Circulation

You need your Faculty ID card to check out materials. Most Library materials are loaned for a 6-week period with one renewal allowed, VHS/DVDs can be checked out for a 3-week period with one renewal; Reference and other non-circulating materials are loaned for 1 week. Renewals can be made by contacting the Seminary Library (619) 201-8966 or by email. Faculty are not charged overdue fines.

The book drop is located near the library entrance.

Interlibrary Loan

Interlibrary loan (ILL) is the way the Seminary Libraries provide you with the books and articles that it does not own by borrowing a copy from other libraries. This service is available free for current students, faculty and staff of SCS.

Book requests are usually received within 10 days. They are mailed to us via USPS, media rate. It is important that the borrowed item is returned by the due date written on the ILL band attached to the book’s cover. If you need the book past the due date, contact the Librarian about the possibility for renewal by calling (619) 201-8966 or by email. In rare cases, if we cannot find a library willing to loan the book for free, you may be asked to pay for the loan.

Article requests, usually photocopies, are normally received within 2-3 days. This is because they are typically sent to us electronically. You will not have to return a photocopied article. Because of the effort involved in locating and copying article requests, it is more common for libraries to charge for the request. Please fill in the “willing to pay” field in the ILL form. If they charge, libraries typically set a $5-20 fee for photocopies.

You will be contacted by email or telephone when your material arrives.

Course Reserves

Faculty members can place books and other materials on reserve for students to read for a particular course. These materials are shelved behind the circulation desk and checked out for in-library use. Course reserve materials may be used outside of the library if checked out 1 hour before closing time (unless they are Reference books), and must be returned when the Library opens the next day.

To put items on reserve, you can bring your personal material to the library, pull the necessary library materials from the shelves or submit a bibliography. The Librarian will need a 2-day lead time to prepare them for the reserve shelf. Material should be removed from the reserve shelf at the end of each semester.

Copyright & Fair Use Resources

• Copyright Law Title 17 Section 107 Fair Use
• Know Your Copy Rights
• Fair Use Evaluator
• Using Copyrighted Media in Your Courses
• Copyright Clearance Center
• Copyright Renewal Database
• Creative Commons

Scheduling the Library for Class Use

The College Library welcomes faculty and their students into the library during class time to make use of its resources. Faculty are asked to communicate with the Librarian when a class larger than 8 students will be making use of the Research or Study Areas of the library for a class period. This functions on a first come, first serve basis.

Test/Exam Proctoring

The Seminary Library does not offer proctoring services for tests or exams. However, a faculty member may send a student to the Library to take a minimally supervised test or exam. The library can distribute tests to students and collect completed tests for faculty. Please contact a librarian for assistance.

• The faculty member must provide written guidelines on test administration, such as time limit, no books/notes allowed, etc., as well as instructions on how, where, and to whom to send the completed test.
• Student must schedule the test with the library at a time that is convenient for the library staff.
• Library staff will check on the student periodically, but will not monitor him/her constantly.

Library Instruction for Students

The Seminary Librarian provides in-class instruction to introduce students to library resources in the following degree programs:

The College at SCS

• RS-100 Critical Thinking & Writing

Graduate Bible & Theology (Masters Level)

• RS-501 Theological Research

Graduate Bible & Theology (Doctoral Level)

• RS-981/982/983 Applied Research & Mentoring I, II, & III

Graduate Behavioral Science (Masters Level)

• CO-505 Human Growth & Development
• CO-608 Research & Program Evaluations

Graduate Behavioral Science (Doctoral Level)

• PY-805/905 Dissertation Research and Methodology I & II

To schedule library instruction for a class not on this list, please contact the Seminary Librarian at (619) 201-8966 or by email.

Library Instruction for Faculty

Faculty and adjunct faculty are encouraged to contact the Seminary Librarian (for SCS) for information about or instruction on using any of the various library resources and technology.

Collection Development

Collection Development is the building of a library collection to reflect the interests and needs of the user population, including: setting selection policy, assessing user needs, studying collection use, selecting materials, maintaining the collection, weeding, etc. Faculty have an important role in the development and maintenance of the SCS Library collection.

Faculty’s Role in Selection

The Seminary Librarian has the final word on additions to or deletions from the collection, faculty members share the responsibility for suggesting materials in their areas of expertise. Library Staff routinely collects professional selection tools, such as catalogs from university presses and publishers for faculty use and strongly encourages faculty to make recommended suggestions for titles in any appropriate format. All titles recommended by faculty are submitted to the Seminary Librarian. New title requests will be compared and evaluated with the existing core collection and the courses offered in relation to titles submitted. Students are also able to suggest titles for the collection.

The following criteria will be considered when selecting material:

• Importance of the subject matter to the collection
• Support of the educational programs
• Timeliness or permanence of the material
• Authoritativeness & accuracy of the material
• Reputation and significance of the author/producer
• Inclusion of the title in recognized bibliographies
• Availability, price, language & format of the item
• Selection tools, including bibliographies and standard reviewing sources, such as, Choice, Book Review Digest, Book List, Library Journal, Publisher’s Weekly, university press catalogs, subject-specific journals, and publisher’s catalogs

Faculty’s Role in Weeding

Weeding is an important task which keeps the collection up-to-date and relevant for student & faculty use. A well weeded collection will see higher use. Obsolescence, damage, normal wear and space limitations make the discarding of materials a continuing process. The selection criteria will be used as a guide for the de-selection of library materials. Additional factors, considered in discarding materials include:

• Poor physical condition
• Out of date information
• Unsupported formats
• Multiple copies of titles no longer in demand
• Old editions replaced by later revisions
• Lack of use

The faculty under the leadership of Division Deans (SCS) are asked to routinely review the collection related to their field. Typically weeding takes place during the summer months when classes are not in session. Final responsibility for deciding which materials to discard rests with the Seminary Librarian (SCS). He or she may delegate this authority to other members of the staff. Items discarded will be put out for sale or sent to a book reseller, except when a specific department or organization has requested books. Discarded reference books may be offered to other libraries through duplicate exchange.