The reason why the material cannot be supplied should be included in the email notification. Often, the reason is that material is not on the shelf, non-circulating, or has a number of holds on it already.
FAQs
When you submitted your request, you were asked to select a hospital library. When your material has been shipped to this location, you will receive an email and can pick it up.
If a TCard is lost or stolen, the balance in your TBucks account is protected from the time the card is reported missing. Since funds will be saved to your online account instead of the chip on your TCard, balances from lost or stolen cards will be automatically transferred within 24 hours of the replacement card's issuance.
In the event your card is lost or stolen you can deactivate your card on the TCard+ website at: https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/tcardplus/. Cards can also be deactivated by calling the TCard+ Office at 416-208-2233 (10 am - 4 pm, Monday – Friday). You must also report your TCard lost or stolen to the library so we can block it for use as a borrowing card.
Please note, for lost or stolen Guest Cards, there is a different process. Please see “Can users with Guest Cards check account balances and load funds online?” Instructions are also printed on the back of each Guest Card.
Yes. Make sure you have the colour printer selected before you send the print job.
For colour printouts it costs:
- $1.00/page for both letter and legal
- $2.00/page for tabloid (11 x 17)
For black & white printouts (from the colour printer - in case you would like the thicker paper):
- $0.20/page for both letter and legal
- $0.40/page for tabloid
Food is restricted to cafeterias and designated lounge areas in most libraries.
The following areas in Robarts Library are food-friendly:
- Cafeteria – Floor 2
- Reading Rooms – Floors 2, 3, 4, 5
- Central escalator/lobby areas – Floors 2, 3, 4
- St. George Apexes, including adjacent group study rooms – Floors 9–13
Drinks are allowed in most libraries.
Here is a list of currently available food establishments on the St. George campus.
Policies may vary at individual libraries.
Yes, this is possible. If you are looking for materials in the catalogue, you can use the 'Get It In Person' link, which is found once you have opened up a library item's record. You will be asked to login using your UTORid and password.
Please note that the full-text pdf does not export at the same time as the citation information from a database. This will be a separate step, using EndNote's Find Full-Text feature.
Once the citations are in your EndNote library:
- Select the desired reference(s)
- Choose Find Full Text under the References tab
- EndNote will link to the U of T Libraries collections, and find and attach full text pdfs to the citation record(s), if available
Keep in mind:
- Your EndNote preferences must be correctly set up first. For instructions, please see Find Full Text in the EndNote guide
- EndNote cannot retrieve pdfs where there are multiple copies of articles through various providers. When this happens, you may need to search separately for the full-text article, save the PDF file, and and manually attach each PDF to citation records in EndNote. Here are some tips on how to find PDFs of full-text articles.
See also the full EndNote guide
Our research guide for Mobile Health Science Resources lists free and paid mobile health resources like DynaMedPlus, ClinicalEvidence, and Micromedex. For more information, contact Gerstein Science Information Centre.
Mobile access to UpToDate is for current University of Toronto students and residents only. Here's how to access it.
Yes! We can suggest several strategies.
Start at the library webpage
By signing in with your UTORid and password when you are using LibrarySearch, you are authenticated as a U of T user for the rest of your browser session. This allows you access to U of T licensed e-content, such as articles, databases, or e-books.
Get LibKeyNomad
Install a browser extension called LibKey Nomad. It will link you to the PDF of articles owned by U of T or Open Access whether you start your search on the library's website or not.
Change your Google Scholar settings
Make sure Google Scholar knows you're a U of T user. Once you change your settings, you'll see "Get it! UTL" links next to articles in your search results.
Update your bookmarks
If you have an e-resource bookmarked, make sure that the URL has http://myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/login?url= at the front of it. That will authenticate you as a U of T user and give you access to our online content.
Paste the prefix
If you're on a journal or ebook website, try pasting http://myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/login?url= in front of the URL you're currently on. You will be asked to log in with your UTORid.
This only works if the library actually subscribes to the journal. You can search our catalogue for the journal title or ask us for help.
Yes, however Write-N-Cite is now called ProQuest for Word.
You can find this extension within Microsoft Word. Click on the ‘ProQuest’ tab at the top of the screen, and log in with your RefWorks account.
As of May 8th, 2012*, this resource will only be available to students and medical residents via their UTORid & password.
