1996-1997 catalog

Library

The Elmer E. Rasmuson Library is the largest in the state, with more than 1.75 million volumes. Highly qualified and innovative library faculty and staff, together with computer and telecommunication links, help students access information whether in the UAF collections or found through the expanding web of international information resources.

The library also provides extensive reference and instructional services to students. The library information and research course, LS 101, is part of the core curriculum and teaches research methods and how to find and use information in a variety of disciplines.

Electronic catalogs give access to the Rasmuson book collections, as well as to some 5.5 million titles held at our sister University of Alaska systemwide institutions, as well as to libraries in the Pacific Northwest and nationwide. The computer network also provides periodical and newspaper indexes, a government documents index, an electronic encyclopedia and a statistical index. Document delivery and interlibrary loan services allow UAF students to borrow, at no charge, materials owned by other libraries.

Databases cover resources for the humanities, the social sciences, education, management, engineering and the sciences, with special attention to arctic and polar regions information. The electronic indexes provide more than 26 million citations. This network is available at terminals in the library, through the university computer network and through dial-up access. SLED, the Statewide Library Electronic Doorway, gives students access to Internet resources.

Special collections include world-class Alaska and Polar Regions Collections, covering books, periodicals, archives, manuscripts, historical photographs, oral histories and maps. The Rasmuson Library is also a federal documents depository, receiving 65 percent of the materials published by the U.S. Government Printing Office.

The Rasmuson Library Division of Computing and Communications is responsible for campus-wide academic computing, library computing, campus networking and UAF administrative systems. This includes electronic mail (e-mail), two public computer labs and a computer node, mini-computers used for academic computing and connection of computers to the campus network. Windows, DOS-compatible Macintosh and Apple II computers are available for use in the library computing node. The division provides consulting, training seminars, documentation, programming support and access to public domain software to the UAF students, faculty and staff.

The BioSciences Library, located in the Arctic Health Research Building on the West Ridge, is a branch of the Rasmuson Library. Collections in the Bio-Sciences Library number approximately 76,000 volumes, the majority of which are periodicals.

For further information, contact the Rasmuson Library director's office at (907) 474-7224 or 474-6744 (TTY).