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Information Desk Services

The Information Desk in the Reference Department is centrally located to ensure high visibility of the faculty and staff for users needing assistance. In addition to a computer workstation and a telephone, two additional terminals are located above low shelving on either side of the desk, allowing faculty, staff, and other users to access displays from the online catalog, InfoTrac, and telnet applications. The proximity of these terminals enables users to interact easily with Reference Department personnel regarding strategies and techniques used to search for book and periodical information. Faculty and staff strive to maintain the tradition of professionalism through courteous and efficient service to users.

The Ready Reference collection includes sources of current information that can be accessed quickly in response to user inquiries at the Information Desk and telephone calls to the department. Some of these items include the most recent copies of local and selected regional or national newspapers, almanacs, selected handbooks, style guides, and reference/research guides for various subjects; material pertaining to African and/or African-American history and literature; and University publications such as course catalogs, budget documents, yearbooks, etc. Much of Ready Reference supplements the holdings of the TSU Special Collections Department, and is available to users during evening and weekend hours when Special Collections is closed.

Adjacent to the Ready Reference Area are multi-volume subject encyclopedias; the Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation Fast Back Reading Collection; a series of guides which include admissions tests, financial aid, undergraduate and graduate study, and career information; college catalogs, business directories, and an individual computer workstation for government publications in CD-ROM and Internet-based applications.

Users must present identification (TSU ID, valid driver's license from Tennessee or other states, etc.) before being allowed to use Ready Reference materials. This is held at the Information Desk by faculty/staff until the items are returned. While there is no set time limit for using Ready Reference resources, the Reference Department encourages users to be sensitive to the needs of others (sharing items with other users when the source is needed for class assignments, prompt return of materials when finished, etc.).

Instructors and professors generally place items on reserve for use by their classes through the Circulation Department. If designated material is normally part of the reference collection, the Reference Department should be contacted well in advance of the class assignment, so the items can be pulled from the open reference areas and placed on reserve. Materials may also be held at the Information Desk if they are needed and/or frequently used by library faculty/staff (i.e., literary style guides and dictionaries, census data sources, career/occupational handbooks).