Published: Sept. 6, 2019

No question is too simple or too difficult for the University Libraries to find an answer to. 

Just ask anyone stationed at the Ask a Librarian desk, located in the second-floor research area of Norlin Library. Whether at the desk physically or online remotely, the Ask a Librarian team is ready to help make your library experience one for the books! 

Ask a Librarian can help orient you in the Libraries, connect you with resources and services, and teach you how to engage with information and ideas on your own.  Romance languages librarian Kathia Ibacache said that she will empower students to retrieve books from the stacks on their own. Two librarians at the Ask A Librarian desk

“The floor plans are really helpful in directing students to the right shelf location,” Ibacache said. 

Ask a Librarian has faculty, staff, and interns working the desk. Graduate apprentice Cecily North has been working nights and weekends since the last spring. Aside from wanting to know if Norlin has a specific book and where it is, North said that students are often shocked to hear that Norlin isn’t the only library on campus. 

“I like when I can tell people that the University Libraries has five libraries on campus if they're looking for something specific,” North said. “Many students assume that everything is here in Norlin and that isn't the case. I think it's something that impresses people more than frustrates them that they have to go somewhere else.”

Interdisciplinary Humanities Librarian Megan Welsh has found herself redirecting students towards the circulation desk and nearest bathroom locations, gendered or neutral. Norlin recently added two more all-gender restrooms, in addition to the individual one around the corner from the Laughing Goat on the first floor. The two new all-gender restrooms can be found on the 2nd and 3rd floors, just before the east stairway.

Megan also frequently receives questions about textbooks. 

“I highlight course reserves and explain how sometimes we have books that are used for texts, especially in the humanities, in our stacks or in other libraries in Colorado that we can obtain through Prospector,” Welsh said. 

Prospector is a group of regional libraries with access to 32 million books, journals, DVDs, CDs, videos, and other materials. This interlibrary loan system is generally the fastest way for students to get materials not available at CU Boulder. Items come in 3 to 5 business days after ordering. Most books can be checked out for 3 weeks with one renewal and media with one week and no renewal. 

“Students are also wanting to know how to print and how to reserve a room,” Access and Discovery Librarian Nicole Trujillo said. 

At the Libraries, students can use their own laptops or one of our desktops to print. Instructions on how to print, copy, or scan items are available on our website. All five libraries have study rooms. Students can book a study room online. On our website, click on the library and the study room of your choice, followed by the length of time needed. Keys can be found at the front desk in each of our libraries. For Norlin, this would be the Norlin Commons on the first floor. 

What other questions do you have? Get in touch through email, chat, text, call, or stop by and pay us a visit! We look forward to hearing from you and making sure that your experience at the Libraries is a positive one. 

Perhaps it’s a reach to say that Ask a Librarian has all of the answers, but if we don’t, we will help you find them!