Electronic Reference Service Policy

1. Electronic Reference Service provides answers to brief factual questions, such as checking citations; locating addresses and/or telephone numbers; verifying information for a specific book or journal; checking library holdings; and providing basic guidance regarding library research on a topic.
2. Responses will be given only to our primary clientele: USM faculty, staff and students.
3. An intitial response is normally provided as soon as possible within 48 hours, except on weekends, University holidays (check the USM Academic Calendar) and unscheduled closings.
4. Users who have questions about Library policy or procedures are referred to the appropriate Library staff member or administrator for a response, with acknowledgement to the requester.
5. Circulation transaction requests, such as renewals or placing holds, Interlibrary Loan requests and purchase recomendations are not to be handled through this service. Users making such requests will be referred to the appropriate department, or be asked to use the Interlibrary Loan web-based forms via the library's website.

This service can be accessed via the library's website at any time using the following URL address: http://maine.cb.docutek.com/usm/