Mount 101 Guide

Welcome to the Mount 101 Guide's overview about the MSJ Archbishop Alter Library, also known as MSJ Library! If you need any assistance—whether you need to find books and articles, search databases, start an assignment, or learn how to cite sources correctly—MSJ Librarians are ready and willing to help you.

Fall Semester Hours
Monday-Thursday: 7:30am-10pm
Friday: 7:30am-5pm
Saturday: 10am-5pm
Sunday: CLOSED

(See also full Library Hours Calendar.)

Physical Location: On the MSJ campus, the Archbishop Alter Library is located on the north side of campus, near the circle driveway accessible from Delhi Road. View a full map of campus.

Library Website: Online, visit our website for our services and resources (https://library.msj.edu).

Library catalog: Library Search.

How to Make an Appointment with a Librarian

Visit the Research Help section our site for more information on what our librarians can help you with during a research appointment.

To make an appointment, visit our Get Research Help page and then do the following:

1. Click the Research Appointment blue button
2. Select a location – either in-person or Online (Zoom)
3. Choose your librarian or find an available librarian
4. Select the day and time that works for your schedule
5. Provide as much information as possible about why you are looking for librarian assistance. The information that you will provide will help the librarian be prepared for your appointment.

What do we mean when we say “article,” “call number,” or “database”? Below are definitions of terms commonly used in the Mount 101 guide. These definitions are from the “Library Terminology: Glossary of Library Terms” page by USC Libraries, which should be consulted for even more common terms. For even further in-depth library-specific terms visit the Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science.

Abstract: "A summary or brief description of the content of another longer work. An abstract is often provided along with the citation to a work."

Article: "A brief work—generally between 1 and 35 pages in length—on a topic. Often published as part of a journal, magazine, or newspaper."

Author: "The person(s) or organization(s) that wrote or compiled a document. Looking for information under its author's name is one option in searching."

Book: "A relatively lengthy work, often on a single topic. May be print or electronic."

Boolean operator: "A word—such as AND, OR, or NOT—that commands a computer to combine search terms. Helps to narrow (AND, NOT) or broaden (OR) searches."

Call Number: “A group of letters and/or numbers that identifies a specific item in a library and provides a way for organizing library holdings. Two major types of call numbers are Dewey Decimal Call Numbers and Library of Congress Call Numbers."

Catalog: "A database (either online or on paper cards) listing and describing the books, journals, government documents, audiovisual and other materials held by a library. Various search terms allow you to look for items in the catalog."

Check out: To borrow or loan "an item from a library for a fixed period of time in order to read, listen to, or view it. Check-out periods vary by library. Items are checked out at the circulation desk."

Circulation desk: "The place in the library where you check out, renew, and return library materials. You may also place a hold, report an item missing from the shelves, or pay late fees or fines there."

Citation: "A reference to a book, magazine or journal article, or other work containing all the information necessary to identify and locate that work. A citation to a book thus includes its author's name, title, publisher and place of publication, and date of publication."

Course reserve: "A selection of books, articles, videotapes, or other materials that instructors want students to read or view for a particular course. Print reserve materials are usually kept in one area of the library and circulate for only a short period of time."

Database: "A collection of information stored in an electronic format that can be searched by a computer."

Hold: "A request by a user to a library that a book checked out to another person be saved for that user when it is returned. “Holds” can generally be placed on any regularly circulating library materials through an in-person or online circulation desk."

Interlibrary Loan (ILL): "A service that allows you to borrow materials from other libraries through your own library."

Keyword: "A significant or memorable word or term in the title, abstract, or text of an information resource that indicates its subject and is often used as a search term."

Peer reviewed journal: "Peer review is a process by which editors have experts in a field review books or articles submitted for publication by the  experts’ peers. Peer review helps to ensure the quality of an information source by publishing only works of proven validity, methodology, and quality. Peer-reviewed journals are also called refereed or scholarly journals."

Periodical: "An information source published in multiple parts at regular intervals (daily, weekly, monthly, biannually). Journals, magazines, and newspapers are all periodicals."

Subject heading: "Descriptions of an information source’s content assigned to make finding information easier."

Course Reserves is a special library collection of books, videos, and other materials chosen by the course's instructor for a specific course. Course Reserves are available to all students in a class and are available for a limited checkout on a first-com-first-serve basis. Using your MSJ Campus ID, you may borrow these items free of charge from the Library's Circulation Desk for a shorten loan period set by your instructor. 

To search the MSJ Course Reserves, go to the catalog Library Search, then choose from the drop down menu the "MSJ Course Reserves" search setting.

