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Desk Handbook: Reserves

General handbook for policies and procedures at the Desk.

Reserve Process

  • Each semester, professors place items on reserve for their students to get from the Desk to review
  • These items can be checked out for its designated amount of time - whether that's a 2-hour, 3-hour, 24-hour, or 3-day reserve item. 2-hour and 3-hour items must be used only in the library, while the 24-hour and 3-day items can leave the library 
  • Professors may call the Desk or come to the Desk to place something on reserve; you can either take down the information to give to Jen or Amy or have the professor talk to them directly.
    • When taking information from a professor about what they want to put on reserve, ask them:  
      • Their name
      • The course number
      • The item name and edition 
        • If it's a personal copy of the professor's that they want to put on reserve, you can take the item and give it directly to Amy or Jen
  • Jen and Amy do course reserves for different subjects, but they can determine who the professor should talk to 

Finding Reserve Items

  • Searching for a reserve item looks different depending on the information you have about the item. This is because we have a lot of personal copies of books from professors on reserve, and those don’t show up in the catalog the same way as a regular book would.
  • If you have the title of the book:
    • In Sierra, choose the “Search/Holds” function
    • Do a title search for the item
    • If needed you can limit your search on the left-hand side by item type
    • Double click on the item you’re looking for
    • You’ll see “location” and “due date” columns. The two main locations are “mnstk” (Main Stacks) and “mnrsv” (Reserves). The due date column will show whether the item is available to check out. You can help the patron from there with getting the item.
  • If you have the name of the class or the course number:
    • Use the Classic Catalog, linked at the bottom right of HillSearch, to look up a course by the class. The Classic Catalog is also bookmarked in Chrome on all the Desk computers
    • In the Classic Catalog, choose “Course Search” under the “Course Reserves” section on the left-hand side of the screen
    • Click on the course you are looking for and look at the list of items to find what the patron is looking for
  • If you have the professor’s name:
    • Same situation: under the “Course Reserves” section on the left-hand side of the Classic Catalog, choose “Instructor Search”
    • Type in what you have of the professors’ name; last name is usually best
    • Once the list of classes comes up, determine which course it is the student is in and then find the item they need from that courses’ list

Checking Out Reserves

  • Checking reserve items in and out follows the same process as checking in or out a regular item from the collection 
  • When someone wants to check out a reserve item, find the item's call number (instructions above), find the number on our reserves shelves, and check the item out to the patron, reminding them of the early due date/time
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