Information resources
Material is collected to support both undergraduate and graduate learning, teaching and research.
The decision to purchase Library materials in support of the undergraduate and graduate programs is the responsibility of librarians, in consultation with the respective faculty library representatives.
The Library seeks to facilitate the discovery and access of information by obtaining resources in electronic format whenever it is possible and practical to do. Electronic resources including databases, full text journals, monographs, numeric data, and government publication are obtained directly by the Library or through memberships in the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) and the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN). Access to and use of these electronic resources is governed by licence agreements with the publishers or vendors and, where possible, the Library works with publishers and vendors to include text and data mining rights in these agreements. In addition, the Library identifies and facilitates access to selected open-access resources and repositories that support learning, teaching and research.
The Library, along with the libraries of the University of Guelph (UG) and Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU), and 10 other Ontario institutions is a member OCUL consortium Collaborative Futures (OCUL-CF) initiative. The first initiative of the OCUL-CF was the acquisition of a new behind the scenes integrated library system in late 2019 allowing all OCUL-CF institutions resources to be visible and requestable in one joint catalogue.
Services
Access to electronic resources
The primary tool for accessing electronic resources selected by the Library is its website. University of Waterloo faculty, students and staff may access electronic resources from the location of their choosing via the Library’s proxy server/get access from anywhere feature.
Access to print collections
The Library's print collections are housed primarily in the Dana Porter Library and the Davis Centre Library and in the Annex. The Annex is a facility owned in partnership with UG and WLU, that provides storage of low use items in the three collections. Specialized, subject-specific print collections are maintained at the Musagetes Architecture Library (located in the School of Architecture), the Witer Learning Resource Centre (located in the School of Optometry), the Pharmacy Resource Centre (located in the School of Pharmacy), and in the collections of the Affiliated and Federated Institutions of Waterloo (Lusi Wong Library, located at Renison University College, Milton Good Library, located at Conrad Grebel University College, and Library & Archives of St. Jerome’s University). Access to these collections, as well as materials held by other OCUL-CF libraries, is available through the web-accessible catalogue.
The Library delivers copies of print journal articles from any of the University of Waterloo library locations, and from the libraries of the Affiliated and Federated Institutions of Waterloo to faculty members, students and staff. Books and journal articles not owned by the Library but held by other OCUL-CF libraries may be requested for delivery.Access to resources from institutions other than TUG
The Interlibrary loans (ILL) service provides faculty, students and staff with books, copies of journal articles, theses, and government documents from libraries within Canada and elsewhere. With minor exceptions, the cost for this service is absorbed by the Library.
Most Canadian university libraries extend, at no charge, in-person borrowing privileges to faculty, students and staff from across the country. Faculty, students and staff are entitled to borrowing privileges at participating libraries.
Information services
Information research skills, critical appraisal and ethical use support for on-campus learning and students taking online courses
Drawing from the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education, librarians are available to develop information literacy-related activities and materials, in consultation with faculty. These include the development of outcomes based online modules, research guides and screencasts as well as classroom sessions and workshops. It is intended that the sessions and workshops may complement, or take the form of, assignments. Depending on the nature of the assignments and the instructors’ expectations, these activities focus on introducing, reinforcing, or mastering key aspects of information research.
Research consultation and support
Librarians are available to meet, in person or virtually, one-on-one with students who request assignment and research help. The support provided to undergraduate and graduate students is tailored to meet their specific needs.
Undergraduate students: Librarians are available to meet with undergraduate students and help guide their selection and use of appropriate information resources. The librarian works with the students to:
- gather
- review
- evaluate
- interpret
information from books, journals and journal articles, databases and from specialized resources such as lab methods and protocols, data sources or other information sources unique to a particular discipline. A key element of this support is information seeking strategy development and working with students to critically evaluate information and its sources. The librarian also supports the exploration and assessment of information from other disciplines that might be relevant and provides direction for students who need help with how to cite the resources they are using.
Graduate students: Librarians are available to meet with graduate students who request help and they share expertise to help students:
- identify appropriate information resources
- develop advanced information seeking and critical thinking skills
needed for the evaluation of current and advanced research and scholarship. In addition, librarians can help graduate students with specific aspects of their written work, including citing and proper attribution of ideas. They can help students gain an understanding of issues related to copyright, authors rights, open-access publication requirements, credibility of information sources, etc. Librarians are also available to help with Tri-Agency requirements for open access and with data management planning.
Virtual Support
The Library’s Online Learning Object Repository and online research guides support students by providing point of need assistance with the selection of information research skills modules and recommended discipline or subject specific information resources, information on how to cite, read an article and more.
Open Access
UWSpace is an open-access institutional repository provided by the University of Waterloo Library for the research and scholarship produced at the University of Waterloo, including graduate theses and dissertations and peer reviewed articles. UWSpace provides a free, secure, and long-term home for the presentation, dissemination, and preservation of Waterloo’s digital research and scholarship. By utilizing UWSpace members of the Waterloo community ensure their work is accessible for discovery, examination, and reuse.
Open journals @ Waterloo is a free open-access journal publishing service using the Public Knowledge Project’s Open Journal Systems (OJS) journal management and publishing framework. The library currently hosts a number of open-access journals including the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies and Canadian Food Studies.
Partnerships
The Library is a partner in the GRADventure program and currently collaborates on sessions in support of this program. The Library also partners with the Writing & Communication Centre (WCC) to create and present workshops. The Library provides space for campus partner drop-in services in library locations. The WCC, the Centre for Career Action, the Student Success Office and the Office of Research Ethics are currently offering drop-in services in library locations.
Faculty, students and staff may keep abreast of new services and developments in the Library by reading News, the library newsletter. The Library also provides updates via social media including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
