Welcome to the San Diego State University Library! We are excited to welcome our students, faculty, and staff back into the library this Fall following an extraordinary experience helping you through a remote or hybrid learning environment last year. Together, we worked to keep the library at the heart of scholarship, innovation, creativity, and community at SDSU, and we look forward to continuing that work with all of you this year, whether you are visiting us physically, digitally, or both.
If you are new to SDSU, or returning for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, I encourage you to “take a look at the library” as you prepare to return to campus. Please also take a moment to review our guide to “reopening policies.” These policies, which may evolve during the year, are designed to promote health and safety as part of the university’s continuing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you have any questions about what you need to do to enter the library, how we are adapting to the university’s policy on the use of facial coverings, or any changes to traditional library services this year, please begin here. And, of course, for these (and any other) questions, you can also ask a librarian.
We are here to help you to succeed in the classroom and to develop critical thinking skills that will also help you in co-curricular activities and the workplace. Our subject-specialist librarians can provide you with research assistance from your first-year writing course to your senior capstone to your graduate thesis. You may also see librarians in your classes, collaborating with faculty colleagues to help you find the resources and technology you need to complete course assignments and to develop and demonstrate the information and digital literacy skills essential for success. As we navigate the return to face-to-face services, we are here for our students and faculty, answering reference questions, providing IT help, conducting in-depth research consultations, guest-lecturing in the classroom, collaborating on the design of course assignments, and delivering research guides and tutorials that can be integrated into online classes or delivered to your desktop. The library is also home to other essential campus resources for student success, including tutoring programs offered by our partners in The Writing Center, Math & Stats Learning Center, and Supplemental Instruction. Please visit their pages for information about scheduling tutoring, both in-person and online.
The library is home to extraordinary print, media, and digital collections, including more than 2.5 million volumes, 100,000 journal titles, and 450 databases. Many of these resources are available to you, 24/7, through the library web site. The department of Special Collections and University Archives holds our rarest and most distinctive collections, with strengths in Children’s Literature, Comic Books and Graphic Media, Speculative Fiction, San Diego History, Social Justice, Religious Studies, and Women’s Studies. Many library materials can be requested online and picked up at a library service desk, or through contactless delivery at a book locker, and many rare and archival materials can be accessed through digital collections.
The library is also home to some of the most accessible information technology on campus, including computer labs, technology-enhanced classrooms, and high-performance computing clusters. Innovation in teaching, learning, and scholarship is promoted through library spaces including the build IT makerspace and Digital Humanities Center. You can also access an array of software available on library workstations and online tutorials and virtual programs are available through build IT and the DHC.
Finally, the library is the hub for campus and community-based programs, and you will soon find student groups, faculty presentations, and public events at the library. Our community is represented though services, collections, and programs that reflect our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice, including our newest partnership with the Latinx Resource Center. The library is at the center of learning at SDSU and we welcome the opportunity to collaborate with students, faculty, and community groups to provide a platform for public engagement and lifelong learning.
We hope you will explore all that the library has to offer you, physically and digitally, during another extraordinary year in the life of our university. I look forward to seeing you and to joining with my colleagues to ensure that you have the resources you need to meet your goals at the university.
If you'd like to know more about library activities and initiatives, please visit this collection of stories from SDSU News Center.
Scott Walter, MLS, PhD
Dean, University Library