If you are still having problems logging in, try these steps:
a) Make sure you are accessing the resource through the library's proxy server, access is thru the library catalogue record for UpToDate.
b) When you enter your UTORid and password, and then click on the "login" button, you arrive at a page that has another login box. Please ignore that - that is the login for personal subscribers. You are already in UpToDate and can enter your search terms in the search box in the upper left-hand corner.
c) If you are having problems with mobile access, review the more information page for UpToDate.
d) Still having difficulty logging in? If you are attempting access through one of the teaching hospitals, it may be an issue with firewalls. You can try accessing UptoDate from another computer.
If you are still unable to login after trying these steps, please contact us at ask.gerstein[at]utoronto.ca
*See more information about this change.
- For an overview, see The Literature Review: a Few Tips on Conducting It (pdf) from the UofT Writing Centre.
- See also more advice at the Writing Centre
Please leave the books you don't need on a nearby table; our shelvers will take care of them.
- there is a Systematic Review research guide
- if you are in the sciences or health science, you may request a research consultation with a librarian from the Gerstein Science Information Centre (science & health science library)
If the system says that a book is available on your campus, you can't use the Request Item service to get it delivered. But sometimes books go missing even though the system reports that they are on the shelf. In this case, please speak to intercampus delivery staff about your request, or ask the library to search for the book.
Accessibility Services at the University of Toronto libraries offers students with disablities several services:
- Texts in alternative formats: We can order Braille, large print, audio, or electronic versions of books and articles required for your course work.
- Assistive technology: You can borrow laptops, document scanners, word processors, or CD playback machines from us.
- Scanning: We can scan print materials for you when a digital copy is not available. Scans are processed for optical character recognition.
- Renewals and extended loans: Sometimes it is possible for you to keep a book longer or renew it multiple times.
- Proxy borrower authorization: You can designate someone to borrow and retrieve books on your behalf.
If you have a disability, please register with the University of Toronto Accessibility Services so that you can access their services. For full details about Accessibility Services, please visit our website.
Our new tool, LibrarySearch, searches for books, e-books, articles, journals, course reserves, DVDs and other audiovisual material, and other items in our collections all at once though a single user-friendly interface.
From the library homepage:
Once you are already in LibrarySearch:
You can choose to search just in the CATALOGUE, or just for ARTICLES. Choosing to search EVERYTHING searches both the catalogue and articles.
There are a few things that are not included in LibrarySearch, however.
- Newspaper articles
- Library webpages
- Research guides
- Map & Data Library data collections
- TSpace content
- Discover Archives content
Use the WebsiteSearch search box to look for content about the library and our services.
This includes:
- Hours
- Locations
- Staff contact information
- Services like interlibrary loan, Scan & Deliver, computers and wifi, etc.
- Research guides
- FAQs
WebsiteSearch does not search for books, articles, journals, audiovisual materials, and other content that the library owns or subscribes to. Use LibrarySearch instead.
Secondary sources comment on, collect, review, analyze, explain or interpret primary sources. Remember that not all secondary sources are scholarly.
Examples
Discipline | Primary Source | Secondary Source |
History | Letters written by a historical figure | A journal article explaining why the letters are important |
Literature | A poem | A biography of the author that quotes from the poem as an example of his/her work |
Medicine | An empirical study about the effects of physical activity on childhood obesity | A systematic review article about childhood obesity that mentions the study |
Kinesiology | An empirical study comparing the lunch function of endurance athletes and bodybuilders | A blog post about what the results of this study means for practicing bodybuilders |
Sociology | An interview study where teenagers talked about their use of mobile technology | A news report about the study's findings |
Robarts Library is shaped like a triangle. Each corner of floors 9-13 is referred to as an apex. They are named after the streets they overlook - St. George, Harbord and Sussex. Each apex has approximately 100 study spaces and four group study rooms.
Book lockers are small lockers where researchers may leave personal materials and books charged to their lockers for in-library use. They provide an alternative to those without carrels or assigned work-space in the library. Book lockers are available to applicants in all of the priorities covered by the policies.
Robarts Library
Book lockers are located on some of the stack floors (9-13).
Gerstein Science Information Centre
Lockers are desks with attached lockable boxes where students may leave study materials. Lockers are located in the Quiet Study area on the main floor.
Boolean is a set of commands that can be used in almost every search engine, database, or online catalogue. The most popular Boolean commands are AND, OR, and NOT. Other commands include parentheses, truncation, and phrases.
Narrow your search using AND
Using the Boolean command AND in your search tells the search engine to give you results that contain all of the words you have entered.
