The Elihu Burritt library; How to use and utilize it
The library is one of the most essential sources on campus for a student, if not the most. During any selected semester students may be required to do research for term papers and presentations, depending on the course, the library is a one stop spot for almost anything you may need. They have a countless number of hardcopy books, magazines, catalogs and articles to choose from and not to mention the numerous amounts of online database and search engines in almost every subject area you can think of. Another great and advantageous thing is that you are not just limited to the resources at the Elihu Burritt library on the CCSU campus but is open to all the other Connecticut state universities, Southern, Eastern and Western and also the state libraries. A request for a book usually takes about 2-3 days but an online pdf article can be downloaded instantaneously, and this is all free of charge. The library has four floors and eight stacks, 2 per floor. The first floor has the main circulation desk where a book has to be checked out. It also has the Jazzman’s Café where you can get treats while utilizing the library. There are public computers on this floor along with a photocopier and a printer. The first floor was recently renovated and features a very stylish seating and lounge area for students, it has restrooms, which is quite nice if I may add. Also on the first floor is the Student Athlete academic center, where student athletes can go to study or get tutored. This center was specially designed for the student athletes who have to maintain a certain GPA to continue being athletes, they are required to be in the center at least 8 hours per week. Stacks 1 and 2 are on that floor, Stack 1 has the collection development and microforms, where some books were put on film, they no longer do that but there are a few remaining from before. Stack 2 consists of the Polish heritage collection, most of articles were donated by New Britain’s large polish population. On the second floor you can find special collections and rare books, there is also the Caribbean studies center, where you can find books on West Indian heritage. Stacks 3 and 4 are on this floor and has books by subject area. The books are stored based on the library of congress classification system and can found using the library database called CONSULS (which stands for Connecticut State Universities Library System) and again you can search all 4 Connecticut state universities and the state library for books but you can also limit your search to just CCSU if necessary. There are a lot of books in the library and they are divided based on the congress classification system, Stack 3 consists of A-G and Stack 4 H-N. On the third floor are Stack 5 and 6 and they consist of circulating books P-PZ and Q-Z respectively. In Stack 5 is a lot of Dissertation Abstracts. On the same floor is the reference desk where you can go to get help finding a book or article or just general help. They are also available online or you can call or text with any questions and they will be happy to help. There are computers on this floor equipped with Microsoft office and you can do papers and research from any one of these computers, there is also a copier and a printer on this floor. On this floor is also the Curriculum Laboratory where you find educational resources. The Italian resource center and the library instruction classroom is located on this floor. On the fourth floor is where you can find print journals, newspapers and magazines, also Cds, DVDs, music can be found in the media room. There are TVs and DVD players that the students can utilize in the media room. Stacks 7 and 8 is on this floor and consists of bound magazines and journals and which is stored in alphabetical order, Stack 7 is A-I and Stacks 8 is J-K. Different issues of different magazines and journals are bounded together over a period
