Research @ a Distance

Welcome to the Nelson Poynter Library webpage dedicated to the unique needs of students and educators who perform library research at a distance. Several departments within the Poynter Library, including Public Services; Access Services; and Instructional Media Services; provide specialized assistance to distance learners and distance educators. The mission of these departments with respect to distance learning services is to provide the same or equivalent resources to distance learners and educators as those afforded to students and faculty who use the physical library.

The Public Services department provides research and instructional support to USF students, staff, and faculty, as well as to USF affiliates, such as state university and community college students and educators. Among the many services provided to library patrons are telephone reference, email reference, live chat reference through the USF Libraries Ask-a-Librarian service, face-to-face library instructional support for students and faculty, the Research Assistance Program, and more. For more information about the services provided by Public Services Librarians, see the Reference Services web page.

The Access Services department is charged with providing access to the variety of materials and resources purchased and made available by the USF Library system to USF students, staff, faculty, and affiliates. The Access Services staff assists with loaning materials, including circulating items and course reserve materials; they also process interlibrary loan and document delivery requests, maintain the library collection, and provide customer support via telephone and email. For more information about the Circulation and Interlibrary Loan units of the Access Services department, click the corresponding links.

The Instructional Media Services department provides educational technology support for the USF St. Petersburg campus community. In addition to operating the USF ID card center; providing audio-visual services for students, staff, and faculty; completing numerous projects which benefit the campus, including digitization projects for faculty and special programs/events; maintaining and providing support for classroom technology, and maintaining the library’s media collection, the staff also operate the campus’ “state-of-the-art” distance learning studio and lab. For more information about this department and their services, go to the Instructional Media website or visit the distance learning web page.

Getting Started:

In order to access library materials and resources online, you must first have a USF Card. Go to the Student ID Information webpage maintained by Instructional Media Services to learn how to purchase and obtain a USF Card. Students will also need their U#, which can be obtained from the USF Admissions & Records Office located in BAY 102. To reach a member of the Admissions & Records staff, call 727-873-4142. Once you have a USF Card and a U#, you can create a USF NetID, which provides access to the USF Libraries electronic materials and resources. To create your USF NetID, go to the University Network Access page and follow the links to sign up as a new user. Once you have completed the process for creating a USF NetID, you will be able to connect to the USF Libraries from home. NOTE: In order to use some of the features of the USF Libraries homepage, like online renewal, USF students, staff, and faculty, must have their ID verified by the Poynter Library Circulation staff through the library management system. This process requires the last four digits of your SSN and will only take a few seconds to complete. Please complete this process as soon as you purchase and receive your USF ID. For more information, call the Circulation Desk at 727-873-4405.

Locating Materials:

The USF Libraries uses the ALEPH system for locating books, course reserves, and periodicals. To find a book or periodical by title or subject, simply click the Library Catalog link from the main USF Libraries page. You can even search the holdings of a particular library by clicking the Change Databases link once you are in the ALEPH system. Click the Reserves link of the USF Libraries page to access course reserve material made available by a professor. The USF Libraries own subscriptions for many electronic journals. Click the E-Journals link on the USF Libraries page; from there you can search for an exact title or enter a generic keyword search. Lastly, the Databases/Newspapers link will allow you to search the electronic indexes of numerous journals and newspapers using the Metalib system. Once you click the Databases/Newspapers link on the main USF Libraries page, you can search for a particular database by entering the title, or you can also click the by Subject Category link to search databases for a particular discipline. Should you desire to search several databases at once, Metalib is also designed so that you can perform a metasearch of two or more databases simultaneously.

The Public Services department aids researchers with reference and instruction assistance. Students and faculty who need assistance locating materials can ask reference questions via email, telephone, or live online chat through the USF Libraries Ask-a-Librarian service. For email reference assistance, send your email to neville@nelson.usf.edu. You may also call 727-873-4124 for reference assistance via telephone. Also, click the Ask-a-Librarian link to chat live with a reference librarian. In addition, USF St. Petersburg faculty can request library instructional services for their classes by emailing neville@nelson.usf.edu.

Obtaining Materials:

All current USF St. Petersburg students, staff, and faculty are able to request interlibrary loans. Students can either retrieve requested materials from the Poynter Library Circulation Desk or receive the materials electronically through the ILLiad system. USF students who attend ALL of their classes online, or at remote locations, and who have valid USF ID are able to receive books and articles via mail. This document delivery service has limitations and should be cleared through the USF St. Petersburg Interlibrary Loan Unit at 727-873-4549 or ill@nelson.usf.edu before submitting document delivery or interlibrary loan requests. Most journal and magazine articles can be sent to students via email, regardless of their designation as on or off-campus students. To request an interlibrary loan, click the Interlibrary Loan link from the USF Libraries main page. First–time users must establish a new account by clicking the First-time User Log-on link. Students will need their USF Cards to create this account. Repeat users can click the Log-on for Repeat Users link and either request a book or request a photocopy of an article.

