Services to the Community

Welcome to the Libraries of the University of California, San Diego. These outstanding collections and services have been designed for UCSD faculty, students and staff. The libraries collect, organize, preserve and provide access to a diverse array of information resources in support of the University's goals of excellence in research and teaching.

While the UCSD Libraries are staffed and funded to serve the scholarly needs of the University of California faculty, students, and staff, we welcome visitors to the Libraries. We are proud to be able to provide the San Diego community with access to a major academic research library. Since priority is given to UCSD's faculty, students, and staff, services for our visitors are provided subject to availability of staff and resources. Visitors are subject to additional restrictions on their use of the Libraries in addition to observing the UCSD Libraries Use and Conduct Code.

Collections are selected to support the instructional and research needs of the UCSD academic community. Visitors may not find the same kinds of information or resources that they encounter in a neighborhood library. While it is the policy of the UCSD Libraries to provide reasonable access to the collections for all categories of users, the UCSD Libraries make a distinction between access (library use) and borrowing (home use) privileges. In general, visitors may use the collections within the Libraries but cannot borrow materials for use at home without a library privilege card. Borrowing privileges are accorded to visitors only by policy or by specific arrangement. Residents of California, 18 years of age or older, may apply for a library privilege card.

UCSD has entered into license agreements with the producers of various copyrighted databases, many of which limit use of their services to University faculty, staff, and students. Visitor use is either prohibited or limited to incidental on site use for non-commercial purposes. Remote access to licensed databases is not available to visitors. Brief use restrictions are posted on opening screens for all databases. Please ask at one of the Libraries' reference desks if you require additional information about license restrictions.

Services Available to Visitors

• Assistance using the online catalogs
• Access to many library resources on a self-help basis
• Brief answers to user reference queries (for queries that require extensive research, please see suggestions below)
• Assistance in locating appropriate collections and services
• Limited telephone and e-mail assistance. Telephone and e-mail requests will be handled along with in-person requests in the order received.

For more extensive service than UCSD Libraries staff can provide, visitors should consult their own institutions' libraries or their public libraries. As another option, the UCSD Libraries have established a fee-based service for community users, PLUS Information Services (858-534-8622). This service offers specialized reference assistance, interlibrary loan, and other services on a cost-recovery basis. Please ask at one of the Libraries' service desks for more details on our fee-based services.