Libraries

Information about the libraries and access to library holdings and electronic resources are available on the libraries’ Web site.

Alert:  Library Services During the Renovation of St. Augustine Hall, Queens
With major renovation taking place at St. John’s University’s Queens Library, many Library resources and services will be physically unavailable/inaccessible until early in the Fall Semester.  The Chin Ying Asian Library will be unaffected and will be open Monday-Thursday 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.  Appointments are recommended. To make an appointment, call 718-990-8013.  With the caveat that any of the information below could change based on the vagaries of construction—and we will notify you as soon as we are aware of any changes—here is the current  information about what areas and resources at the Library will and will not be available.

Collections

  • Print: although some print materials will be stored in St. Augustine Hall for the summer, they will be in protected areas and not accessible to library staff or library patrons.
  • Online: databases, ejournals, etc. will be accessible as usual via the Libraries’ Web site; view more information about electronic resources and services

Study areas will be available on the first floor of St. Augustine Hall in the Quiet Study Area and the Academic Commons; self-service computer workstations, printing, and copying will also be available. All floors other than the 1st floor are CLOSED.

On-site Library services indicated below will be available on the first floor of St. Augustine Hall. Hours may vary because of the construction schedule, but standard hours will be 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday-Thursday, and 8:30 to 3:00 on Friday. The Library will be closed Saturday and Sunday beginning May 17. Check our online calendar for more specific information.

  • Info Desk: walk-up desk for general questions, directions, etc. located in the lobby of SAH, just outside the Freshman Center;
  • Reference: in-person service at central service desk in the Academic Commons (St. Augustine Hall, 1st floor); Ask us! email reference as usual, including some hours that the physical location is not open; reference librarians can assist patrons in finding alternate libraries that own the material they need to use over the summer and will issue METRO cards for use of NY metro area libraries;
  • Circulation/Reserves: Reserve material will be located in the Academic Commons (St. Augustine Hall, 1st floor); eReserves will be accessible as normal; circulation will be essentially unavailable, and should not be relied upon; Circulation staff will be able to issue WALDO stickers for faculty, administrators, and staff to use WALDO libraries;
  • Interlibrary Loan: will be borrowing books and articles as usual, submit requests online; if an item owned by St. John’s is not accessible, ILL will borrow it from another library; come to the service desk in the Academic Commons (St. Augustine Hall, 1st floor) for ILL assistance;
  • Instructional Services: our goal is to visit as many summer courses as possible to reach out to students in order to minimize any inconvenience they may experience during this period. To schedule a visit, faculty should send an email to infoliteracy@stjohns.edu, or call Prof. Charles Livermore at ext. 5330 or Prof. Benjamin Turner, ext. 5562; tutorials and other online instructional material is available as usual. 
     
    Closed:
    Media Center
    Instructional Materials Center
    Archives/Special Collections
    We appreciate your understanding as we do our best to continue providing library services during renovations in St. Augustine Hall.

Library Hours
Schedules for the Queens Campus, Staten Island, Manhattan, Oakdale and Rome Libraries will differ. Please see web pages of each library for specifics.

Exceptions
Please be aware Library hours vary during final examinations, intersessions, and on major holidays and Catholic holy days; hours. Changes in hours are posted at the main entrance, and on the web pages of each library. Some individual departments have restricted hours that are posted in each library and on the web site.

Borrowing Policies and Procedures
As a graduate student with a valid St. John's University ID card (StormCard), you are eligible to borrow circulating materials at any of the campus libraries. The first time you borrow library materials, your ID number and other information will be recorded in the Libraries' circulation system. We strongly recommend that you stop by the Circulation Desk at your home campus to have your ID information registered as early as possible in the semester. You must present your ID with the items you wish to borrow. This policy ensures that no one else can borrow library materials under your name.

Materials that may not be borrowed include periodicals, government documents materials, reference materials, archives and special collections materials, and some K-12 curriculum materials. Special loans of non-circulating materials that are not in high demand may be made to a faculty member for use in class or for a brief loan period in preparation for a new course, at the discretion of the librarian in charge of the collection.

LIBRARY SERVICES

Instructional Services
Instructional Services include orientation to library facilities and services and instruction in the use of library resources. Your instructors are encouraged to arrange tailored group sessions for their classes. Students will learn the basic procedures for finding materials on particular subjects, the use of relevant periodical indexes and other subject bibliographies, and how to interpret and locate their findings. Each session provides a brief introduction to the libraries' online catalogs, using the libraries’ web site, and more in-depth discussion of available print and electronic subject databases such as ABI/Inform and ERIC, as appropriate. Term paper workshops and library tours may also be arranged. Make arrangements for classes, workshops or tours at least one week in advance with the Instructional Services Librarian on your campus (Queens, Room 304, ext. 5562; Staten Island, call ext. 4521).

Electronic Reserve
Electronic or e-Reserves is rapidly becoming the means favored by faculty for providing information to their students outside the classroom. By posting journal articles, class notes, Power Point presentations, etc., your instructors can reach any student with access to a computer, whether across the campus or across the country.

Electronic Reserves is subject to copyright law limitations governing fair use of materials for educational purposes. Only students with appropriate passwords can access e-Reserves materials.

Reserves Collection
Books and photocopies of articles placed on reserve for required reading can be found in the libraries' reserves collections. (Certain fragile materials and some heavily used reference books are also kept on reserve.) All Reserve items are searchable in the libraries' online catalog. Detailed instructions are available online and at the Reserves desk, 2nd floor on the Queens Campus and at the  lending/circulation desks in Staten Island and Manhattan. Photocopying of books and journal articles is subject to copyright law limitations governing fair use of materials for educational purposes.

Media Center
The Media Center, located on the Queens campus, is a division of the University Libraries and provides instructional materials University-wide; equipment, in-Center. 
Searching for media:  All Media Center materials are included in the Library's Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC). Search the catalog as you would any of the Library's holdings.