. This fall, we'll be offering instruction workshops on Zotero and QGIS, creating research guides on the LibGuides platform, and hosting a workshop on digital projects in ancient studies, and holding ancient world-themed board game nights for members of the greater ISAW community. For more information about the wide range of projects we're involved with, stay tuned to this blog, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter @ISAWLib.

5. We're here to help. If you have any questions about our collection, want to know about using the NYU Library system, come across a thorny research problem, want to learn the advanced functions of our book scanner, or have any other information-related question, please ask! You can e-mail us at ISAW-Library@nyu.edu, call us at (212)992-7824, drop by the 3rd floor circulation desk, or find us at coffee or tea time. We looking forward to helping you with your research!