For Faculty

Course Reserves

Do you have books or media items that you would like your students to be able to share? Consider placing them on reserve at the circulation desk. Books and videos may be the instructor's personally owned copy or may come from the Cincinnati State library collection (reproductions or items from other libraries can not be placed on reserve). Instructors select the length of the loan period (two hours, 24 hours, three days, one week, or a semester). To place an item on reserve, please complete the e-form at: https://web3.cincinnatistate.edu/eforms/eform.aspx?form_id=796, after logging in to MyCState.

Some of the core classes may already have items on reserve, either by the department or by another faculty person. Before referring your students to the library for these, it is helpful to check our Current Course Reserves to ensure that they are active each semester. Our Finding Course Reserves video can guide you through the process of looking up course reserve books if you need assistance.

Have questions about course reserves? Please contact Myra Justus (x4690) or Don Vernatter (x1606) at the circulation desk.

DVDs: The Johnnie Mae Berry Library has almost 900 academic dvds that may be borrowed for classroom use or personal research. Search the catalog, or browse our Academic Films Collection.

Streaming Videos: The Library’s Films on Demand database includes over 42,000 titles that can be embedded directly within your Blackboard course site. The short Video Tutorial below shows you how to search FOD, while our Faculty Guide includes directions & screenshots on how to embed films directly into your course.

Although the Library cannot search for or select OERs for your class, we can help get you going in the right direction with our OER Guide.

If you are teaching a class on Main campus that requires academic research, your students may benefit from an instruction session tailored to helping them find library resources to meet your assignment requirements!

Full Session: Our full sessions take place in the Library’s computer lab (lower-level) so that students can actively engage with our resources & have “hands on” time to start finding sources. We’ll cover the resources that support your assignment (e.g. books, academic articles, etc.) & focus on building successful search strategies, evaluating resources, & grabbing citations.

Classroom Fly-By: Our instruction “fly by” takes place in your assigned classroom & typically lasts 15-20 minutes. In that quick time, we’ll demonstrate how to use the most relevant database for their research, how to grab citations, & how to get help from a librarian later. If you need a longer session, we can do that, too!

LIVE WEB courses: If you are teaching an online synchronous course that has a research component, we can join your Zoom classroom for a quick demo that introduces your students to our virtual resources (& friendly librarians).

CCP, Middletown & Other Sites: If you are teaching a f2f course that has a research component, but is not on main campus, we can join you via a Zoom session that you can share via the classroom’s “big screen”.

We recommend requesting library instruction by the start of each semester, or at least 2 weeks prior to your desired class date. Your request should include a copy or description of the research assignment & we recommend providing an alternative, second-choice date to account for availability conflicts. Students find the session most helpful when they are already familiar with the assignment & have topics selected. Email Kathleen Pickens at kathleen.pickens@cincinnatistate.edu to get started.

We also offer Library Workshops in Zoom that are open to all students & faculty. Workshops are focused on finding articles, but also have an “open lab” component where attendees can get help finding their sources. See the Library Workshops calendar for the complete schedule & connection instructions.

The Library has created over 200 subject & course guides to help direct you & your students to the most popular research resources for each subject area. These “mini libraries” may be embedded directly within your Blackboard course, providing students with access right at their point of need. Guides include:

• Tips on how to use Boolean Operators (and, or, not) to create a search strategy.
• Direct access to the Library’s catalog, e-Book collections, & top databases to find articles for their subject areas.
• Embedded video & static tutorials that demonstrate how to use the Library resources, evaluate information, & avoid plagiarism.
• Resources for creating citations & formatting their research papers.
• Direct ways to get help from a librarian, including via chat & research appointments.

Visit our Library Guides Homepage to find the guide for your class.

Our Faculty Guide includes teaching & learning resources, tips for improving student research skills, & instructions for embedding library resources into your Blackboard courses.

Your 7-digit College ID is how you connect to library resources from off-campus, plus how you can log into your Johnnie Mae Berry Library account. If you don’t know your ID number, you can look it up using the ID Verification form. Be sure to check the box for displaying your ID number with the results.

Students can also find their 7-digit College Id in Self Services, while College employees will find it on their pay advice(s) as their Employee Id.

Are you wondering when your checkouts are due? Do you need to renew something? Are you wondering if a hold is available for pickup yet? Log into Check Your Library Account to check due dates, renew books, and more.

Go to Check Your Library Account to renew eligible books.
You’ll want to pay attention to your screen to see if all of the items were renewed. Items that have maximized the number of renewals, have holds on them by another user, or are not eligible for renewal (e.g. movies) will not be processed.

Your Surge card is required when borrowing items, even for use within the library, and to checkout our study room keys. You’ll also need your Surge card to print. Student Surge cards come pre-loaded with $18 in funds each semester that can be used for printing at the library and/or the computer lab in ATLC.

All campus employees are also required to use their Surge card when borrowing items.