Staff and Faculty Guide

Welcome to the Library

The Bank Street Library serves the entire Bank Street community -- graduate students, faculty, staff, children, parents, and alumni. It also serves others in the educational community because of its wide-ranging holdings in the field of early childhood education.

The Library's professional collection is interdisciplinary, and is primarily devoted to developmental psychology and early childhood education, social services to children, children's literature, special education, museum education, and bilingual education.

Reference Help

Reference help is available 9 am to 7 pm Monday through Thursday, 9 am to 5 pm on Friday, and 11 am to 6 pm on Saturday.

To ask a librarian a question after hours, go to the "ask a librarian" page or send email to: cvanhouten@bankstreet.edu.

For information about special hours or closings, or to renew a book, call the circulation desk at x4455 or check the Library homepage.

Lending Policy

All faculty and staff members of Bank Street College are entitled to use the Library. Your Bank Street ID card becomes your Library card as soon as you register at the Library circulation desk. The loan period for faculty and staff is three months, with the exception of items marked "1 week" or "reference." Periodicals, archival materials, and reference materials may not be borrowed from the Library.

There is no limit on the number of items faculty and staff may borrow, and materials may be renewed as needed. Faculty and staff are exempt from overdue fines, however, there are charges for lost or damaged materials. Please remember that everyone is held responsible for lost books.

The Library website has a vast amount of information and resources for staff and faculty. To see all that is offered, visit the website index.

Library Rules

The Library is meant for both quiet study and cooperative research, and we try to accommodate both. Please turn off all cell phones and pagers while in the Library. The back room of the Library is reserved for silent study. Carrels near the copiers are reserved for tutoring or small group study. The Library lobby also is available for group work. If someone is making too much noise, please let us know so that we may explain the Library policy to him or her.

An adult must accompany all children under the age of ten if they wish to work in the Library. Parents should not encourage children to wait for them in the Library. The Library staff is unable to provide appropriate supervision for these children and cannot be responsible for their safety. Children over the age of ten and children in the Upper School are welcome to use the Library for homework, research, or quiet reading. No children under age 18 may use the Internet in the Library without adult supervision.

Except for water bottles, eating and drinking are not permitted in the Library.

Requests for Materials

The Library appreciates suggestions for new materials from faculty and staff. We value and welcome input from the Bank Street community. If there are materials that you come across that you believe the Library should own, please let us know. Contact Nora Gaines, Acquisitions Librarian, at x4457, and give her the information.

Faculty, please remember that the sooner Nora receives course reading lists, the more likely materials will be on hand for students each semester.

Interlibrary Loan

If the Library does not own the book you are looking for, we can borrow it for you through interlibrary loan. This process can take up to two weeks, and the book is delivered here to our Library where you can pick it up.

If you need a book faster, we can refer you to another Library nearby that owns the book. As Bank Street staff, we do not have borrowing privileges at other university libraries; however we can use those libraries for reference work.

In addition, it is always a good idea to check whether The New York Public Library owns the book or journal you need. NYPL has both a branch system and a research division, and there are two separate catalogs.

Please stop by the Library and the reference librarians will be happy to show you how to search these catalogs. Anyone who works in New York City may obtain a New York Public Library card free of charge.

Electronic Resources

The Library subscribes to thousands of magazines, journals, and newspapers online. These resources can be accessed from the library, your office, or your home. To search the Library's book catalog from home, or to renew your books from home, visit the Library's catalog at: http://bank.ipac.dynixasp.com

To use the databases from home to access journals and newspapers, visit the Library's research databases page at: http://streetcat.bankstreet.edu/html/databases.html

The reference librarians will be happy to show you how to use these resources. Please stop by or give us a call at 212-875-4456.