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Syracuse University Libraries offers numerous free resources for faculty teaching and research. Access course reserves, interlibrary loan, research data services, instruction sessions, the Mower Faculty Commons, citation management tools, and subject librarians. Let us help you support students in your course(s), provide library instruction, or answer questions around your own research, demonstrating your scholarly impact or publishing your work.

Which services are frequently used by faculty?

The Libraries is committed to providing access through multiple services and resources to support the needs of SU students and faculty with disabilities. Our Alternate Format Service provides qualifying individuals with accessible versions of any materials we own, license or can procure through Request, Delivery and Interlibrary Loan. Computer workstations offer multiple assistive technologies, including JAWS, Read & Write Gold and other tools. The Joel and Barbara Zelnick Assistive Technology Room 123 on the first floor of Bird Library offers furniture, tools including Kurzweill readers and a DaVinci Pro camera and software to meet additional needs.

For additional accessibility services and resources, see the Accessibility page on our website or contact libref@syr.edu.

The Mower Faculty Commons is a 5,000 square foot space in Bird Library Room 548 that is accessible to all SU faculty. Swipe your RFID-enabled Syracuse University ID card to enter. It is available for gathering, meeting, and working independently or with colleagues across campus. There are individual workspaces, soft seating gathering areas and meeting rooms. Faculty can reserve one of three private meeting/conference rooms through a self-service room reservation system.

You can provide students with access to physical and e-books as well as electronic scans of book chapters from our collections via course reserves. You can also add reserves to Blackboard. All requests should be submitted through the Reserves system. If a request requires that we purchase an item, we will purchase the e-book version if available.

Requests for reserves for any given semester may be submitted several weeks prior to the start of the semester. Requests are generally processed in the order received, and typically are completed within 1-2 days, unless the item needs to be recalled or purchased. For additional instructions or directions on how to add academic content to Blackboard, visit the Course Reserves page.

If you need to access our resources, visit Connecting from Off Campus.

SU affiliates who reside more than 30 miles from campus may request to have items from SU Libraries’ collections shipped via UPS to their residence (Request UPS delivery of item).

To request an item be delivered to you:

  1. Find the item in our Libraries Search. Once the item is identified, select the "Item Request" button under "Get It."
  2. Users will be directed to the "Request, Delivery and Interlibrary Loan" portal. After logging in, you can select your preferred delivery method, then Submit Request. You will receive a confirmation email that your request is being processed.
  3. Once the item is available, you will receive another email with directions about picking the item from your preferred pickup location or having it delivered via UPS to your residence if more than 30 miles from campus.
Use this Link to Request, Delivery and Interlibrary Loan to:
  • Borrow research items not available in the SU Libraries from other libraries via Interlibrary Loan.
  • Request and hold physical items from SU Libraries to be picked up at your preferred SU Library location.
  • Receive electronic delivery of articles and book chapters from both Syracuse University Libraries and other libraries collections through Article to Go.
  • Have materials delivered to your faculty or graduate student academic department mailbox on campus.
Delivery Sign Up:

Email delivery@syr.edu with the subject “Library to Go” to register.  Please include your name, status and department.

Submit a Request:
  1. Libraries Search to locate the desired item.
  2. If the item has a status of Available, click the Request Delivery.
  3. Log in using your SU NetID and password.
  4. All information is automatically imported. Add notes or additional information if needed.
  5. Click Submit Request.

Faculty and graduate students who had items delivered to your academic department mailbox on campus can request that those items be picked-up using Pick up request form.

Articles-to-Go provides electronic delivery of articles and book chapters scanned from the Libraries’ print periodical, microfilm/fiche and book collections. Most articles will be delivered within two business days. Requests can be placed logging in to Request, Delivery and Interlibrary Loan.

Yes, the Libraries provides information on digital scholarship methods, authors’ rights, Syracuse University’s institutional repository (SURFACE), open access publishing, authors' rights, and assistance with publication agreements. Contact dosteam@syr.edu.

The Libraries' Research Impact team supports searching for funding opportunities, measuring research outputs and employing strategies to bolster the research reputation of faculty and the University. This includes:

  • Assistance with creating research profiles, such as Google Scholar Citations and ORCID.
  • Customizing reports in support of tenure and promotion, including counts of article and book citations, author metrics, journal and publication metrics, non-traditional metrics and more.
  • Supporting a Research Metrics Challenge to help you get ahead on documenting and disseminating your research.

For more information, see Advanced Research and Publishing or contact your librarian.

We provide Citation Guides for the more frequently used citation styles, including APA, MLA, Chicago or CSE. We recommend the following citation management tools: Zotero, Mendeley and Endnote. Turnitin is a plagiarism checker available in Blackboard.

We have resources to help you navigate complicated and important copyright issues. View our Research Guide for information on Copyright, or email cipa@syr.edu.

