FAQ: Locations

Books are located on all three floors of the library. Check this list for location of a specific collection. The catalog record will tell you which collection a specific book is in. This link goes to an image of a catalog record showing where the location is listed.

Most of our circulating books are shelved on the upper level (3rd floor) of the library.

Oversize books are too large to fit on the regular shelves. They are located near the main stairwell on the upper level of the library. The loan period is the same as for other books on the upper level.

Fiction books published within the past 10 years. Loan periods are the same as for Books/Upper Level.

This collection comprises a few large sets of specialized encyclopedias, dictionaries, and bibliographies.

Course reserves is a term used to describe books or other materials set aside for a specific course or other use. Most often materials are put on Reserve at the request of a faculty member.

These are K-12 textbooks and other curriculum materials (note that they are not the textbooks for SDSU classes). They are located on the lower level at the northwest corner of the government documents area. They checkout until the end of the semester.

These books are stored as small photo images on clear plastic sheets. A special reader/printer or scanner must be use to read or print pages from these books. The reader/printers and the scanner are located near the fiche books on the lower level.

Large maps are housed in a row of map cases to the west of the government documents area.

Most of this collection comprises U.S. governments, although we do have some South Dakota state and some international documents, as well. These are located on the northeast side of the lower level.

Government Documents come in several different formats. Microfiche, or fiche, are plastic cards with photo images of document pages on them. These images may be viewed, printed or scanned using special equipment. The microfiche and the microfiche readers are located on the lower level just south of the main stairs.

The Microforms collection includes newspapers, journals, government documents, and a few books that are have been photoimaged on microfilm (reels of film), microfiche (transparent plastic cards) and microcards. These formats contain miniature images of each page of the document. They require a special reader, printer or microform scanner for use. Film, fiche, and equipment are located to the south of the main stairwell on the lower level.