Services for Faculty & Staff

The Libraries can provide a wide variety of services to faculty and staff to support classroom instruction, research, and professional development.  Faculty Services Directory

Liaison librarians

Liaison librarians act as subject specialists to assist faculty, staff, and students in specified academic departments, serving as the primary contact between those departments and the library.  They work with faculty to provide library use instruction, work with students doing research, and develop the libraries' collections. See the complete list of UST liaison librarians.

Library instruction

Liaison librarians can also teach custom-designed library instruction sessions within a course covering research strategies and the key resources for a specific subject area, and are available for faculty to consult in designing effective research assignments.

Adding Library materials to course Blackboard sites

Would you like your students to have custom-designed lists of library materials relevant to your course research assignments?  Ever thought about providing an online syllabus where students link directly to full-text versions of assigned readings?  Give one of us a call to discuss the possibilities.

Reference consultations

Professional reference service is available at all St. Thomas libraries. While walk-in, telephone, and e-mail service is available, faculty members can make appointments for lengthy reference consultations or tutorials. Students can also make appointments for individualized assistance with the liaison librarian in their subject area.

Library collection development

Materials for the libraries' collections are selected principally by the library staff and faculty members, although anyone may suggest items for purchase.  Materials are chosen based on requirements of the curriculum and other needs of users, and on the perceived quality and authority of the content. Faculty can send their requests directly to their liaison librarian or can use the online request form.

Current awareness

Some of the library databases allow individual users to sign up for e-mails or RSS feeds alerting them to new issues of key journals they wish to track, or to saved searches.  See the Libraries' Alerting Services page for more information, or contact any UST library reference desk or liaison librarian for assistance in setting up the alerts.

Borrowing privileges

Students, faculty, and staff have borrowing privileges at all UST libraries, as well as other CLIC consortium schools. All users must present a current university I.D. to check out books. Books are checked out for six weeks or longer depending on patron status; a book can be recalled by the library after three weeks if requested by another user.  Books from other CLIC libraries, including other UST libraries, can be requested electronically through CLICnet, our online catalog. Books that are not in the catalog may be requested from the online interlibrary loan system, ILLIAD.

Articles are available from over 150 databases and indexes with access to full-text from tens of thousands of journals. Articles not available online can be obtained in person if the library subscribes to the print version or they can be requested by filling out our web-based interlibrary loan form. 

If desired, faculty may apply for special borrowing privileges at the University of Minnesota Libraries by filling out an application and returning it to the appropriate office in Wilson Library at the U of M, along with a copy of their appointment letter or contract for the current academic year.  For more information see item #2 "Qualify for Special Borrowing Privileges," under the "Unaffiliated Borrowing Options" section of the U of MN Libraries Borrowing Options web page. 

Reserve Readings

Faculty may place materials (print or electronic) on reserve for use by their students. Some materials must be used in the libraries, while others can be checked out. For information about reserve materials for your course, dial one of the Libraries' access services desks, or see our Course Reserves web page.

Proxy Policy

Faculty may have a student or staff Office Assistant with valid UST identification pick up and check out items on the faculty's behalf by presenting an Assistant Authorization Form.   A valid form needs the Assistant and Faculty ID card photocopies attached.