Libraries' staff are available to provide instruction either in-person or virtually, on library resources and services, online research databases, the research process and subject-specific collections and research skills. Instruction is delivered by a diverse team of librarians who teach in a multitude of spaces, employ a variety of pedagogical approaches, and reach a wide range of student populations. Depending on your course goals, instruction can take place in several modalities. See our Instructional Services page for complete information.

Use the Instruction Request Form to request instruction.

The Libraries support research and learning across multiple disciplines involving quantitative, qualitative, business, and spatial data. We can collaborate with and advise you across the entire research lifecycle, including identifying, acquiring, collecting, managing, using, analyzing, and curating research data, including access to the analysis software tools and resources. Assistance writing Data Management Plans is also available to comply with funder requirements. For more information, see Research Data Services.

Get help finding data to analyze for student and faculty research, data management and analysis, use of statistical software (especially SAS, Stata and SPSS), and advice on research methods, study design and statistics. We also provide Qualtrics training. For more information, see the Numeric Data Resources Guide.

SURFACE is the university's digital institutional repository, a free, open access resource providing long-term preservation to a broad range of content. SURFACE publishing options are open to all SU-affiliated faculty, staff or students as a service of Syracuse University Libraries. Sharing your work on SURFACE helps build a more equitable and sustainable information ecosystem through the free and open sharing of scholarship. For questions or support, email surface@syr.edu.

Syracuse University Libraries collects video content to support the teaching, research and creative needs of the campus community in both streaming and physical formats. See the video guide for more information on searching, reserving, and use.

SCRC holds extensive historical and archival resources in a wide variety of formats. Custom-designed instruction sessions can introduce undergraduate and graduate students to methodologies of original research using primary resource materials. Our state-of-the-art Lemke seminar room is available for use by faculty members who wish to present SCRC collection materials that relate to a particular class lecture to their students.

Faculty Fellows Research Grant

Faculty members from departments and programs across the University have the opportunity to develop undergraduate and graduate courses around the diverse and unique holdings of the Special Collections Research Center. The Libraries offers an annual Faculty Fellows Research Grant to support innovative curriculum development and foster new ideas about how to transform the role of special collections in university instruction. Each fellow receives a $5,000 fellowship payment, a hands-on introduction to the collections and ongoing class support. Applications typically open at the end of the spring semester for the following summer.

Belfer Audio Archive and Preservation Laboratory

Instruction sessions can utilize sound recordings, sound playback equipment and other materials from SCRC's collection of the history of recorded sound into tours of the facility or sessions that include a more in-depth look at select topics relating to the individual course.

Alexander N. Charters Adult Education Grants-in-Aid

The Alexander N. Charters Library for Educators of Adults, or the Charters Collection, consists of historical documents, including manuscript, print, visual and media materials related to adult education. Through the generosity of Dr. Charters, we are also able to offer annual grants to one or more scholars or practitioners wishing to do research in our adult education collections.  Applications for the Charters Grant typically opens at the end of the spring semester.

Schedule a Session or More Information

To schedule a session, please complete our online request form with at least three weeks notice.

For information on SCRC’s collections or access, contact scrc@syr.edu.

Visiting Scholars are formally associated with an SU department and should work with their sponsoring department to be assigned an SU ID for a defined period. Once an ID has been granted, apply for library privileges by completing and submitting a Visiting Scholar Access Form. Visiting Scholars are granted the following library privileges:

  • Books can be borrowed for up to 1 year
  • Compact Discs can be borrowed for up to 21 days
  • Videos/DVDs and Games can be borrowed for up to 3 days
  • Remote Access to Online Resources
  • Interlibrary Loan
  • Library Computer Use
Interlibrary Loan

If you need something outside of our collections, whether books, articles, DVDs, CDs or other items, Interlibrary Loan staff will obtain needed materials from other institutions. Request, Delivery and Interlibrary Loan provides both electronic and physical items from other libraries with no charge to you.

OCLC Reciprocal Faculty Borrowing Program

For information on how to gain access to other libraries, email circhelp@syr.edu to facilitate establishing the credentials needed.

SHARES

Syracuse University affiliates can gain on-site access to collections at other participating institutions, including many research libraries, museum libraries and archives in the United States and several other countries. When visiting other SHARES partner libraries, you must present a valid Syracuse University ID to get on-site access. Participating partner institutions can be found on the SHARES website. If you have questions about this program, contact Syracuse University Libraries' Resource Sharing Coordinator.

In addition to accessing any of the SHARES Partner Institutions, a small number of SHARES libraries offer the opportunity to create a library account and check out materials. Partners in the pilot program are: Binghamton University; Brandeis University; Cornell University; Northwestern University; Syracuse University; Temple University; University of California, Los Angeles; University of Maryland; and Washington University in St. Louis. Complete and submit the SHARES application online.