The Library and the Reference Department offer its patrons a wide variety of services. Some of these include:
Research Assistance
Information specialists are available 86 hours a week in the Reference Department to provide research assistance to students, faculty and staff. This highly trained faculty regularly answers a wide variety of questions from the most basic to the more advanced. Students often seek help in choosing and using the proper database or finding the right book. But the large percentage of queries are more advanced and require extensive knowledge of all the Library’s databases and collections. These questions can involve limiting searches to scholarly research or peer-reviewed publications or locating that most esoteric bibliographic reference from the 1700’s. Faculty are frequent users of the valuable assistance provided them in their research efforts.
Telephone Assistance
is available and is particularly effective with remote access navigation. Please feel free to contact us at (516) 299-2305 or (516) 299-2306.
Electronic Reference Service
You can chat online with a librarian. For the more intricate questions, try our email reference service. A librarian checks the department email daily and tries to responds in a timely fashion. Long Island University patrons are given priority.
In addition to online reference assistance, email assistance, telephone assistance, and, of course, visiting the library in person, students and faculty can also Book a Librarian to get intensive one-on-one research assistance and undivided attention. The library has many online and hardcopy resources that most people are unaware of, and the databases have advanced features for pulling up the desired results. People often think that they've tried all the possibilities and become convinced that the information that they need does not exist when there are still many more options. Please feel free to make an appointment using this form or by calling 516-299-4138 for a private consultation with a librarian.
Database Instruction for Faculty
For faculty members who want to find out more about the library's databases but can't come to us: we'll come to you! The library is offering a new program for faculty in which you can make an appointment for a librarian to come to your office at your convenience to demonstrate the latest databases. If you prefer, you can make an appointment for instruction in the library. Just email or call Jean Uhl, chair of the Library Liaison Committee (juhl@liu.edu, x2837), or Larry Kirschenbaum (ljkirsch@liu.edu, x2704) to make the appointment or for further details.
The Reference Department has a wide variety of instructional programs for classes and individuals covering the use of databases and other resources. Specialized instruction is also available from other library departments.
Interlibrary loan serves to expand the range of publications available to the C.W. Post community. Faculty and students may request that publications not owned by C.W. Post be borrowed from other libraries on a local and national level.
All librarians participate in the Library Liaison program. This is another collaborative effort on the part of the Library to reach out to the faculty and partner with them to improve the collections and services of the Library. Each department is assigned a library liaison who filters information about new Library databases, services, programs, etc. through each academic department’s liaison. In turn, the department liaison alerts us to new courses, programs, etc. so that we can better meet and adapt to changing departmental and curricular needs and anticipate future needs.
Collection Development
The librarians try to anticipate future curricular needs and trends by ordering relevant items for the collection in print and electronic form. Your suggestions are welcomed. Please visit the Acquisitions Department website to make a recommendation.
Library Services