We will be moving a large portion of Newman Library's collections this summer. While the stacks are in flux, we recommend you use the Request button in Addison to have us retrieve materials in the affected sections to save you time and trouble. We'll locate the item and hold it for you at the second floor circulation desk. If you need an article from a print journal or conference proceeding in the affected sections, use our new Desktop Delivery service and we'll scan the article for you.

The numerous book carts and assembling of shelving will be noisy. Groups should plan on working in the Learning Commons space on the second floor or anywhere on the fourth floor. If you are looking for a quiet space, we recommend the fifth floor during May and June, and the third floor in July and August. We hope to complete all of this shifting before the fall semester begins.

Congratulations to all of our graduates. We frequently get questions about what happens to library access after graduation.

We greatly improved our database search last fall. In addition to finding databases by their titles, we added the ability to search against words in their descriptions, making finding databases to use for various research topics easier when you did not know one to start with. Here's our top searched databases this academic year:

Start the survey here

The libraries are constantly seeking to improve how the Summon database works: how search results are returned and displayed, how facets can limit and focus the number of results, and how results are linked to full text. Previous feedback has directly influenced changes in all of these areas. We are seeking additional feedback to continue this progress. Please take a few minutes to complete a brief survey on how you use Summon.

Remember to turn in any items checked on on your account (library or Interlibrary Loan books, DVDs, videos, or CDs) before you leave town for the summer. Often students forget to turn in items, and then accumulate fines for overdue fees or for recalled books. Check your library account online to see if there are any library items checked out to you. Check your Interlibrary Loan account for ILL items as well.

New materials lists for items cataloged in April 2013, have been posted.

As we approach the end of the semester, you may find you still need to use books you have checked out of the Virginia Tech libraries or books you've received from other libraries through interlibrary loan that are nearing their due dates. You can renew most checked out material online; some material cannot be renewed (Popular Reading books, bound journals, and DVDs cannot be renewed, but you can bring them to the circulation desk to be checked in and out again).

The University Libraries subscribe to numerous databases that provide free webinars on using their search interfaces. These webinars can help you become a more efficient searcher or learn about new features of the database. See our list of upcoming webinars you can register for and view from the comfort of your own desk. 

VIVA, the Virtual Library of Virginia, received funds through the Virginia General Assembly for the purchase of STEM-H (scientific, technical, engineering, mathematics, and health) ebooks. Several packages from two major publishers (Springer and Elsevier) have been obtained. All ebooks published in 2013 in these packages will be added to our collection (currently that includes over 600 ebooks).

None of our ebooks require using an e-reader device like a Kindle or Nook; at a minimum these ebooks can be read through your web browser. However, using ebooks on such a device or corresponding app on an iPad or Android tablet allows using their features, including bookmarking, zooming, and adding annotations.

All of our ebook packages allow you to read their ebooks while you are online through your web browser; no special device like a Kindle is required. Downloading these ebooks so you can read them offline, however, may require additional steps on your part. Most of our ebook providers supply their ebooks as PDFs (often one PDF per chapter). You can download these PDFs just like downloading an online article. You can then keep and use the PDF forever. We purchase ebooks from these providers whenever possible. Not all ebooks work this easily.

The number of ebooks available through the Virginia Tech Libraries has increased exponentially in the last year, to over half a million. Our new E-preferred monograph acquisitions (ebook) policy means that the majority of our book purchases are the online version. The list of titles available to us as ebooks fluctuates every day; publishers' changing title lists and changing platforms means frequent updates to these lists. As a result of these frequent changes, we are no longer including records for these ebooks in Addison, the library catalog. We recommend searches for ebooks (and books and much more) begin in Summon . Summon includes records for almost all of the ebooks available to us through purchased packages, subscription packages, full-text databases, and open access/freely accessible ebooks, plus records for all of our print books, videos, and more from the library catalog. This one-stop database is the most comprehensive source of ebook (and book!) records.

Patrons needing material housed in the NVC Resource Center in Falls Church, Virginia to be delivered to one of our Blacksburg campus library branches (Newman, Art + Architecture, or Vet Med) can now use a new link in the External Links box on the Addison screen for that box. Use the "Blacksburg campus users can request this NVC item via ILLiad" link, log in to your ILLiad account, and submit the filled out form.

Mergent Intellect provides business data and reports, industry news and profiles, executive contact information, plus nationwide residential white pages search.

New materials lists for items cataloged in February 2013, have been posted.

Having material delivered to and from Newman and the Blacksburg branch libraries (Art + Architecture and Veterinary Medicine) and reporting missing material just got easier as new functionality is added to Addison's request button.

The EndNote for iPad app is now available for downloading from the iTunes store for $1. The app enables users to easily view, edit, organize, and share bibliographic research material and PDFs on iPad. Using EndNoteSync with EndNote Web and EndNote Desktop (available as a free download to Virginia Tech students, faculty, and staff) extends the power of EndNote for iPad and allows for seamless access to an EndNote reference library from multiple devices and platforms.

We now provide a selection of databases (sources of journal articles and ebooks) for Virginia Tech alumni. While most databases are licensed solely for current students and faculty, these select databases, combined with our list of free, scholarly databases and licensed databases from your public library, provide a wealth of academic, consumer, and business publications and data.

New materials lists for items cataloged in January 2013, have been posted.

ASTM Standards and Engineering Digital Library provides full-text standards and technical engineering reports in PDF covering a wide range of engineering disciples: aerospace, biomedical, chemical, civil, environmental, geological, health and safety, industrial, materials science, mechanical, nuclear, petroleum, soil science, and solar engineering. 1931-present.

The Newman Library circulation desk is now checking out device chargers and adaptors for the media:scape stations in the Learning Commons.

Mango for Libraries offers online, self-paced, conversational, language-learning courses, including over 40 foreign languages for English speakers (including ancient languages), plus 16 courses of English as a second language. Once you have created a profile on the Mango site (which will keep up with which courses you have taken and where you left off in any given course), you can also access Mango through their iOS and Android apps. A microphone is strongly suggested for some exercises.

You can now subscribe to RSS feeds of changes recorded in My Library Account. After adding the feed URL to your RSS feed reader or custom home page, you'll be notified when changes to your account occur.

We now have a guide for International students on library services and resource, particularly those that may be different from libraries in their native country. This guide complements existing guides we have for Undergraduate students and Graduate students .

Newman DVDs now checkout for five days (up from three). You can checkout up to three DVDs at a time.

Note that the library owning a copy of your textbook does not mean you can avoid purchasing your own copy. Textbooks kept on reserve will have a short check out period: two weeks or two days for most books. Textbooks in the regular collection will commonly be recalled by other students in your class, also shortening the length of time you can have an item checked out.

New materials lists for items cataloged in December 2012, have been posted.