Library and Information Services
Library and Information Services (LIS) is a partner in the provision and use of information resources and technology at Wheaton College. Its operations touch all areas of campus life, including the resources and services of the Madeleine Clark Wallace Library. A primary LIS goal is to meet diverse information and technology needs for learning and teaching as well as fostering a community of self-sufficient, lifelong learners.
Within the First-Year Seminar, librarians teach basic information-access skills, strategies for effective research and methods for critical evaluation of information. LIS technologists conduct orientations (e.g., connecting to and navigating the Wheaton wireless network and file services, assistance in maintaining and repairing computers, consulting and training students who may benefit from the use of assistive technologies, and so on) upon request. In addition, librarians and academic technology specialists collaborate with Wheaton faculty to incorporate discipline-specific research and technology skills into course work beyond the first year, with the intent that students develop these critical skills by the time they graduate. Students may schedule consultations with subject specialist librarians and academic technologists for in-depth research assistance.
Madeleine Clark Wallace Library. The Madeleine Clark Wallace Library is the intellectual hub of the Wheaton campus. The library’s facilities, resources and services are central to and support the educational mission of the college. LIS staff are readily available to assist students with research or use of the library facilities.
The library’s collections are carefully selected to support undergraduate research at Wheaton. They include over 375,000 volumes, approximately 475 newspapers and periodicals in print, thousands of audio and video recordings, microforms and many unique and historic items in Archives and Special Collections. The rapidly expanding collections of electronic resources, including more than 36,000 electronic journals, numerous research databases, historic primary source material, e-books, encyclopedias and electronic reserve course readings are available are available, on campus via the Web, 24 hours a day. Off-campus access to these resources is available to authorized Wheaton users.
Wheaton is a member of the HELIN (Higher Education Library and Information Network) Consortium, a group of colleges, universities and health sciences libraries in Rhode Island plus Wheaton. The HELIN catalog is a shared catalog used to locate and request materials in these libraries, including Brown University via the InRhode link. Wheaton’s HELIN membership provides ready access to well over 3 million volumes. Through other cooperative borrowing and lending agreements with libraries worldwide, the Madeleine Clark Wallace Library assists students who need materials not available in local or HELIN collections.
The library provides public computing and printing facilities, opportunity to borrow laptop computers on short-term loan, as well as both wired and wireless access for laptop users throughout the building. The library's public computers offer productivity software, specialized academic software and assistive technology applications. Listening and viewing facilities for multimedia materials are also available. Collaborative workrooms, group study spaces, individual carrels, study tables and comfortable seating arrangements are located throughout the building.
Academic computing. LIS maintains various computer labs across the campus that include areas for students to access productivity software and public printing, as well as subject-specific technology in areas such as graphic design and photography, foreign languages, psychology, physics, astronomy, biology and geographical information systems (GIS). Many classrooms on campus have instructional technology installations (computer, projector and other equipment) designed by faculty and Media Services specialists to meet specific teaching requirements.