Facts and Figures

• We are the 2nd largest branch library at the U of S
• We opened in 1970
• We serve the Colleges of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Pharmacy and Nutrition, Kinesiology, and the School of Physical Therapy
• We subscribe to over 300 current print journals and over 5000 electronic journals, and have over 48,000 books
• We house 2 special collections: the Brodie History of Medicine (currently in storage), and the Baltzan Medical Canadiana
• We provide access to 16 Learning Commons computers, 4 Mac computers, 3 public access computers, a scanner, both a black and white and a colour printer, 9 open network lines and access to the U of S wireless network

Phone and fax numbers, address

Health Science Library
107 Wiggins Road, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E5
Telephone: (306) 966-5991 Facsimile: (306) 966-5918

Pay Phones

• Pay phones are not available in the library - you must go down to the 1st floor in the Health Sciences Building
• Phone pages may be answered using the phone at the circulation desk

Borrowing Materials

Who may borrow from the Health Sciences Library?

• All currently registered students, faculty, and staff at the University of Saskatchewan can borrow material from any branch of the University of Saskatchewan Library
• Alumni from the U of S may purchase a card for $35.00 per year which allows borrowing of books and journals, but not access to university owned electronic resources, such as databases and journals. Alumni can contact the library to purchase a card
• External borrowers are persons not affiliated with the U of S and may purchase a borrower's card at the cost $150.00 per year. This allows borrowing of books and journals, but not access to university owned electronic resources, such as databases and journals. External borrowers can contact the library to purchase a card

If I forget my card, can I just give my student number?

• Unfortunately not. Your library card contains all the information necessary to borrow materials. Other forms of identification lack important information the library needs and will not be accepted!

Is there a limit on the number of books I can take out?

• Undergrads, graduate students, and faculty can borrow up to 150 items. If you do not fall within one of these categories, please inquire at the circulation desk (966-5991) for further information.

Are there fines for returning material late? YES!

• Books are $1.00 per day to a maximum of $25.00 per item
• Book loan period is 3 weeks and 2 renewals are permitted if no holds are placed on the item
• You are guaranteed a loan period of 7 days, after which the item is subject to recalls by other patrons. Overdue recalled books are fined $2.00 per day to a maximum of $50.00 per item
• Journals are $1.00 per day to a maximum of $25.00 per item
• Journal loan period is 3 days and renewals are not permitted
• There are no extended loan privileges available at the Health Sciences Library

How do I renew books?

• In Person: it is not necessary to bring books to the library to renew them. They can be renewed by you on our website: Renew your Books. Please do not call the library to renew books
  NOTE: Renewed books will be due 3 weeks from the date that you renew them. For example, if your sign out books on January 2 with a due date of January 23 and you renew them on January 9, the new due date will be January 30. To ensure you get the maximum renewal time, it is best to do the online renewal as close to the due date as possible and always check the current date due so fines do not incur.


• How often can I renew books?
  2 renewals are permitted if no holds are placed on the books.

Can I recommend a book for the library to purchase?

• Certainly! Use our online form to send us suggestions.

The catalogue says that the book (or journal) is on the shelf, but it's not. Where would it be?

• Items may be behind the circulation desk waiting for reshelving, being used by someone in the library, being repaired, being photocopied, or just plain lost! Or maybe it's in another branch location
• Please ask at the circulation desk if you can not find an item

Returning Material

Do I have to return material to the same library it was signed out from?

• Material can be returned to any library, with the exception of reserve material. Return reserve material to the library it was signed out from.

Lost Material

What happens if I lose Library material?

• When you sign out library material, you are responsible for its safe return. If the material is lost, you will be charged the replacement cost of the item, plus a $30.00 processing fee.

Reserve Material

My professor said that he/she put material "on reserve". What does that mean?

• This is usually required reading for the class. It is held behind the Circulation Desk, and can be signed out for a short time, ranging from 2 hours to a day. You need to have a call number for staff to retrieve reserve materials for you. Look it up from the Catalogue.

Can I take reserve material out overnight?

