Below are answers to some questions that are frequently asked by students at Lafayette. If your question isn’t answered here, please contact a librarian at 610-330-5155 or refdesk@lafayette.edu.
Skillman Library is open 24/7 the last week of classes and the week of final exams. A current Lafayette ID is required to be in the Library between the hours of 1:00 AM and 7:30 AM. More about 24 hour access>>
Students may borrow books for a full academic year. New browisng books may be borrowed for a semester. DVDs circulate for a week.
Yes. You may login through the Library Catalog to renew the materials you have checked out from Skillman and Kirby. Click on “Institutional login” and once logged in using your NetID and password, choose “Checked Out Items” on the right side of the page to view and renew your materials. Note that you will not be able to renew an item if someone else has placed a hold on it, if you have already reached the renewal limit for the item or if it’s too soon to renew it. To renew materials borrowed via interlibrary loan, log on to the interlibrary loan system and select the option to “View/Renew checked out items” in the right-hand column.
The fastest way to obtain an item that is checked out is by requesting a copy from another library using interlibrary loan. If you are unable to obtain an item via interlibrary loan, you may have the item recalled by sending an email request to circ@lafayette.edu. The person who has the book will be asked to return it, and you will be notified when it is back in the library.
With a valid Lafayette ID, students may borrow materials in person from any member library in the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges (Cedar Crest, DeSales, Lehigh, Moravian, and Muhlenberg).
Items with Dewey call numbers (those that begin with numbers) are on the lower level. Items with
LC call numbers (those that begin with letters) are on all three floors as follows:
More information, including a map, can be found on Skillman’s call numbers and locations page.
Skillman Library uses both the Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress (LC) classifications to assign call numbers to materials, so books on a certain subject might be in two different locations, with newer titles having LC call numbers and older titles having Dewey numbers. Consult our page on call numbers for a guide to which call numbers match up with which subject areas or try a search in the Library Catalog to find the call number areas where most of the books on your topic are located.
Skillman doesn’t have a fiction section per se. Works of fiction are interfiled with books of literary criticism. If you’re searching for a particular novel or works by a particular author, try a title search or author search in the Library Catalog. If you’d like to browse the shelves for some recent works of fiction, try looking in our Browsing Collection (on the main floor, in the current periodicals room) in the PR and PS call number ranges.
Digital still cameras, digital video camcorders, projectors, microphones, external hard drives, and headphones may be borrowed at the Skillman Circulation Desk. Loan periods for the equipment range from two hours to two days.
Yes, we have ebooks from a number of publishers and vendors. Information about our ebooks is in the Library Catalog. If you would like to search across a general collection of academic ebooks, try one of the options listed on our Ebooks research tools page.
Yes. To log in to subscription resources from off campus, connect to the resource using a link from the Library’s web site or catalog, then log in with your Network ID and password (the same credentials you use for email). More about off campus access>>
To see Full Text Finder when you’re using Google Scholar off campus, configure your “Library Links” preferences for Lafayette College. More about configuring Google Scholar>>
No. The Printing and Copy Services in the basement of Marquis Hall has a fax machine that students may use for a small fee. Several web sites allow you to send faxes for free; some allow you to receive them too (via email); and some offer tiered free/fee services. Free sending is available through faxZERO. A Google search for free fax turns up several other possibilities.
Yes. Since the 2021-2022 academic year, honors theses have been archived in the Lafayette Digital Repository. You can see the full text of some honors theses there.
Older honors theses are kept in Special Collections and College Archives on the second floor of Skillman Library. Information about these theses is available in the Library Catalog. Search by author or title and use the “Location” feature to limit to Special Collections, or, for a list of theses written in a certain department, perform a keyword search for Lafayette and thesis and [department name], e.g. Lafayette and thesis and chemistry.
The time it takes for ILL materials to arrive varies with the difficulty of the request, the proximity of the lending library, and the material type. Book requests that can be filled from Lehigh Valley schools arrive in several working days, while more involved requests can take several weeks. Journal articles are typically delivered within a day or two, but that can vary as well. Keep in mind that requests submitted Friday through Sunday most likely won’t get processed until Monday, which will add to the time it takes to obtain the materials.
To renew materials borrowed via interlibrary loan, log on to the interlibrary loan system and select the option to “View/Renew checked out items” in the right-hand column.
See Student Jobs in the Lafayette College Libraries for information and a link to the application form.
Some electronic indexes, like Academic Search Premier, contain many full-text articles. Others, such as EconLit and PsycInfo, only contain citations and/or abstracts. However, the Lafayette Libraries may still have access to the full-text article, either electronically or in print. When using an electronic index, click the Full Text Finder button (usually near the top or bottom of the screen) to determine whether the article you want is available through Lafayette.
No. First, you want to confirm whether the Lafayette Libraries subscribe to the journal in which your article is published. Our subscriptions are available to you at no cost. Do a journal title search in the Library Catalog to see whether we subscribe to the journal and for which years. If we don’t subscribe or we don’t subscribe to the year that you need, place an Interlibrary Loan request at no charge.