In the search box, you can search reserves by typing keywords for:

• course name (e.g., Spoken Word),
• course code/number (e.g., COM 100),
• instructor’s last name (Don’t know your professor’s last name? Check Blackboard.), or
• title of book/item (e.g., Communication in our Lives)

• All reserve items must be requested in-person at the Mount Library's Circulation Desk.
• If a textbook you need is not on Course Reserves, visit the Textbook Guide to learn more about your options.

In the stacks of the MSJ Library

Using the call number listed in the full record of an item in the Library Search online catalog, go to that location in the MSJ Library.

1st floor: Reference and Exceptionalities Collections

2nd floor: 000s-600s; Children’s Collection (Easy Readers, Juvenile Fiction, and Juvenile Nonfiction); and the Curriculum Collection

3rd floor: 700s-900s, DVDs, Catholic Documents, and CDs

Read the call numbers from left to right, starting at the top of the shelf and looking across the row before going down to the next shelf. When you get to the bottom shelf, start reading at the top of the next shelf. When you read call numbers from the end of one row of books to the beginning of another snake around the stacks.

For more information on Dewey Decimal System, check out the excellent “How to Read a Call Number” guide from Pratt Institute Libraries.

The Ten Main Classes of Dewey Decimal Classification

000 Computer science, information & general works

100 Philosophy & psychology

200 Religion

300 Social sciences

400 Language

500 Science

600 Technology

700 Arts & recreation

800 Literature

900 History & geography

Local Requests is a service that allows you to place holds online for physical items located in the MSJ Library and then pickup in-person.

How to place a Local Request:

1. Begin by searching the MSJ Library Catalog within Library Search.
   
    
2. When you find the local item you want to request, click on the title and view the full record.
   
    
3. Look for the “Find this in the MSJ Library” section of the record. Then locate the Sign in prompt and sign in using you Mount login credentials (same as Blackboard). Please note: the local request option will not appear unless you are signed in.
   
    
4. Once you are signed in, locate the Request a Copy and click the Request link.
   
    
5. You should see a brief confirmation popup form with Mount St. Joseph University Library as the Pickup Location. Click the green button labeled “Send Hold Request”.
   
    
6. Note that local requests take at least one day for our staff to process.

How Local Requests work:                    
Once the MSJ Library receives your request, we will locate the item(s) you requested in our stacks area, process them for borrowing, and place on hold for you at the Circulation Desk in the Library Lobby. This process takes our staff at least one day. When your request is ready for pickup, we will send a pickup alert to your MSJ email account. When you arrive at the desk, please present your Mount ID card so that the items you have on hold can be checked out to you. Note: items will be kept on the hold shelf for 10 days, after which time they will be removed if not picked up.

Returning items:
Once you are finished with your items, there are two drop off locations. One is directly at the Circulation Desk in the Library’s Lobby, and the second is directly outside the Library’s exterior doors. 

To check the status of your requests:
Sign in to your library account within Library Search, or call the Circulation Desk at 513-244-4216.

Need help with your request?
Call us at (513) 244-4216 or email us at library@msj.edu.

The MSJ Library’s membership with OhioLINK allows currently enrolled Mount St. Joseph University students, faculty, and staff to find and borrow items held in university libraries throughout the state of Ohio. OhioLINK Requests, therefore, is a service that allows you to place holds online for physical items located within the OhioLINK Search (formerly OhioLINK Library Catalog) and then pickup in-person at the MSJ Library.

How to place an OhioLINK Request:

1. Begin by searching the OhioLINK Search within Library Search.
   
    
2. When you find the item you want to request, click on the title and view the full record.
   
    
3. Within the full record, look for the “Request a copy from OhioLINK” section of the record. Then locate the Sign in prompt and sign in using your Mount login credentials (same as Blackboard).
   
    
4. Once you are signed in, locate the light blue box that reads “Get a physical copy” and lists borrowing terms, such as “Delivered in 7 days…Keep for 42 days.” Within that same grey box, locate and click the blue Request button. Note: When requesting print books or other physical items, if no terms for borrowing are displayed and you see "terms to be supplied" or "No physical offer available at this time" then the item is not available from OhioLINK and you will need to complete a request with our Interlibrary Loan Request Form.
    

5. After signing in and clicking Request, you should see a brief confirmation popup form for “Request Physical Version.” By default, this will list your Pickup Location as “My Home Institution” which means Mount St. Joseph University, and the Local Pickup Location will be “Mount St. Joseph University Library.”  Keep these default settings if you are wanting to pick up your item at the MSJ Library. Then click “Send” to complete your request.

   Note: you also have the option to pick up your requested item at another OhioLINK location. To do this, change the Pickup Location from “My Home Institution” to another OhioLINK library in the drop down menu. You will be prompted to “refine offer.” Click “REFINE OFFER” and then click “SEND.”
   

6. You should then see a confirmation stating your request was successfully sent. Note that OhioLINK requests from libraries statewide usually take 3-5 business days to arrive at the MSJ Library. In rare occasions, items may take 7 days.
   

