Departments

The Office of the Dean is responsible for advancing the overall vision and strategic priorities for the University Libraries. We do this by determining budget priorities, overseeing recruitment and hiring activities, engaging our community, executing communication and marketing initiatives, and coordinating development and donor stewardship activities.

Our department also supports the technological needs of our students, faculty, staff and other patrons. This includes providing hardware and software for computing and printing, maintaining servers, offering end-user training, and delivering innovative technologies.

The Instruction and Outreach department helps the WMU community learn how to find and use information in order to make informed decisions and solve problems. Our subject librarians can consult with you in person or online to help connect you with the library resources critical to your research, teaching or learning.

We create and maintain tools such as subject and course guides, videos and tutorials. Our department also works with faculty to provide instruction for classes, customized for the research assignments students are required to complete.

Research Services provides collections and services that enhance each stage of the research process. Our work supports Western students, faculty and staff and reaches the global community. Our department members:

• Curate specialized and unique physical collections consisting of archives and regional history, special collections and rare books, and maps.
• Identify, digitize and preserve original materials and make these items available online, including collaborating with other institutions to make materials findable in many ways.
• Promote the use and creation of open educational resources to improve student learning and decrease the cost of college.
• Maintain and promote ScholarWorks, the institutional repository that houses thousands of research and scholarly papers from the WMU community, documents Western's history, and hosts open access journals available to anyone.
• Provide support at all stages of the data life cycle through consultations and workshops.
• Help create maps, graphics and visualizations to include in research and teaching.

Resource Management includes cataloging, processing and electronic resources management. We are responsible for the acquisition, processing and discovery of the Libraries’ vast collections and resources in all formats. This means making sure that all of our different platforms work together and share information.

We create lots of original metadata and finding aids so that you can find and access the resources you need through Library Search.

User Services is your first stop for help at University Libraries. Whether you need assistance finding materials, requesting items through document delivery, Interlibrary Loan, or MeLCat requests, accessing course reserves, or using public computers and printing, we’re here to help.

We can also connect you with Undergraduate Library Research Consultations—one-on-one, peer support for projects, papers and navigating library resources.

Come see us at the service desk. We look forward to meeting you!