There are PC and Mac laptops available for use in Skillman and PC laptops in Kirby Libraries. All have wireless capabilities and are configured to print. To borrow a laptop, present your Lafayette ID at the Circulation Desk. The loan period for all laptops is three hours. Laptops are for use inside the libraries only.
If you forget to return a book, the circulation department will send you email reminders. There are no longer any fines for any items. However, we ask that you return items as soon as you are finished to ensure equitable access. Once an item is more than 28 days overdue you will receive a bill for the lost item.
Skillman Library subscribes to daily, weekly, and monthly newspapers in several languages. These are found in the current periodicals room on the main floor of the Library. Most newspapers are kept for one month before they are discarded. Newspapers available online can be found by looking at our newspapers research tools page or doing a journal title search in the Library Catalog to see whether we have access to the newspaper and for which years.
The Library partners with Student Government to provide “academic passes” for unlimited electronic access to the content on NYTimes.com. Visit NYTimes.com/passes and use your Lafayette email address to create an account and/or log on. Enter your expected year of graduation and you’ll have access through December of that year.
The Library also provides access to the New York Times via Global Newsstream and the New York Times historical backfile.
If you’ve forgotten your password and have registered an alternate email with the college, you can reset your password using the Network ID Password Change Utility. If you’ve never registered an alternate email, contact the ITS help desk at 610-330-5506 for assistance resetting your password.
You may practice presentations in Skillman 003 and 004, which are equipped with the same control panels and software found in the electronic classrooms on campus. Simply connect a laptop to the projection equipment using the connector available in the room. (The connector in the room requires that your laptop have a VGA port. If you’re using a Mac laptop without a VGA port, you may borrow a special connector from the Skillman circulation desk; note that this connector works with some MacBooks only.) If you need a laptop, you may borrow one at the circulation desk.
The rooms are available on a walk-in basis only. Reservations are not accepted.
Printing is currently free. In order to keep printing free, Library printers should not be used to make multiple copies of fliers, handouts, posters, etc. Such copies can be made at Printing and Copy Services in the basement of Marquis Hall.
Yes. All printing in Skillman defaults to duplex. If you need to print single-sided, see the instructions near the printers or ask for help.
No—doing so messes things up for other people trying to print. The Printing and Copy Services in the basement of Marquis Hall will print materials onto special paper (either your own or stock that you buy from them) for $.05 per page.
Yes. Simply go to https://printing.lafayette.edu, select WebPrint, and follow the steps on the screen. For more detailed instructions, see https://help.lafayette.edu/webprint/
No. Printing and Copy Services in Marquis can print documents in color. Submission forms and price guides are available at https://printcopy.lafayette.edu/printing/.
Poster printers are available in three departments: civil engineering (prints 36 inches; contact Becky Rosenbauer), psychology (prints 44 inches; contact Yvonne Osmun), and geology (48 inches; contact John Wilson).
Items being processed are physically in the Library but are waiting for call numbers and other details to be assigned. If you need an item that is being processed, it can usually be obtained within 24 hours. Fill out the online form that is linked from the item’s record in the Catalog or ask at the Research Help Desk.
Yes, Skillman has three projectors that may be borrowed from the Circulation Desk for 48 hours. They may not be reserved in advance.
Faculty members sometimes put course readings, solutions to problem sets, DVDs, and other materials on reserve at Skillman or Kirby Libraries. To obtain these reserve materials, use the Course Reserves options in the Library Catalog to obtain the call number, then present the call number and your Lafayette ID at the Circulation Desk. Reserves normally may be borrowed for two hours. Most items are available for overnight loan beginning one hour before the closing of the Library and due back a half hour after the Library opens the following day.
Yes you can click on the Reserve a Study Room link on the library website to book a space. Rooms can be reserved in half hour increments for a maximum of 3 hours per day, per user. Reservations may be made up to three days in advance. Vacant study rooms may be used on a first come first served basis but you may be asked to leave if someone with a reservation arrives.
There’s an easy-to-use scanner in Skillman 134 (to the left as you walk in the building). Scanners are also attached to the computers in the Itech Studio (outside the Learning and Research Technologies offices), PCs at the north end of the Reference Studio, and the Macs on the lower level.
For a complete list of software available on campus, consult ITS’ app catalog.
Yes, Skillman Library has a copy on the shelves behind the Reference Desk and several copies of various editions upstairs in the circulating collection. The call number for all copies is PE1112 .L86.
Items with the location “Storage” are in locked area in Skillman (usually because they are old or used infrequently). They can be retrieved for immediate use by requesting them at the Skillman Circulation Desk.
The Lafayette Libraries do not own the textbooks for every class taught on campus. To see whether we have the specific textbook that you are looking for, do a title search in the Library Catalog for the name of the textbook. (If you don’t know the title or author of your course text, check the Find Your Textbooks tool on the College Store’s web site.)
You may use any of the PCs or Macs in the Library to watch a DVD. Headphones and external DVD drives may be borrowed at the Circulation Desk.
There are TV/VCR units on the lower level of the Library outside of room 006. Headphones for use with these units may be borrowed at the Circulation Desk.
For details on connecting, see How to Connect to the Network on the ITS Website.