• Most books on reserve may be signed out over night after 4:30 P.M. They are due the next morning one hour after the Library opens. However there are some exceptions! Please inquire at the circulation desk for more information.

Can I take reserve material out of the library?

• Some materials can leave the Library to be photocopied. Let staff know if you'd like to take it out of the library

Photocopying

Where are the photocopiers?

• Photocopiers are located on the main level of the library, in the right back corner of the current journals area

  How do I add money to my printing account?

• Money can be added to print accounts at the circulation desk. Cash, interac and credit cards are accepted. A $2.00 minimum is required for interac and a $5.00 minimum is required for credit card purchase.

Where can I buy a photocopy card?

• Cards can be purchased in Room B18, which is Medical Stores, located on the ground floor of the Health Sciences Building. Open Mon.-Fri. 8 AM to 4:30 PM. They can also be purchased at the USSU Information Centre on the main level in Place Riel.

How much do they cost?

• Several size cards are available: 35 copies for $6.00, 115 copies for $18.00, 300 copies for $45.75. All cards include a $1.00 deposit and taxes. One machine in the Health Sciences Library will add value to your card but it accepts only change! NO BILLS.
  
  Can I use change at the photocopier?

• Yes you can. Health Sciences has one coin operated machine that accepts nickels, dimes, quarters, loonies, toonies!

Where can I get change?

• Change is not provided in the Health Sciences Library. The Copy Center Desk in the Main Library will provide change for copying purposes.

Can I use my copy card from another university?

• No, cards from other institutions will not work and often jam up our card readers!

Can I make overheads in the photocopiers?

• No, they melt! The Copy Centre (B18) on the ground floor can make overheads for you

Computer Facilities

What is an NSID?

• NSID stands for "Network Services ID" and consists of a username and password that provides access to most network-based services on campus including e-mail, software, protected webpages, and storage space for your own documents.
• NSID's are available only to faculty, staff and students of the U of S and can be obtained from the Help Centre in Room 70 Arts Building, or at the IT Help Desk in the Health Sciences Library or Main Library in the Murray Building

Where is the computer lab?

• If all library computer terminals are in use, there is a computer lab with 24 PC's located in room A203 in the Health Sciences Building.

Can I install my software/CD on a library computer?

• Unfortunately, not. However there is a piece of software on the Learning Commons machines called Videolan which allows you to open most cd's or dvd's.
  
• Can I download information from the Internet on to my own disc?

• You can only do this on a Learning Commons Machine by downloading to a disc, a CD, DVD, your V drive or memory stick

Can I use wireless technology in the library?

• A wireless environment enables you to access the University network (email, mainframe applications, shared folders, printers, etc.) and the Internet in a high speed, secure environment without the need for wires and cables. Wireless access is available in all the libraries: Education , Engineering, Health Sciences (2nd and 3rd floors), Law , Main (1st, 2nd, and 5th floors), Natural Sciences , and Veterinary Medicine .

  Wireless cards and installation CDs are available for 3 day loan at the Reserve Desks in the Main, Education, Health Sciences and Natural Sciences libraries

  • Staff at the Student Computing Help Desks in the Main and Health Sciences Libraries can assist with installation.
  • Overdue fines are $1.00 per hour.

Journals

What is a journal? Isn't it the same as a magazine?

• A journal is a publication containing scholarly articles written by authorities or experts in a particular field. It is published on a regular basis. An example would be the "Western Journal of Nursing Research"
• Magazines are intended for the general public rather than scholars. An example would be "People" magazine.

Can I find journal articles in the Library Catalogue?

• No. All you can find, is whether or not we subscribe to a particular journal. To find journal articles, you must select and search a database

What journals does the Health Sciences Library currently receive?

• You can use the Catalogue to find out whether we subscribe to a journal (print or online). Change the Search box menu from "Word" to "Title" and change "Entire Collection" to "All Journal Titles". Then type in the name of the journal you are interested in.

Can all journals be borrowed?

• Journals can be borrowed for 3 days except for Nursing journals which never leave the library because of high demand. Journals cannot be renewed and fines for late returns are $1.00 per day

Do I need a call number to find journals in the Health Sciences Library?

