Research and Reference Services

The Santa Clara University Library provides research support for faculty, either through services we offer or resources we provide access to.

Our services are broken down into two different categories:

• Research Support and Consultation
• Publication, Scholarly Profiles and Impact

Some of these services are self-service, such as Cabell's Directory of Publishing Opportunities, Journal Citation Reports and our Copyright Checklist: Fair Use, while others may require a conversation with a subject librarian or a library staff member.

• Support for Literature Searches
  • Librarians can help you get started with navigating your literature search.
  • We can do so by:
    • Helping to identify other relevant articles or resources for your project
    • Tracking down citations and finding full-text sources
• Research Consultations    
  • Receive one-on-one support from one of our subject librarians. These consultations are a great way to get your research started - with information about useful databases and resources, insight into your research from a librarian perspective, etc. 
  • Archives & Special Collections staff can give guidance on identifying rare and unique materials in the library collections for faculty research and teaching. Services include tips for searching the library catalog for rare books and archives, as well as consultations to help identify A&SC materials relevant to your scholarly interests
  • You can also connect with your subject librarian directly without having to go through the booking calendar.
• Research Workshops
  • Our goal with the Research Workshops is to address specific needs on campus - such as introduction to Python, scholarly profiles, etc. 
  • We are open to suggestions and partnering with you if you are interested in presenting a research workshop. 
  • Reach out to Andrew for more information
• Purchasing Materials
  • The Library can look into purchasing materials that support your research. However, there are a few things to keep in mind
    • The material must be relevant to the curriculum  - we purchase materials in support of the curriculum that is taught on campus. 
    • These materials must also be made available to the entire campus
    • They must also be reasonably priced

• Scholarly Profiles 
  • Librarians may be able to help you with managing your scholarly profiles such as: 
    • ORCID
    • Google Scholar
• Citation Management
  • While the library doesn’t currently provide subscription access to any Citation Management software, librarians may be able to provide direction on which to use
  • Free or Open Access Citation Management Software:
    • Zotero
    • EndNote Basic
• Identifying Publishing Venues
  • If you have any concerns regarding journals or other publishing venues, we provide access to Journal Citation Reports to help you assess the quality of different journals, as well as a guide on Predatory Publishing.
  • The Library provides opportunities for researchers to publish their work under an Open Access license through our Transformative Agreements with various publishers
  • Engineering and Physics Faculty: If you are interested in finding collaborators for your projects, you may browse Inspec Analytics for universities and research institutions that are working on similar projects.  
• Data Management Planning
  • If you need direction on how to develop a Data Management Plan, we have resources available for you on our Data Management Planning guide
• Scholar Commons
  • Scholar Commons is a service provided by the Library to archive and make discoverable campus research. Open access publications, student projects, theses, dissertations, pre-print and post-print articles, instructional resources, data sets, and university archival material are all candidates for deposit.
• Copyright and Fair Use
  • Have copyright questions? Reach out to our Applied Sciences Librarian, Sophia Mosbe. While she is unable to provide legal advice, she has expertise and experience in advising and assisting faculty with complying with Fair Use and understanding copyright laws.
  • Evaluate and document if your materials are aligned with Fair Use protections with out Copyright Checklist: Fair Use.
• Exhibit Space
  • The Santa Clara University Library welcomes exhibit proposals from students, faculty, staff, artists, and organizations that support the mission of Santa Clara University.
  • To learn more about our exhibit space and the process for reserving it, check out our Exhibit Policy & Application Procedure page.