University of Southern Maine

USM has three libraries: at Portland, Gorham, and Lewiston/Auburn.

Library hours vary between campuses, departments, and times of year.

USM students can use their USM card as a library card. The card must first be activated at one of the Circulation desks. You will need a library card to check out books, get materials through Interlibrary Loan, or to access library databases from outside the library. When you activate your library card, the Circulation staff will explain your library's checkout and renewal policies.

That phrase usually means that your professor has put a book, a videotape, or an article "on reserve" at the Circulation desk in each library. You can check out such material on a limited basis. The Circulation desks also have videotapes of some classes, which you can view in the library. (Please note that the library does not usually have textbooks for a particular class.)

Use URSUS, the University of Maine System online catalog, to find books, government documents, and other materials owned by all the libraries in the system. You can search URSUS by title, author, subject, or keyword. Please see a reference librarian for assistance in using URSUS, or consult one of the handouts available in each library.

Each record in URSUS indicates where an item is housed., e.g. POR for Portland; GOR for Gorham; and LEW for Lewiston/Auburn.

In addition to URSUS, the libraries offer a number of indexes and databases, both print and electronic, to assist you in finding journal articles and other information on a number of disciplines. The reference librarians will be glad to show you how to use them, and each library has handouts on searching for information.

Magazines, journals, and newspapers, called periodicals or serials, are arranged alphabetically by title in the Serials departments. Depending on the date of the articles you need, you will find them in print or in microform. Check URSUS to see if the libraries subscribe to any journal you need. You cannot check out periodicals, but you can copy articles from them.

Through URSUS, you can request books and government documents from any library in the system. When you find material you want, just click on "Request," and fill in the required information. Just give it a few days, and call to see if it has arrived If you need help requesting material through URSUS, please see a reference librarian.

You can obtain material that is not in URSUS in two ways: Maine InfoNet and Interlibrary Loan (ILL). Each time you do a search in URSUS, you will see a "Search Maine InfoNet" icon on the page. Clicking there will search a consortium of libraries throughout the state, and, if the item is found, allow you to request it online, using your USM library card barcode. If an item is not in URSUS, or in Maine InfoNet, you can request it through ILLiad.

Some articles are available through the university's databases, but some you will need to request through ILLiad. Please note that you cannot generally borrow entire journals, instead copies of specific articles are sent.

All three libraries have copy machines. (The cost of copying and printing varies by type and by library, so please check with the Circulation desk at your library.) The libraries also all have computers with Internet access, database access, and printing. To use most of the computers in the libraries, you will need to be able to log in with your university email address and password. If you have not activated that account, you must first see the University Computing office on your campus.

Circulation staff can help with policies for checking out books and requesting books through URSUS as well as general library information.

Reference staff can provide research assistance in person, on the phone, or online using either the email reference service or the interactive "ask a Librarian" service.

Interlibrary Loan can help with requesting books not available through URSUS or MaineCat.

Serials staff can help find journals in the library and assist in the use of microfilm readers.