Faculty Services

Teaching and Research Support

The Goddard Library staff is dedicated to providing faculty with the support they need for their teaching, research, and publishing. The Clark Faculty Guide provides an overview of many of the opportunities available to all Clark faculty members.

Library staff provide services and support in the following areas:

• Library and information literacy instruction — in person, by video conference, or through Canvas — covering topics such as:
  • Identifying topics
  • Determining keywords
  • Determining appropriate databases and search tools
  • Developing a scholarly voice
  • Using sources appropriately and citing them accurately (including training on citation tools such as Endnote and Zotero)

Request Library Instruction Session

• Robust research support for faculty, undergraduate, and graduate students across disciplines
• Assistance locating hard-to-find scholarship, data, and resources on the web and through libraries around the globe
• Guidance on publishing venues and formats — from traditional formats to open access
• Assistance with embedding library resources in Canvas course sites
• Borrowing and acquiring materials through robust interlibrary loan and document delivery services
• Access to and digitization of archival materials
• Assistance with citation metrics and publishing analytics (h-index, impact factors, etc.)
• Assistance with building and maintaining academic and scholarly profiles (ORCID, LinkedIn, Google Scholar, and more)

Recommend Purchases

All members of the Clark community may recommend materials to be reviewed for acquisition by the Goddard Library. Library staff review requests for books, e-books, journals, research databases, and more, and consider a variety of factors when making purchasing decisions.

Recommend a purchase

Course Reserves

The Reserves Collection provides access to materials that are required or recommended for courses offered at Clark University. We offer assistance obtaining access to materials in all formats, including print books, e-books, electronic articles, excerpts scanned from larger works, videos, and more.

Request Materials for Course Reserves

Browse Current Course Reserve Lists

Canvas Support

Instructors are able to provide access to the Library’s digital resources directly from their Canvas site! The Library encourages instructors to use permanent links (also known as “permalinks”) to not only enable efficient and reliable access to these resources, but to also ensure Clark Librarians have accurate usage data to inform future investments in these valuable tools. To learn more about locating and using permalinks visit the Library’s Clark Faculty Guide.

Contact the staff of the Library with any questions, or for guidance on embedding materials in Canvas courses.

Textbook Notice

Only as a rare exception will the library purchase a textbook that does not contribute to our collection beyond its use in a course. A textbook is defined as “a trade book issued in a separate edition specifically for the use of students enrolled in a course of study. The format may be altered to make it more useful, for example, by the addition of study questions and bibliographies at the end of each section or chapter.”

Visit the Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science

Copyright Notice

The library must operate within United States copyright law. All materials must be obtained and used in compliance with Title 17 of the United States Code. Note: The library makes no guarantee that a given request can be fulfilled.

Processing Timeline

Course Reserves order requests are processed in the order in which they are received. Because they are handled in high volumes on a semesterly basis, instructors should allow for up to four weeks’ processing time on the materials they request. Instructors are encouraged to order materials as early as possible to help ensure their requests are processed in time for the start of the semester.

For further questions, please contact library@clarku.edu or reserve_desk@clarku.edu.

Open Access and Open Educational Resources

OER

Open Educational Resources (OER) are “teaching, learning, and research materials in any medium — digital or otherwise — that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.” (UNESCO, 2019, “Open Educational Resources”)

Recommendations

While many large OER collections have been created to help educators discover resources, the number of choices can seem overwhelming. Library staff is happy to make recommendations on resources and collections to fit your needs.

Benefits

In addition to lower costs, open resources offer many other benefits, including customization and expansion of existing class material, clearly defined usage rights, and community-building through the sharing and resharing of resources.

Find links to collections, resources, grant information, and how-to videos