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Welcome to UC Irvine's Jack Langson Library. To begin this tour, you should be standing in the lobby on the second floor of the building, looking toward the large glass display cases, and facing away from the entrance. The Langson Library is one of the eight original buildings on campus, designed by architect William Pereira in 1965. This library contains the collections and services that support research and teaching in the Arts, Humanities, Education, Social Sciences, Social Ecology, and Business & Management.
To your left, you'll see the Loan Desk. This is where you can go to activate your library card and check out and return books. This is also where you'll find course reserves material. When professors want their students to read a certain book or journal article, they'll often put it on reserve, which means that each item has a brief, 2-hour loan period, so each student in the class has a chance to check it out. Also, some reserve materials are available electronically. Check the Course Reserves section on the Libraries homepage for more information.
Around the far corner of the Loan Desk, you'll find the Interlibrary Loan desk. If students, faculty or staff members need a book or journal that we don't have here at UCI, they can request it through Interlibrary Loan. Our Interlibrary Loan staff will locate the item at another university, and have it delivered here.
Looking straight ahead, you should see an exhibit case. The library showcases materials from our Special Collections and Archives on a rotating basis, so be sure to check out these exhibits when you visit.
To your right is a glass wall with built-in bookcases, which is where we keep new fiction. On the other side of the glass wall is the current periodicals area. This section of the library houses the latest issues of academic journals and popular magazines, as well as domestic and international newspapers. Older issues of newspapers are also stored on microfilm in this area. There are some comfy chairs and study tables in there, too, so make yourself at home!
The next part of this tour will take you down to the first floor. Pause your mp3 player while you take the elevator to your right, next to the current periodicals area, and go one floor down. Once you get out of the elevator, take several steps forward, and resume the tour.
Please pause your mp3 player now.
You are now on the first floor of the library. The computer workstations you see on this floor are available for anyone to use-- no ID or sign-up necessary. These Windows XP PCs feature Internet Explorer, Firefox, the Microsoft Office suite, and more. There are also a number of outlets available on this floor- perfect for keeping your laptop plugged in while you study.
The library's reference collection is located to your left. Because reference materials such as encyclopedias and dictionaries can only be used inside the library building, many students make copies of the information they need using one of the copy machines located throughout the library. Networked printers are also available on each floor of the building. You can use these copiers and printers by purchasing a pre-paid card from dispensers located on the first, second, third, and fourth floors of the building.
To the right of the elevators, you'll see the Reference Desk. This is where you go to get your research questions answered. Friendly librarians are eager to help you out, so don't be shy! And, if you're in need of personalized research help, make a half-hour, one-on-one Research Consultation appointment with a librarian.
Directly across from the Reference Desk is the Multimedia Resources Center. This is where we house everything that isn't in print. In other words, DVDs, videos, CDs and other types of media. There are televisions with headphones for viewing video, and computers loaded with advanced software. Students, staff, and faculty can also check out wireless laptops from the Multimedia Resources Center. Use of this facility requires a UCI ID.
To the far right side of this floor, you'll see the East Asian collection, which contains Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language materials covering a variety of subjects.
The next tour stop is the basement. Take the elevator one floor down. When you exit the elevator, proceed several steps to your right, until you're standing in an open area in front of a large study table and several computers.
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Welcome to the recently renovated library basement. In addition to the fourth floor, this is one of the officially designated quiet study areas in the building, whereas the first and third floors are best for group study. On this floor, you'll find government publications, oversized materials, and older issues of magazines and journals.
Take a look at the nearest bookshelves on this floor, and you might notice that these shelves are a little different from the usual! There's no space in between most of the shelves. Compact shelving is designed to save space in the library, allowing more room for our collections to keep growing. Take a few steps past the study table toward the shelves that are labeled with the letter P, and try using the compact shelving.
Once you're standing in front of the shelves, go to the nearest open aisle. Check to see to see that it's clear of any people or obstructions, and press the stop/reset button. When you see the green light on the button panel, you can proceed to the shelf you want to access, press one of the arrow buttons on that shelf, and watch the shelves move!
This was the last stop on your library tour, but there are a few more things we'd like to share with you. The majority of our books are located on the third and fourth floors, but you can explore those areas on your own, at your leisure. The third floor also features the Southeast Asian Archive, which documents the experiences of refugees and immigrants from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam in the United States, with a special focus on Southeast Asians in Orange County and California. Also, don't miss the library's Special Collections and Archives, located on the fifth floor. Lots of rare books and manuscripts are kept there, including a First Folio edition of Shakespeare's plays, printed in 1623. So be sure to stop by, especially if you're looking for primary sources for your research. And remember, if you need help finding a book or article, ask a librarian! We hope you've enjoyed this tour and will make the library your home away from home here at UCI.
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