Subject librarians work with each department and discipline to assist you and your students with research projects/papers, provide research instruction, and obtain needed resources for the collection. They also select materials to achieve a balanced collection and coordinate the resource development of the library as a whole. Subject librarians can answer questions you may have about available library resources and services.
Each department or program has a designated faculty member serving as a library liaison with responsibility for providing the first point of contact for any library-related questions or services. The liaison also forwards recommendations for the library collection to your subject librarian, who approves and submits orders to the library acquisitions department. Some departments review, discuss, and prioritize requests before submitting to their subject librarian. Your department chair will be able to provide the name and contact information of your department’s library liaison.
With current budget constraints, the library will do everything possible to obtain the resources you request, but we may ask you to consider alternative resources that are either already available, or have a lower cost to obtain. For materials related to your research, you can request materials from other IU libraries by checking IUCAT (iucat.iu.edu) and using Request Delivery. You may also use our interlibrary loan service to request any item not readily available (https://iusb.illiad.oclc.org/illiad/logon.html).
New subscriptions to journals or databases are currently on hold as we work to identify resources to cancel, given the limited funds for library resources.
Once an item is ordered, it can take time to become available for checkout. Should you need library resources (films, books, and other materials) to support classroom instruction/student research, please notify your subject librarian as soon as possible. If we know you are planning to use the resource in a class, we can work to expedite the order and processing to make it available within your timeframe.
Questions? Please contact: Susan Thomas, Dean of IU South Bend Libraries, suethoma@iusb.edu, (574) 520-5500.
Last reviewed: 06/2023
