Bronco Ready Library Guide

Your High School Library: 

• The library may have been one room with one librarian, and maybe a few student assistants

• The librarian had general knowledge of many subjects

• Visiting the library was usually with your class and teacher

•  Help was available during high school hours

•  Opening hours were limited to the regular school hours

•  Online resources were probably limited to a small number of general subject databases

•  Google may have been your primary research source

•  High school has teachers, some with master's degree and a few with doctorate degrees

Your College Library, The Albertsons Library:

• The Library is four floors, over 200,000 square feet, hosts a coffee shop, provides over 110 computers for student use, over 670,000 books, and supplies over 1,100 seats for studying and research

• There is a team of professional librarians with faculty status, many support staff, and of student assistants

• The opportunity to consult one-to-one with a professional librarian who has strong knowledge and subject specialization

• Research help is available in person or online

• During the semester the library is open 103 hours per week, and only closes a handful of days a year

• There are over 280 online subject specific and scholarly databases, of which almost all are available via remote access

• If the library doesn't own a book or have an article you need, Interlibrary Loan will try to get this for you from another library without charge

• Google and Wikipedia will no longer be your main ways of researching and learning

• You must prove that you read the sources by providing correct citations - plagiarism is a serious offence in the university

• You will be responsible for your own education -- assignments, attending class, managing studying time, and keeping up with work

• Help may not come your way unless you ask for it

• Library research has different expectations and can be more complicated

• Term papers won't work with only 1 source -- you'll need a sufficient number of sources to make your point believable

Librarians are available to assist students with finding and using resources, both print & electronic items, in the library.

We can assist you in:

• Using the library catalog to find print and electronic books on your topic.
• Finding materials on the shelves.
• Identify the best articles and books for your paper or project.
• Finding a book or article based on a citation.
• Determining which databases are best for researching a particular topic.
• Assist with building successful search strategies.
• Citing materials.
• Explain how you can borrow materials from other libraries or get copies of journal articles not available in our electronic databases.
• And much more.

Click here to Meet the Librarians

Virtual Reference & One-on-One Research Support

We're available to meet virtually Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursday from 11-2PM

To connect virtually with a Boise State University librarian scan the QR code.

Note: If you’re not in the Boise State network, you will need to log in using your Boise State or personal Google account to be granted access to this service.