• No, Health Sciences journals are arranged alphabetically by their title such as "Archives of Internal Medicine" would be found under "A" for "Archives"
• Every word in a title counts in the alphabetical sequence, for example within the title "Journal of the American Geriatric Association", the words "of" and "the" count in the alphabetical sequence
• Sometimes locating a certain journal or a certain volume can be confusing. Please inquire at the circulation desk if you can't find something you are looking forward. We are more than happy to help you out!

How do I find a journal when the name of the journal is actually an abbreviation, such as JAMA or BMJ?

• Pretend that the abbreviation is actually a word, and look for it in alphabetical order

My journal title seems to be abbreviated. How do I find out what it stands for?

• You can check your abbreviation at Pubmed's Journal Database
• To check journal titles in our library catalogue, you must enter the full title and not just the abbreviation!

What does it mean when the catalogue says the journal is in storage?

• Some older volumes of journals and the Brodie Collection are kept in another location because we've run out of room!
• Because this storage area is closed to the public, you can place a hold on an item from the catalogue. At the present, we retrieve volumes once a day and once your hold is ready for pickup you will be informed.

How can I tell which journals are "peer reviewed"?

• This can be tricky! Some databases such as ABI/Inform Global allow you to check off the option "Show articles from peer reviewed publications only". The articles that appear will be from a "peer reviewed" publication.
• The other option is to check the title in the database "Ulrichsweb.com"
  • check the graphics that appear beside the journal title (one indicates that it is peer-reviewed)
• If you need any help, please ask!

Electronic Journals

What electronic journals are available in the health sciences?

• You can search the journal titles that are available from our Electronic Journals Page through either subject category or title.

I got to the publisher's site, but I'm being asked for a user ID and password. What do I do now?

• Unfortunately, prompting for a user ID and password often means we no longer have access to the title
• Let a library staff member know and we will investigate the status of the title

Databases

What is a database?

• A collection of data organized so that its contents can be accessed easily. Examples would be the library catalogue, or PubMed, a database of medical journal article citations

Which database should I use for my paper?

• This all depends on the topic of your paper, since different databases focus on different subject areas. Check here for a listing of Databases by Subject Area. Still unsure? Please ask a librarian - we'd be glad to help!

Connecting from Home

I'd like to search the library catalogue and do some research from home....How do I do this?

• From the library homepage, you can log into the library site on the left hand side of the screen using your NSID/password and then simply search the catalogue as you would normally
• If you do not logon initially and you reach a database or online journal that has restricted access, you will be asked for your NSID and password.  Enter this information and search as you normally would.
• After regular library hours, you can also access the the Learning Commons computers remotely. Check out our remote access information page

Research Assistance

I can't find what I'm looking for. My assignment is due on Monday! Can someone help me?

• We strongly encourage you to ask library staff for assistance

I'm starting a research proposal/project, but need some guidance. Is this available?

• If you need in-depth assistance, please contact us to make an appointment

Library Orientations

I'd like my class to become familiar with the library. How do I book an orientation session?

• Please contact Catherine Boden to book a session for your class

I'm new to the University. Could someone provide an orientation to the library?

• Individuals may also request a orientation. Please contact Catherine Boden to arrange a session.

  Storage Materials

• The catalogue says the book I want is in storage. How do I get it?

  Due to space constraints, the Health Sciences Library has a remote storage facility. This facility holds older issues of some journals, older books and the Brodie (history of medicine) collection. Because this facility is a closed stack area, patrons wishing to see an item from storage must request it. Items that are housed in the Health Sciences Storage facility can be requested via the Catalogue.  

  Health Sciences staff retrieve requests from storage once a day, Monday to Friday. Once the library has retrieved storage items, they are placed on the holdshelf for 7 days only. You will be notified via email when your item is ready for you to pickup. Please inquire at the circulation desk to checkout the item. We will no longer be accepting storage requests via the online form, telephone or paper form. If you are unable to request an item from the catalogue for whatever reason, please let us know and we will accomodate your request in some other manner.