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Faculty Library Guide

This guide includes an overview of services for faculty and their students, an introduction to our collections and resources, and library staff contact information.

Class Instruction

teaching iconLibrarians are available to visit your class (inside or outside the library) to teach about resources or research methods that will be helpful for your course assignments or studio processes. Classes are tailored to discipline-based research or tied to specific course assignments. Some examples of topics that we often cover are:

  1. Information Literacy 
  2. Critical Information Literacy 
  3. Visual Literacy 
  4. Design Thinking
  5. Library Resources/Orientations/Demos 
  6. Copyright
  7. Empirical Research

We ask that you abide by the following guidelines when scheduling an instructional session:

  1. Provide 2 week notice for instructional sessions.
  2. Provide course learning outcomes/copy of assignments/rubrics/syllabi to the librarians. 
  3. Be clear on the time limit of the instructional session. 
  4. Notify librarians of cancelations or reschedulings of instructional sessions as soon as possible.
  5. Provide feedback regarding instructional plans/librarian-designed resources/other materials as requested.
  6. Provide feedback regarding the instructional session after it takes place. 

With or without a class visit, librarians can also create an online research guide tailored specifically to your course. These guides can point students to important resources, include step-by-step instructions for navigating particular databases, offer research tips and search strategies, and more. Please allow 2-3 weeks for completion of the research guide. 

Requests for library research instruction should be sent to the Instructional Design Librarians at research@ringling.edu.

Course Reserves

library shelf iconOpen and Closed Reserves options are available for library and/or personal materials. Items can generally be processed and placed on Reserve within a 24-hour period. One copy of each textbook used in the current semester is purchased in either print or eBook format and added to the collection. 

For more information or assistance, call the Library Circulation Desk at 359-7587 or email Circulation Manager Tim DeForest.

Borrowing from the Library

Faculty and staff have a six-week loan on books, one-week loan on video games, and one-week loan on DVDs.

Students have a three-week loan on books, one one-week loan on video games, and 3-day loan on DVDs.

Current periodicals circulate for 3 days; bound periodicals circulate for 5 days. Every faculty member, staff member, or student can check out up to 40 materials at a time. Except for Reserves, library materials are not library check out icondue back on weekends or when classes are not in session. There is an outside item return box for your convenience near the bicycle racks.

Reserve Rooms

classroom iconFaculty and Staff may reserve available rooms in the library via the 25Live system under the Room Reservations option on the Ringling Portal. For reservation of spaces not in the 25Live system or for the use of library spaces outside of library hours, contact the Library at library@ringling.edu for more information. 

Library Purchase Requests

Suggest a Purchase

book in shopping cart iconFaculty are encouraged to suggest books, periodicals (magazines, newspapers, academic/scholarly journals, etc.), databases, films, music, and other materials for purchase.  Requests for new acquisitions—print and electronic—may be made at any time.  

You may submit a request online, fill out the form in the Library and submit it to the Service Desk staff, or email your suggestion. 

Materials needed to support a specific course should be requested far enough in advance to ensure availability when classes begin. 

Interlibrary Loan

Request an item via Interlibrary Loan

global book iconAny faculty, staff, or student member of the Ringling community can use interlibrary loan services free of charge. For more information, please research@ringling.edu or visit the Interlibrary Loan FAQ page.

Film Streaming Options

dvd iconDue to their cost, streaming licenses via SWANK and Kanopy are a last resort for course films. The Library will gladly purchase DVDs that can be shown on campus to students registered in your classes, or help you find other streaming services where students can view your selected films for free or very low cost. If DVDs or other streaming options are not available, or if you are teaching an online course, SWANK and Kanopy licenses will be considered. 

For more information and FAQs regarding film streaming, see our guide: Library DVDs and Film Streaming