We encourage faculty to participate in the development of the collections by recommending the purchase of books and audio-visual materials.
While our primary responsibility is to support the curriculum and the College programs, the Libraries will also support faculty research when possible. See the library's Collection Development Policy for more details.
To request materials for the library:
New journal subscriptions must be approved by the academic department before the library can start a subscription. Due to increasing journal prices, in order to add a new journal, the department will need to drop subscription(s) of equivalent cost. Contact your library liaison to get information on subscription costs and other information to support the journal request.
Due to the COVID-19 emergency, in 2020-21 print reserve service is not available. Guidelines concerning quarantine of circulating library materials render this service inoperable. Whenever possible, we will acquire electronic versions of materials needed for delivery through GLOW.
Instruction on how to include library resources into an online course packet in Glow.
For more information and/or assistance, contact your library liaison.
We offer:
Terms of library digitizing Services:
How to request streaming:
Start in the library catalog: search for the film by title
For each request, the library will research streaming rights to determine whether we can legally provide a streamed version. If we can proceed with streaming, films will be made available through your Glow course and you will receive an email notification from the Access Services department.
In the event that we are not legally able to provide a streamed version, we will place the DVD on Reserve for your course.
What's included in the streamed version:
Turn around time:
Streaming requests are processed in the order in which they're received. Investigation of streaming rights and digitization of the film may take anywhere from 1 day to 4 weeks, depending on the volume of requests.
Support / More Information:
Williams College does not have a required course where students learn basic research skills. Instead, library instruction liaisons and Special Collections librarians work with faculty to integrate research skills into their courses. As you prepare your courses, please consider the following options for library instruction.
Embed a librarian in your Glow course. The librarian could
Post customized instruction videos in the course
Example: a recording of a Q & A interview between the librarian and professor about doing research for the course
Example: a screencast introducing the course research guide and resources
Post general instruction videos in course
Example: How to Read a Book (for scholarly research)
Example: Peer Review in 3 Minutes
Create and monitor asynchronous discussion threads
Example: Students do a guided document analysis of digitized manuscripts and/or rare books and discuss
Example: Students view Algorithms of Oppression and discuss how search engine bias affects research
Create an online quiz or other assignment to assess student learning of asynchronous instruction component
Select content from the Information Literacy Toolkit to use in your Glow course
Request a customized course research guide
Post your librarian's virtual trading card to your Glow course
Encourage student to use our Ask a Librarian service
It is best if the concepts learned in the library session can be applied to an assignment in your course. If you do not have such an assignment, see our Creating Information Literacy Assignments page or ask your library liaison for ideas.
Example: Introduction of the liaison librarian and encouragement to schedule research appointments
Example: Introduction of the liaison librarian and research guide for the course
Example: Introduction to digitized sources in Special Collections
In Special Collections: individual appointments for students to consult with material. Works best if there’s a specific assignment the students are responding to, like a short presentation or writing assignment. Contact Special Collections to schedule an appointment.
For Sawyer and Schow: Students can use the research appointments scheduler.
Contact your library instruction liaison or Special Collections.
What is Special Collections?
The Special Collections department comprises Chapin Library and College Archives. It provides access to rare and unique materials.
Chapin Library collects rare books, manuscripts, and other primary source materials, both ancient and modern, in support of the Williams curriculum.
The College Archives is concerned with the history of Williams, and administers other special collections and books from the earliest libraries of the College.
How to work with materials in Special Collections
Including Special Collections materials in your courses
Special Collections librarians are available to work with you and your students. They offer:
Faculty are invited to suggest special collections acquisitions in support of courses or research interests.
Presentations and instruction sessions are offered in these spaces:
Archiving your Syllabi
College Archives archives course syllabi for several purposes:
We archive syllabi in electronic form only. Please e-mail your syllabi as attachments to syllabi@williams.edu.
For further information about collections and services or to schedule an appointment contact a Special Collections librarian.
The library works closely with the Office of Information Technology to integrate library content (articles, book chapters, streaming media) and services (Research Guides, Ask A Librarian service) into your GLOW courses. To that end we offer:
For assistance with library resources, contact your library liaison
For assistance with uploading content into Glow, contact your ITech liaison
Self-service
Library Service
Faculty may request scans of library materials.
To request scans: submit requests through the interlibrary loan system
All honors theses written by Williams undergraduates are treated as holdings of the Williams College Libraries. Faculty advising student honors theses should review the College's theses guidelines and share this information with their students. Faculty should be aware of guidelines and procedures, including format and title page guidelines, student/faculty release requirements, and deposit deadlines.
Students submit their thesis electronically as a pdf using our form. The faculty advisor will be asked via email to approve the student's selections regarding access to the thesis.
Theses without access restrictions are available in Unbound: Williams Online Collections.
Open Educational Resources (OER) are free or highly affordable textbooks and learning materials that can be widely shared and/or transformed with the permission of the original author.
Source: Hudson Valley Community College Course Reserves Research Guide
It is important for instructors, librarians and students to note that from a copyright law perspective, there is no distinction between traditional reserves and e-reserves. The same fair use guidelines apply to e-reserves. If the particular use of the content does not meet the fair use criteria in hard copy format, it is unlikely to be considered fair use in electronic format.
Instructional materials may be posted to GLOW or a course website under any of the following circumstances:
Contact a librarian if you have any questions about whether or not you can use a particular material in a particular way.
Curious about what Creative Commons licensing means or how you can employ it to share your materials and protect them at the same time? Check out the Creative Commons Licensing research guide from Hudson Valley Community College.