Welcome, new students! As a new academic year is starting, you might be wondering where to find the readings for your courses. Here are a few starting tips on finding documents in the Library and online.
Moodle
In Switzerland, professors can share pretty much anything they need on the Institute’s Moodle platform. Your teaching assistant has probably uploaded all the required readings there, so check it out. But there are other options, especially if you would like to read the rest of the book from which a specific article was taken.
Use our catalogue
Register on swisscovery to find all the books and e-books the library gives you access to. Our new catalogue system has multiple useful functionalities, including the Courier service which allows you to order books from most university libraries in Switzerland for free!
Books on reserve
Professors and TAs can ask librarians to put mandatory readings “on reserve”. These books are then excluded from loan and can only be consulted in the Library. Books on reserve are all located on the 2nd level, between the Law collection and the DVDs, and bear a red sticker.
Their record on the swisscovery catalogue should indicate “séminaires” as the book location.
Reading lists (books on reserve only)
When books are put on reserve for a course, you can actually check that course’s reading list. It can be found by using the “Séminaires” search in swisscovery. You can search via course title, code, or professor.
Accessing e-books
We often purchase digital rather than physical versions of required readings: these allow multiple people to access them. All our e-books are referenced in swisscovery, and most of them do not require a password – but you will need to set up a VPN connection if you are trying to access them from home.
Join us for (much) more information during our Library visits
Until Friday 1st October, our librarians offer daily tours of the Library followed by a presentation of our catalogue and digital resources. Join us at 12:15 near the information desk to learn things you will need for the next two years… or more!
Need more information? Visit our web pages to keep yourself informed and updated – most answers to your questions can be found there – or simply ask a librarian. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
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