Our open stacks allow students to go around the library freely and consult books on the shelves, but we also provide a huge collection of electronic resources including e-books, journals, magazines, and newspapers, and this means that the students can access these resources 24/7 from anywhere. By the way, our online chat is another way of allowing students to stay in touch remotely. As long as the library is open, a librarian will answer a query from a student who is using our resources from home.
We also offer reference services and help students when they need to do research: we sit with them and show them how to make the best of the resources we provide. In addition, we work with professors by going into the classrooms and coaching the class on how to do specialized research.
The Library's opening hours are very convenient for students. We close well after classes end and during finals we are open until 2:00 a.m., plus we provide free cookies and coffee. It's a nice way of showing students that we support them during a very stressful period, and, over time, it has become a tradition, an enjoyable moment for both students and librarians.
Livia Piotto
Reference Librarian