Students and faculty may request books and articles owned by the USF Libraries or owned by external libraries. Please be aware that materials owned by outside libraries should be returned according to the lending library’s due date. For more information about your rights and responsibilities associated with interlibrary loan, see the Interlibrary Loan Policy page; please be sure to review the specific rights and responsibilities for distance learners located on this page!

Faculty who wish to place materials on reserve can contact the Circulation Unit at 727-873-4404 or at circ@nelson.usf.edu for details about course reserve requests. To submit a course reserve request, faculty should complete the Reserve Request Form (coming soon) and submit both the form and their materials to the Poynter Library Circulation staff along with a syllabus for the course.

Students can retrieve course reserve materials from the USF Libraries one of two ways. If your home campus is St. Pete and your professor has notified you that course reserve materials will be available in print at your home library, you can check-out these reserve items at the Poynter Library Circulation Desk. Most reserve items have check-out limitations, for instance Library-Use Only, or perhaps 3 hours, 3 days, or 7 days check-out. Please be sure of the loan periods and any restrictions associated with your check-out of reserve materials before leaving the Circulation Desk! Students can also retrieve reserve materials electronically as PDF files if the professor requests that these materials be made available online. Using your USF NetID, you can locate both print and electronic reserve materials using the Reserves link on the USF Libraries homepage. Should you need further assistance, please contact the Circulation Unit staff at 727-873-4405 or circ@nelson.usf.edu.

The Poynter Library does not typically have course textbooks within its collection. Students can sometimes locate older editions of textbooks through the Instructional Media Center (IMC) or within the regular stacks. However, new textbooks for current courses are normally not available. For information on locating and obtaining a textbook for a current course, contact the Barnes and Noble staff.

Students and faculty can renew certain materials through the online renewal service. Go to the USF Libraries homepage and click the link Online Renewal, then click go to online renewal service on the following page. Enter your 14 digit library number and your 4 digit pin (last four digits of your social security number) and select USF as your university. You should see a list of your current materials on loan and their due dates. Follow the system instructions for renewing the materials. If you experience difficulty with the online renewal system, please call the Poynter Library Circulation Desk at 727-873-4405 or email the Circulation Unit staff at circ@nelson.usf.edu. NOTE: After successfully renewing materials, remember to print the page for your records! Proof of renewal is required in the event of system errors and for disputing fines/fees.

Help & Contacts:

For additional information about Poynter Library distance learning services please contact the following Poynter Library staff members:

The USF Libraries provide an online chat reference service called Ask-a-Librarian. If you need research assistance and would like the convenience of chatting online to a librarian or if you would like to submit a reference question and receive a response by email, please utilize this free service. To use the service or learn more about the hours of operation, simply click on the Ask-a-Librarian link located on the USF Libraries homepage.

The Poynter Library has subject specialists who can assist students and faculty with reference questions for a particular discipline. These librarians also provide instructional services to classes upon request by the faculty. The library instruction classes are only offered at the Poynter Library at this time. To contact a subject specialist, please refer to the list of disciplines and contacts on the Collection Development webpage.

Also, see the Poynter Library Staff Directory for additional departments, staff members and contact information.

Useful Links:

As a part of its academic services, the University of South Florida offers distance learning resources through its Educational Outreach office, located on the Tampa campus. This unit also provides technology services for USF faculty and students, as well as continuing education services for both credit and noncredit programs.

The Academic Computing department provides computing resources and services to the entire USF community. Some of the many services offered include research computing support, information security resources, student email service, web space, web hosting, open-use computing facilities, video guides, and the myUSF portal. In addition, Academic Computing staff can be reached for technological support toll-free via telephone, via email, via live chat, and face-to-face in the training center on the USF Tampa campus. The USF St. Petersburg Campus Computing center also provides specialized services and support to the USF St. Petersburg community.

USF Students can retrieve and submit information on their student accounts using the Online Access Student Information System (OASIS). This system can be used to retrieve admissions and records information, financial aid information, billing information, class schedules, and much more. Personal information, like contact information, can also be submitted/updated using OASIS.

The MyUSF/Blackboard portal is an online academic environment containing web-based resources for academic support, as well as online course platforms, and interfaces for various organizations. This integrated system provides an environment in which the USF community can have access to multiple systems and data that support their research and coursework.