A New Semester, A New Building, And A New Beginning

Fall Semester 2021 officially kicked off in full swing August 23rd at the School of Health Sciences in Central Islip, housed with the Touro Law School. This new semester brings to students a chance to either continue their excellence or turn over a new leaf and start the path toward excellence that is found in the hallowed halls of Touro.  Speaking of halls, a brand-new building awaits the School of Health Sciences students who were previously housed at the now defunct Bay Shore location.   

Introducing “UAsk…WeAnswer!”

The elbow bump: a social distancing-approved “howdy.” Image by J slick / CC BY-SA

Do you engage in the time-honored tradition of staying awake throughout the night to prepare for exams or produce written assignment? Perhaps you need the quiet of the small hours, or the focus that only a fast-approaching deadline can provide. Would you rather start your work when all the people around you are fluffing their pillows and ducking under their blankies? Only you (and possibly your family, friends, and significant other) know if you are a night-owl. There is no shame in your game! But what do you do when the world is on a 9-5 schedule and you are not?

Don’t worry — the Touro Libraries have got you! We offer remote reference through “U Ask…We Answer!” an instant messaging service powered by Springshare Library Software and your helpful Touro Libraries librarians. We are online 12/24 (9 to 9 EST, or thereabouts) 5 days per week, waiting to Chat with you. You can reach us from the QuickSearch results page, by clicking on the “Chat Live” tab located at the upper right corner:

Or by clicking the Ask-A-Librarian image in the upper right corner of the Libraries homepage:

When we are online, the Chat portion of the page will contain several blank text fields. We request your name, Touro email address, campus location and question. This information will be transferred to the librarian waiting online, at the ready to assist.

But what happens when we are not online, and you still have a question? You have some options. You can always email us your question, and we will email you with a written response. To do this, click on the email icon:

A form will magically appear where you can input your question and email address.

You will receive your answer within 24-48 hours.

Yikes! That’s a long time, especially when time is of the essence. But as I said, we’ve got you! If you didn’t reach us on Chat because you didn’t think of your question until after midnight, there is a second option.

“The Thinker” by Rodin, photographed by Andrew Horne.

You can search the FAQs (frequently asked questions) contained in the UAsk… WeAnswer! knowledge base.

When we are offline, put a keyword in the blank text box and search. Questions previously asked using that keyword will be returned, and you can review any or all answers.

You also have the option of searching the knowledge base at any time, even when we are on Chat, by clicking on the question mark icon.

This search will give you access to all the previously asked question and answer sets (asked by actual Touro students, faculty, alumni and staff), but arranged by popularity and currency.

You can search by keyword, topic, or, if you are in the mood, browse through all question and answer sets. As more questions are asked, additional FAQs will be added to the knowledge base. Hopefully, this will increase the likelihood that your question will be included. While you might not find the answer to “How do I get the PDF of an article I need right now?” the FAQs will explain why it wasn’t in the databases and further action for you to take to obtain it. At 2 a.m., it’s sure better than nothing.

This post was contributed by Carol Schapiro, Librarian, Midtown Library

International Students

Sun Hee Choi, Assistant Director of International Student Services

When I first contacted Sun Hee Choi last year about giving a presentation to the International students about the library, she replied with great enthusiasm and welcomed the library’s reaching out to her. Since then we have kept in touch, and this February she again invited the library to be part of the orientation that her office provides for International students at the beginning of the semester.

2016 Survey Results: Responding To Your Responses

(CC image)

In December, we ran our annual User Satisfaction Survey asking students, faculty, and staff about their experiences with Touro libraries over the past year. Your responses give us insight into how we can improve our services and offerings. We value your feedback, so we’d like to share some trends we noticed and our responses to the most common issues mentioned.

Going Places: A New Semester at Touro

Happy first day of classes! The library would like to welcome all of our students, both new and returning. We hope to be seeing a lot of you over the next academic year.

If this is your first semester, it’s possible you’ve relied on Google to complete most of your coursework up to this point. You might even get by for a while in college, but sooner or later, you’re going to hit a wall…

Fall For Touro

What does the fall semester at Touro have in store for you?
Let us know! #FallForTouro

Happy first day of classes! The library would like to welcome all of our students, both new and returning. We hope to be seeing a lot of you over the next academic year.

If this is your first semester, it’s possible you’ve relied on Google to complete most of your coursework up to this point. You might even get by for a while in college, but sooner or later, you’re going to hit a wall…

iPads availble for check-out!

iPads have officially landed at Touro College Libraries!  And the best part? You can use your Touro ID card to check out an iPad just as you would a book, from the collections at the Bay Shore, Midtown, and Midwood locations.