Category Archives: Ask a Librarian

Webster Library – Main staircase entrance open

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Webster Library’s main staircase has reopened.

With this reopening, entrance to the Webster Library will return to its permanent state. Students will enter the library from the main staircase on the first floor of LB to the second floor of LB, where the permanent entrance is located.

Once inside the Webster Library on the second floor of LB, students can take internal Library stairs or elevators to the third and fifth floors.

This will reduce the crowding of the elevator  and the fire escape stairways will no longer be needed.

Webster Library’s 4th floor and the west side of the third floor are currently closed in order to complete renovations. The Webster Library Transformation will be complete at the end of 2017.

When visitors enter Webster Library from the main staircase, they will be greeted immediately by the new service area for Questions? Ask Us! / Reference desk on the second floor of LB.

The Loans & Returns desk, self-checkout machines and the Course Reserves room are all also located on the second floor of Webster Library.

A brand new service will be launched on February 22: the Technology Sandbox on the second floor of Webster Library. It’s a place for the Concordia community to try out emerging technologies and cutting-edge equipment.   Register today for a workshop.

For more information about the new spaces at Webster Library, please see our website: http://library.concordia.ca/about/news/#guid=http://library.concordia.ca/about/news/#i15_Feb_2017_14:20:43_EDT

Welcome back!

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Welcome to all of our new and returning students, staff and faculty.

The library is offering a series of workshops about library services and resources for all interested students in 2017.  Please see our website for more details and to register: http://library.concordia.ca/help/workshops/

There is help available at the Wesbter and Vanier reference desks and on ask-a-librarian live chat: http://library.concordia.ca/help/questions/

Please note, Webster’s LB4 is now closed and is set to reopen in Fall 2017.  The books from LB4 are being sent to offsite storage, from which faculty, staff and students can request their retrieval, starting Jan 12, 2017.  For more details about the LB4 book move and storage, please consult our website: http://library.concordia.ca/help/circulation/lb-4-book-move.php

A reminder that details about all library renovations are available on the Webster Library Transformation blog: http://library.concordia.ca/webster-transformation/ 

We hope you have a great winter semester!

List of new books

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You wrote:

allo…
I would like to find out — the exact link where I can see the new books acquired by the library….
a. is there such a link….
b. how far new books are listed– monthly or yearly
c. is it by subject…
d. I am interested in history — subject matter…and quebec politics….
e. is there an automated email list I can subscribe…
thanks for the early answer

Thank you for your question.  There are two ways to go about getting a listing of newly acquired books.  If you are interested in very broad subject areas, such as history, you can take a look at our New Books page .  From there, you can subscribe to an RSS feed.  The feeds are updated every night and titles remain in the listing for sixty days.

Another way to get up-to-date information on recent books in a particular area, for example, Québec politics, is to set up a preferred search in MyCLUES.  We have a video that shows you how to do that.  This will allow you to set up a search in MyCLUES, for example Québec — politics and government.  Once that’s done, every time a new item is added to our collection that matches your search criteria, you will receive an email message.

Feel free to Ask a librarian if you need more help setting this up.

“Chat with a librarian” — popular option

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You wrote:

I love the chat-option with librarians- it’s a quick, convenient way to get assistance, and it has been really helpful. However- there needs to be more than one librarian on it at a time. There have been times when I’ve been told they are ‘with a student and will be right back’, leaving me to wonder where are all the other librarians? Must this system shut down because one librarian is occupied with a student? A bit silly, don’t you think? Particularly if this is a used service, shouldn’t more be placed on the chatting option to accommodate the demand?

Thank you for your suggestion. It’s great to hear that our “chat with a librarian” service is well received.

We are aware that sometimes users have to wait to be served on chat …. and sometimes they have to wait in line to be served at the reference desk in the library …. or at almost every other kind of service point in their everyday lives. Although it would be nice to provide instantaneous service, everywhere, at all times, it simply cannot be. The benefit of chat is that at least the user is comfortably sitting somewhere and can continue to do their work while waiting.

Chat is only one way that students may communicate with a librarian: we also provide help by email, by telephone and, yes,  in person! 🙂 All of our Ask-a-Librarian services are well-used and although the popularity of the chat service has been increasing steadily over the years, it only counts for about 5% of the total number of questions we get.

As for “where are all the other librarians”?  In addition to helping students at the reference desk or on chat reference, reference librarians are often teaching, providing in-depth assistance to students and professors, selecting library materials, and working on special projects to constantly improve our services and collections.  Librarians also participate in various library and university committees and research projects.

We are always looking for ways to improve and we definitely will keep in  mind your comments when scheduling for all these service points.  Thank you for taking the time to write to us.