The UCSD libraries consist of Geisel Library, with its research collections in the Social Sciences and Humanities Library (SSHL), the Art and Architecture Library, the Music Library, the Film and Video Library, the Mandeville Library of Special Collections, and the Science and Engineering Library (S&E). Other libraries include the Biomedical Library and the Medical Center Library, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library (SIO), the International Relations and Pacific Studies Library (IR/PS), and the Galbraith Hall Library.
Collectively, their mission is to support the campus programs of instruction, research and public service. While each library may have varying rules, all are open to members of the UCSD community. Library Services online (http://libraries.ucsd.edu) lists library hours, locations and services in addition to providing access to online databases.
Reference Services
Major academic research libraries like UCSD's are complex and evolving information systems. Reference services are available at each library to provide assistance to students and faculty with course needs and research activities. Reference service is generally available during weekday hours; availability of weeknight and weekend reference service varies among campus libraries.
Class Reserves Services
Class reserves for graduate level courses are available at each library. Class reserves for upper division courses (paper and CD ROM material) in the social sciences and humanities are housed in SSHL in the Geisel Library. Music, film and video, and slide formats are housed elsewhere in Geisel Library. SSHL does not house material for graduate level courses in science and engineering, upper division biology or biochemistry. Biology upper division courses are available at the Biomedical Library.
Instructional Services
Through its Instructional Services Program, the library offers a variety of orientations, instructional and consultation opportunities. Individual and group tours of the libraries may be arranged. Contact the library of interest and ask for the instructional coordinator.
Electronic Resources Training
The library offers group sessions and one-on-one consultations to help students make the most efficient use of all the electronic information resources available to them. These electronic resources can be used in the library and are increasingly becoming available remotely from home, lab, or the office.
The Library also offers many other computerized resources, from databases on compact disc such as Biological Abstracts and Philosopher's Index, which are self-service, to commercial online databases such as Chemical Abstracts, which librarians can search for UCSD students for a fee. Contact the reference department of the library of interest for more information on this service.
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Services
The purpose of Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is to provide support to UCSD faculty, students and staff by borrowing books, journal articles, government publications, technical reports and other materials not owned by the UCSD libraries from other libraries, both within UC and throughout the world. Requests may also be made in person, by phone, by email, or by campus mail. UCSD faculty, students and staff are also eligible for direct borrowing privileges at other UC campuses and at most Stanford libraries. Please contact the Library Information Desk, (858) 534-2528 or visit the Interlibrary Loan website,
http://sshl.ucsd.edu/services/interlibrary.html, for more information.
Library Photocopy Services
As a companion to Interlibrary Loan, the library also offers photocopies of articles in journals owned at UCSD but not available electronically in full text. A small fee is charged to cover handling costs (typically $3.50 per article). Requests can be submitted directly from most California Digital Library databases (such as Medline, INSPEC, BIOSIS or Current Contents) using the "Request" feature. Students also may send requests via Library Express by using the "G" command in line mode or the "Request" button in the Web version, or by calling or emailing the Interlibrary Loan unit that supports their discipline.
Library Express (LX) Services
Library Express pages library materials from the UCSD collections and delivers them to any UCSD library for pick-up at the circulation desk. Currently available to UCSD graduate students and academic and staff employees, LX also delivers materials to undergraduates who are registered with the Office for Students with Disabilities. For more information, contact Library Express at (858) 534-5351, at libexp@ucsd.edu, or visit their website at http://libraries.ucsd.edu/services/ill-dds.
Email Reference Services
Some UCSD libraries have set up mechanisms to receive and answer brief reference questions by electronic mail. Generally these services are limited to UCSD staff, faculty and regularly enrolled students. Questions by email should normally be relatively brief and simple-a fact, statistic, biographical note, verification of an incomplete citation, advice on a starting strategy for research, etc. More complex and lengthy questions normally cannot be answered in this way, and will be referred to a subject specialist. Students should include their full name and email address for replies. Although email is checked regularly, reference librarians are not actually "standing by" their terminals, and replies may take one or two working days. If an answer is needed more immediately, call the Library Information Desk at (858) 534-3336 for either an answer or referral to the appropriate desk. The answers to many questions may also be found through the library's Frequently Asked Questions page (http://libraries.ucsd.edu/services/faq.html) or its Electronic Reference Shelf (http://libraries.ucsd.edu/refshelf.html).
Library Hours and Phone Numbers
Library hours are posted at the main entrances. Most libraries extend hours during examination periods. Call (858) 534-3336 for a recording of all UCSD library hours.
Art and Architecture Library, West Wing, Geisel Library, (858) 534-4811, http://aal.ucsd.edu
Biomedical Library, Southwest end of Basic Science Building, School of Medicine, (858) 534-1201, http://scilib.ucsd.edu/bml
Geisel Library, Located north of the Price Center and east of Thurgood Marshall College, (858) 534-3336, http://libraries.ucsd.edu
International Relations and Pacific Studies Library, Robinson Building Complex, (858) 534-0926, http://irpslibrary.ucsd.edu
Medical Center Library (off-campus), UCSD Medical Center, Hillcrest, (619) 543-6520, http://scilib.ucsd.edu/bml
Science and Engineering Library, East Wing, Geisel Library, (858) 534-3336, http://scilib.ucsd.edu
Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library, Scripps Campus (west of La Jolla Shores Drive), (858) 534- 4817, http://scilib.ucsd.edu/sio
Social Sciences and Humanities Library, Geisel Library, (858) 534-3336, http://sshl.ucsd.edu
Center for Library and Instructional Computing Services (CLICS), (858) 822-5427, clics@ucsd.edu, http://clics.ucsd.edu
Other San Diego County Libraries
Cooperative arrangements exist with various other local governmental, educational, and industrial libraries, which allow UCSD graduate students to use their facilities. Some of these libraries have excellent specialized collections. They include the Salk Institute, G.A. Technologies, and the Naval Electronics Laboratory Center (NELC). The NELC facility requires advance arrangements, which must be made through the Interlibrary Loan Desk at Geisel Library.