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Ask a Librarian E-Mail

Questions entered into the form below will be answered in a timely fashion, usually within 24 hours. This service is offered to the JMU community in order to provide brief library and reference information to individuals working from remote sites.

Visit our main Ask a Librarian page for more options including in-person, phone, and chat.

Please fill out the following form completely (fields in RED are required.)

Name:

Telephone Number :

E-Mail Address
(you must have an email address to use this service)
:

Are you JMU faculty, student, or staff ?

Enter your question here (include as much detail as possible) :


 

       About this service :

 
Who can use this service?
Email reference service is available to JMU faculty, staff, and students. An effort will be made to answer questions from the general public, however priority will be assigned to requests from the JMU community.
What kind of questions can I ask?
  • "Ready Reference" questions. May include addresses, phone numbers, or brief factual information.
  • Citation verification.
  • Guidance in the use of information resources, including strategies for database searching. Help in searching JMU Library Catalog.
  • Guidance on how to begin research for a term paper or class project.
What kind of questions can't I ask?
  • Request for books, articles, or other library materials. Look for book or journal titles in JMU Library Catalog. JMU faculty, staff, and students can use Interlibrary Loan to request books or articles not available at JMU.
  • Requests for lists of article citations. (We can guide you to appropriate resources and help you formulate searches.)
How quickly can I expect an answer?

Within 24 hours on weekdays. We will make an effort to respond within 24 hours on weekends, however response time may increase on weekends due to staffing concerns.

What's really happening when I submit my question?

The text of your question is sent in an email message to the Public Services Desk at Carrier Library. A reference librarian will review your question and respond directly to you. You can then correspond directly with that librarian.

A note on confidentiality.

Messages sent via Ask A Librarian are kept confidential by library staff. However, users should be advised that messages are only as private and secure as other JMU e-mail messages. Questions may be re-used in order to evaluate services and collections, or to create FAQ pages, but in such cases, will have all identifying information removed.

 

  
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