Department Guide

Acquisitions	Circulation	Serials
Administrative Coordinator	College Librarian	Systems
Archives/Special Collections	Interlibrary Loan
Cataloging	Research and Instruction

Acquisitions

The Acquisitions Department is responsible for ordering materials for the Library's collections. These include books, videos, CDs, and some electronic resources. This department is also responsible for the receipt of gifts to the Library. Faculty, students, and staff are welcome to visit this department in the Technical Services area of the Library, located on the Periodicals level.

Administrative Coordinator's Office

The Library student employment program is coordinated and managed through this office. Purchasing responsibilities for Library supplies, as well as budgetary responsibilities are also integral parts of this office.

Archives and Special Collections

The archival collections contain administrative records of Wheaton Female Seminary and Wheaton College; College publications; photographs, scrapbooks, and other memorabilia; audio and video tapes of Wheaton events; materials related to student organizations and academic pursuits; and the records of the Alumnae/i Association.

There are seven special book collections: Wheaton Collection, Senior Honors Theses, Historical Collection on Women, Smart Collection, Children's Collection, Restricted Collection, and Larcom Collection. Particular strengths of the special collections include the art of printing and binding, children's literature, travel, and women, families and gender issues. The collections are non-circulating and are housed in closed stacks. The Seminary Library Collection is shelved in the College Librarians Office.

Manuscript special collections include papers of the Wheaton family; Wheaton Presidents Samuel V. Cole and J. Edgar park; a number of alumnae and faculty, including Lucy Larcom; and a growing number of diaries and letters of individuals and families not related to Wheaton.

Cataloging

The Cataloging Department provides a bibliographic record for all books, videos, etc. that are acquired by the Library. It prepares all material for circulation by labeling and bar-coding, and sends out hold/notify cards to requesting patrons.

Circulation

The Circulation Desk is where patrons check library materials out, search books, renew books, place holds on materials, pick up items being held for them, pick up interlibrary loan materials, place items on reserve, and check out reserve items. Videos/CDs/interactive media are kept in the Circulation Office. In addition, Circulation is where Lost & Found is located. Any questions from off campus borrowers regarding a library card should be directed to Circulation. Also, questions that arise regarding overdue books or charges should also be referred to Circulation.

College Librarian's Office

The College Librarian provides leadership, oversees all programs, collections, administrative and operational aspects of the Library while supporting the academic mission of the College.

Interlibrary Loan

The Interlibrary Loan Office arranges to borrow materials not owned by Wheaton from other libraries upon request for Wheaton faculty, staff, and student research. Requests can be sent electronically via the Order Request Form link available on the Wheaton Library homepage. Materials that have come in are picked up at the Circulation Desk and should be returned to the Circulation desk by the due date.

Research and Instruction

The Research and Instruction Librarians support and instruct all members of the Wheaton community in locating and using information resources. They can help a patron to: prepare a search strategy for research topics, to search for information using online databases including HELIN and the World Wide Web; to think critically about information discovered; and to find factual information in the Reference Collection.

Serials

The Serials Department is responsible for the Periodical, Newspapers, Microfilm and Microfiche collections.

On the Periodicals Level of the Wallace Library (1990+): This includes all current periodicals and issues starting with 1990, as well as Newspapers (current and back-files).

On the Periodicals mezzanine in closed and locked storage (19 century): Materials may be requested for retrieval.

Microform Room: This room is where all film and fiche are kept for titles that the Library owns.

Underground Stacks [^] compact shelving (1900-1989): The periodical collection is in 30 double sided aisles. The last two aisles of this collection are for oversize periodicals.

Systems

The Library Systems department oversees management, training and support for many areas of technology throughout the Library. Library systems staff administrate the Innovative Interfaces integrated library system, support specialized library applications, coordinate web development and oversee public and instructional computing facilities in the Library.

This page is maintained by Joanne Yauger-Amin. Last updated on 1/30/07.
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