                   
Picking Up OhioLINK and Pick Up Anywhere (PUA) Items on Hold:
Items requested from OhioLINK or using the Pick Up Anywhere (PUA) option generally arrive to the MSJ campus within 3 to 7 business days. Once library staff receive and process your OhioLINK or PUA items from Priority Dispatch, they will place your requested items on the hold shelf at the circulation desk in the Library Lobby. You will receive a pickup alert to your MSJ email account. When you arrive at the desk, please present your Mount ID card and the items you have on hold will be checked out to you. Note: items will be kept on the hold shelf for 10 days, after which time they will be removed if not picked up.

Returning items:
Once you are finished with your borrowed items, there are two drop off locations. One is directly at the Circulation Desk in the Library’s Lobby, and the second is directly outside the Library’s exterior doors. 

To check the status of your requests:
Sign in to your library account within Library Search, or call the Circulation Desk at 513-244-4216.

Need help with your request?
Call us at (513) 244-4216 or email us at library@msj.edu.

If an article is not available as full text or if a book or other item is unavailable through MSJ Library, OhioLINK, or SearchOhio, we can try getting it from a library outside of Ohio through interlibrary loan. To start the requesting process, submit an interlibrary loan request by completing our Interlibrary Loan Request Form.

For more in-depth information about interlibrary loan services, visit our Interlibrary Loan page.

For in-depth information on how to find articles, visit the Locating Articles section of the MSJ Library's website, or Schedule an appointment with a Librarian.

• Tips for Article Searches
  • What is a Library Database and Why Should I Use One?
  • Use Library databases to locate articles in journals, magazines, and newspapers
  • Academic Search Complete database can be used to find articles on just about any topic
  • Specialized databases cover a specific subject. Use these to find articles by researchers and experts, published in scholarly and peer-reviewed journals

To access content from our research databases (articles, ebooks), when prompted to login, use your MSJ login (same one you use for MSJ email and Blackboard). See also Off-Campus Access.

If you quote directly, use ideas, or paraphrase from any information source, you should indicate this in your research paper, speech, or assignment. When you cite, you show that you have done the research, you are a responsible scholar by giving credit and acknowledging others’ work, you allow others to expand their understanding by going back to the original source, and you avoid plagiarism.

Citing a source means that you show, within the body of your text, that you took words, ideas, figures, images, etc. from another place.

Citations are a short way to uniquely identify a published work (e.g. book, article, chapter, web site).  They are found in bibliographies and reference lists and are also collected in article and book databases.

Citations consist of standard elements, and contain all the information necessary to identify and track down publications, including:

• author name(s)
• titles of books, articles, and journals
• date of publication
• page numbers
• volume and issue numbers (for articles)

Citations may look different, depending on what is being cited and which style was used to create them. Choose an appropriate style guide for your needs.  Here is an example of an article citation using APA and MLA citation styles.  Notice the common elements as mentioned above:

Parts of a citation for a journal article:

Author = Mary Kay Jordan-Fleming

Article Title = Excellence in Assessment: Aligning Assignments and Improving Learning.

Source (Journal) Title =  Assessment Update

Volume and Issue = Vol. 29 Issue 1

Publication Date = Jan.2017

Page numbers = p10-12

Permalink/DOI (if electronic resource) =
10.1002/au.30084

In American Psychological Association (APA) Style Citation

Jordan-Fleming, M.K. (2017). Excellence in assessment: Aligning assignments and improving learning. Assessment Update, 29(1), 10-12. https://doi.org/10.1002/au.30084

In Modern Language Association (MLA) Style Citation

Jordan-Fleming, Mary Kay. “Excellence in Assessment: Aligning Assignments and Improving Learning.” Assessment Update, vol. 29, no.1, Jan. 2017, pp. 10-12. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1002/au.30084.

(Adapted from MIT Libraries' "Citing sources: Overview")

Primary Sources:

Primary Sources are resources that record or describe events at the time they were experienced.

Examples:

• Original documents, such as diaries, letters, photographs, official records
• Creative works, such as paintings, manuscripts, scores
• Artifacts, such as tools, weapons, ornaments

Primary sources can be found in print and online collections.

Examples:

• Archives of Mount St. Joseph University
• Library of Congress Digital Collections

Secondary Sources

Secondary Sources are ones:

• that interpret or explain past events
• that analyze or restate primary sources
• may argue a particular interpretation or point of view

Examples are:

• Textbooks
• Journal articles
• Encyclopedias
• Biographies

Secondary sources can be found in print and online collections:
Examples are:

• Mount Library and OhioLINK collections
• Mount Library databases
• Websites

Examples:

Adapted from “Primary Vs. Secondary Sources”, by Carol A. Singer, Reference Librarian, Bowling Green State University