Example
media AND violence: only those results that contain both media and violence will appear in your search results list.
Expand your search using OR
Using Boolean command OR in your search tells the search engine to give you results that contain any of the words you have entered.
Example
teenagers OR adolescents: any results that contain either teenagers or adolescents will appear in your results list.
Narrow your results using NOT
Using Boolean command NOT in your search tells the search engine to give you results that contain the word(s) you entered except the word following NOT.
Example
Psychology NOT Developmental: any results that contain the word "psychology" will appear in your results list except those results that also contain the word "developmental".
Capitalize your Boolean commands. Some databases only accept these operators when they are capitalized.
Carrels are private, lockable study rooms. Researchers who need to be close to library resources, or those who need a quiet work space, may request a carrel for personal use.
Books may be signed out to the carrel with a separate borrowing card. PCs and laptop computers may be used in all carrels and all carrels have access to the wireless network. Some carrels have docking port access to the University network.
Robarts Library
Carrels are located on the stack floors (9-13) around the periphery of the floors.
Gerstein Science Information Centre
Carrels are located on the 2nd floor, towards the south end of the library.
Kelly Library (St. Michael's College)
Carrels are located on the third floor.
Reference books and reference sources are not meant to be read cover to cover. They are used to locate specific facts and background information.
Examples of reference books or reference sources include dictionaries and encyclopedias; however, there are many kinds of reference works in a library collection, as this table illustrates.
Type | Description |
---|---|
Almanacs |
An annual publication of practical dates, facts, and statistics, current and/or historic. Example: The Military Balance |
Atlases |
A bound or boxed collection of maps, usually related in subject or theme, with an index of place names usually printed at the end. Example: Historical Atlas of Hasidism |
Bibliographies |
A publication that lists written works by a specific author or on a given topic, or that share one or more common characteristics (language, time period, place of publication, etc.). Example: Rap/Hip Hop: Oxford Bibliographies |
Biographical sources |
Works that describe the life of people who share one or more common characteristics (identity, profession, place, time, ect.). Example: Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History |
Catalogues / catalogs |
An organized list of items in a collection, an exhibition, or other intentional gathering of materials. This work often provides brief item-level descriptions of physical or other relevant characteristics. Example: A Catalogue of Greek Manuscripts |
Concordances |
An alphabetically arranged list of the principal words or selected words in a text, or in the works of an author, giving the precise location of each word in the text, with a brief indication of its context. Example: A Concordance of the Qur’an |
Dictionaries |
A single or multi-volume work that contains brief explanatory entries for terms related to a specific subject or field of inquiry. Entries are usually arranged alphabetically.. Example: Oxford English Dictionary |
Directories |
A list of people, companies, institutions, organizations, etc., often in alphabetical order, that provides contact information and other relevant details. Example: The Grants Register 2022 |
Encyclopedias |
A book or set of books containing authoritative summary information about a variety of topics in the form of short essays, usually arranged alphabetically by heading. Example: Women and Gender in Medieval Europe |
Glossaries |
A publication providing an alphabetically arranged list of specialized vocabulary of a given subject or field of study, with brief definitions. Example: Glossary of Morphology |
Handbooks |
Single-volume publications that provide concise factual information on a specific subject, organized systematically for quick and easy access. |
Indexes |
An alphabetically arranged list of headings consisting of the people, places, and subjects covered in a written work, with page numbers to refer the reader to the point in the text at which information pertaining to the heading is found. In large multi-volume reference works, the last volume may be devoted entirely to indexes. Example: See any multi-volume reference work |
Style Guides |
Resources that describe a set rules and guidelines for writing in a variety of contexts. These works include descriptions of how to cite, how to format a paper or a reference page, what font to use, what size that font should be, and much more. Example: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) |
Note: This list of reference works by type is not exhaustive. Please use LibrarySearch to discover others types and formats.
There are a number of advantages to the Library’s HathiTrust Membership.
For individual users: the ability to download, rather than just view full-text public domain content, access to the full HathiTrust corpus for non-consumptive uses such as data-mining, and access to tools to facilitate those uses through the HathiTrust Research Center.
For the library: preservation services including the ability to deposit content with bibliographic and full-text searching of that content, access to a digital preservation copy of materials held in print, help in managing shared print preservation through the tracking of retention commitments of member libraries, and access to any book in the corpus for users who qualify through the Accessibility Office, enhancing the Library’s ability to provide service to students with print disabilities.
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