You can access books, journals, and other physical materials from the Library! In addition to the materials on our shelves here in Spokane, you can also request materials to be delivered from any WSU location. Even if WSU does not have a particular book, you can request it through a "Summit" request, which draws materials from across the Orbis Cascade Alliance of libraries. Finally, you can also request a book or article through "interlibrary loan."
To find a book, journal, or other print material, use Search It to search by title, author, or keyword.
Search It allows you to search many of our resources simultaneously. It will search a number of our databases, the catalog of our physical items, and our ebook collections with a single search. Search It is a great way to find physical resources such as books, textbooks, and print periodicals.
Once you know what you're looking for, you can find the material in the Library. Materials that are housed at the Health Sciences Library are available for students to use in the library 24/7, and items that circulate can be checked out during staffed hours.
Periodicals (journals and magazines) are shelved on the main floor of the Health Sciences Library, directly across from the circulation desk. Periodicals can be checked out for one week from the library, but you are also welcome to scan articles to your email, OneDrive, or USB drive (Note: Your are responsible for complying with U.S. Copyright Law when copying/scanning library materials). They are shelved alphabetically by title.
Reference books are shelved on the main floor of the Health Sciences Library, directly across from the circulation desk. They are arranged by their call number, which is the code listed on the spine of the book. Reference books cannot be taken out of the Library.
The circulating collection of books, which are materials that can be taken out of the Library by checking them out with your ID card, are shelved upstairs in the library. They are arranged by their call number, which is the code listed on the spine of the book.
You may find that we do not have immediate access to the material you're trying to use. In this case, we can often borrow the material from another library. To do so, search for the item in Search It. Then, click into the record of the item and see Access Options. If we do not have access to it, click "Get it for me" and select "Request Item." This will allow you to request the book or article, whether we simply don't own it or if it's currently checked out.
Summit is the consortium of Pacific Northwest academic libraries that allows us to get quick and easy access to regional library collections. Summit items are easily requested within Search It, and are delivered to campus through the regional courier service.
Interlibrary loan is a general term for using your library to access materials from other libraries. This is used to describe materials borrowed from other consortium libraries (i.e. Summit), but also requesting books or PDFs of articles from libraries around the world.
No, you should never need to purchase an article. Request it through our library. If there is no record of the item in Search It, click "Interlibrary Loan form" at the top of the Search It page to fill out a form manually.
Occasionally you can get access to your required textbooks through the library. However, please note that many libraries do not acquire textbooks, and those that do are likely to have these current materials limited to in-library use for their patrons. Similarly, many required textbooks on this campus are shelved in Reference for you to use while you're in the library (but not check out).