Con­grat­u­la­tions, you’ve made it through the year! Here are some answers to some fre­quently asked questions:

I’m going on vaca­tion for a few weeks or months. Any­thing I should know or do before I go?

Don’t for­get to:

• RETURN your library books to any UW library or RENEW them online.
• Pay your library FINES online.
• Stay con­nected to UW Libraries research data­bases from Ren­ton to Rome by log­ging in from OFF-CAMPUS ACCESS.
• Keep up on the lat­est research in your field with RSS ALERTS.

Can I bor­row stuff over the sum­mer if I’m not enrolled in classes?

• YES! Check Your Library Account for the expi­ra­tion date (under your name and con­tact info). If you con­tinue tak­ing classes in the fall, it will get updated.

Now that I’m done with classes, I’m look­ing for some­thing fun to read or watch. Any suggestions?

• There are thou­sands of DVDs at the Libraries Media Cen­ter, includ­ing fea­ture films and your favorite tv shows, which can be checked out for 7 days.
• The Good Reads Col­lec­tion has pop­u­lar fic­tion and non-fiction. It’s a great way to find some good sum­mer read­ing! We also have an audio­book col­lec­tion and a study abroad col­lec­tion . Per­fect for your sum­mer trip!

Can I still bor­row stuff after I’ve graduated?

• YES! Make a gift to the Libraries of $100 and get a borrower’s card* from Library Account Ser­vices (bring your let­ter of acknowl­edg­ment with you, or make your gift in Library Account Services).
• YES! Alumni Asso­ci­a­tion mem­bers (and new grads get a spe­cial deal!) can get a borrower’s card* from Library Account Ser­vices (bring your UWAA card with you).
• All vis­i­tors to the Libraries can also use our mate­ri­als and data­bases on campus.

*bor­row­ing priv­i­leges do not include the Gal­lagher Law Library or the Miller Hor­ti­cul­ture Library

I’m grad­u­at­ing and leav­ing UW. Can I take my Ref­Works cita­tions with me?

UW pro­vides access to Ref­Works for all cam­pus users, but not for grad­u­ates. If you are leav­ing UW, there are sev­eral ways you can retain access to your citations:

• If you are going to con­tinue using Ref­Works at another insti­tu­tion or through an indi­vid­ual sub­scrip­tion, you can use Ref­Works’ Backup/Restore fea­ture to back up your data­base and move it to your new account.
• If you will not con­tinue to have access to Ref­Works or will be switch­ing to another cita­tion man­ager such as End­Note or Ref­er­ence Man­ager, you should use the Export fea­ture of RefWorks.

1913 Cam­pus Day show­ing lunch tables near Denny Hall, Uni­ver­sity of Wash­ing­ton; Uni­ver­sity of Wash­ing­ton Libraries. Spe­cial Col­lec­tions Division.

In late June, the Uni­ver­sity Libraries home page will fea­ture a new uni­fied search system.

Stu­dents, fac­ulty and staff will be able to find and request books, jour­nal arti­cles and media of all for­mats – all the mate­ri­als they cur­rently search for through mul­ti­ple searches on the UW Libraries home page – com­bined in a sin­gle search.

Cur­rently, users may be fil­ter­ing their searches by loca­tion or for­mat, or search­ing via the UW-only cat­a­log. With the new Libraries Search, mate­ri­als in a spe­cific library or at another cam­pus will be eas­ily iden­ti­fi­able and other search refine­ments can be made after the ini­tial search results are returned.

“We’re excited to be one of the first insti­tu­tions devel­op­ing and imple­ment­ing this new and pow­er­ful plat­form,” said Liz­a­beth Wil­son, dean of Uni­ver­sity Libraries. “By shar­ing one sys­tem, we’ll improve the research expe­ri­ence for and save the time of our stu­dents and fac­ulty by sur­fac­ing rel­e­vant mate­ri­als, and show­ing real-time availability.”

Wil­son said she expects a smooth tran­si­tion to the new search sys­tem. “In fact, many users won’t change how they search, but they’ll get more rel­e­vant results faster when they search.”

The new search will extend to the UW’s 36 part­ners in the Orbis Cas­cade Alliance – aca­d­e­mic libraries through­out Wash­ing­ton, Ore­gon and Idaho. Fac­ulty, staff, and stu­dents will have imme­di­ate access to the entire shared collection.

What fac­ulty and staff need to know and do:

• Pend­ing holds may not trans­fer to the new sys­tem. UW Libraries rec­om­mends users note the items they are wait­ing for and request them again in the new system.
• WorldCat.org accounts will work and users will be able to access saved lists from the WorldCat.org web­site in the new sys­tem, but they will no longer be able to con­nect to UW-restricted resources from a World­Cat account. Also, World­Cat lists can be saved or moved (learn more online).
• Users’ exist­ing “pre­ferred search” email alerts will cease. The new sys­tem will have a sim­i­lar fea­ture, but you’ll need to set it up sep­a­rately.  Pre­ferred searches won’t trans­fer auto­mat­i­cally to the new system.

Library staff mem­bers are avail­able to answer ques­tions and help users locate resources, either in per­son, via chat or email or by phone.

Mean­while, intense behind-the-scenes migra­tion of data­bases and infor­ma­tion is tak­ing place as the libraries pre­pare for the pro­jected “go live” date of June 24. More infor­ma­tion is available