Faculty Services
JMU Libraries offers expertise in librarianship, educational technology, archives, instructional design, and so much more. We also manage physical and online collections to support your research and teaching.
If you’re not a faculty member or instructor, switch to our resources for students, staff, graduate students, or visitors.
We’re here to help you:
Teach
Get Expert Advice to Support Your Teaching:
- Artificial intelligence (AI): To help you learn about AI and critically examine its implications and effects, we offer information and resources on generative AI.
- Canvas Help: We provide Canvas (JMU’s course management system) and can help you use Canvas effectively.
- Course evaluations: We manage JMU’s course evaluation tool, Blue, which is integrated into Canvas and MyMadison as “Course Evaluation Task.” See the course evaluation schedule and Blue Instructor Guide for more information.
- Instructional design: Request a consultation on designing and developing accessible and engaging assignments, courses, and more. Our instructional design services can also help you meaningfully integrate educational technologies into the academic experience.
- Media production: We can help you create videos, audio, graphics, and more to support your teaching. Learn more about our Audio/Video Studios, other media production support for faculty, and related services from The Makery.
- Personalized support for using educational technologies: Our Learning Innovations & Design Desk team offers expert advice on using classroom technology, academic software, and more. Learn about all of our educational technology services for faculty.
- Workshops and training: Take a faculty workshop to enhance your teaching in traditional, online, or blended environments.
Provide Course Materials to Your Students:
- Affordable course materials: Consider these ways you can make course materials more affordable for your students.
- Course reserves: Use course reserves to place high-demand materials on reserve for students.
- Digital accessibility of course materials: Visit our Digital Accessibility (Title II) Support page to learn how we can help you apply digital accessibility principles to your digital class environments.
- Open educational resources: Open textbooks and other open educational resources are affordable and accessible for students and customizable for instructors. Learn how to find open course materials or request a consultation on open educational resources.
- Video content for courses: Learn how to find video content for your courses. Find other videos available through JMU Libraries.
Try Our Self-Paced Learning Opportunities:
- Asynchronous online learning options: Try one of our self-paced learning opportunities for faculty. Dive into topics such as accessibility, digital learning environments, AI, or open textbooks.
- LinkedIn Learning: You can also access on-demand learning on a variety of topics with LinkedIn Learning.
- Digital accessibility resources: Explore our self-paced digital accessibility resources.
- Guides to online & hybrid teaching: Check out our guide for online or hybrid teaching.
- Best practices in teaching & learning: Our Readings about Teaching site offers a curated list of books on inclusive teaching practices, the science of learning, and more.
Collaborate With Us on Teaching and Learning:
- Workshops for your courses: Invite us into your in-person or online classroom. In addition to our instruction sessions on research, technology, information literacy, and Special Collections, we also offer sessions on copyright and intellectual property and data literacy.
- Digital class projects: Digital assignments such as podcasts, oral histories, timelines, maps, or data visualizations can promote engaged learning and a sense of belonging. Request a consultation to get our help leveraging critical digital pedagogy and inclusion-oriented strategies as you design a digital assignment.
- Library Futures Classroom: A flexible, library-based learning laboratory where faculty and students experiment with how space, technology, and pedagogy shape learning. Located on the second floor of Carrier Library in the Stan and Rosemary Jones Wing. Faculty can apply to teach in the space, explore new approaches to teaching and learning, and partner with Libraries staff to test ideas and technologies that may shape future classrooms.
- 3D printing classroom: Our 3SPACE classroom, located in Lakeview Hall room 1102, is a library-supported digital fabrication classroom where students and faculty use 3D printing and prototyping to support hands-on learning across disciplines. Faculty can request to teach in this space and partner with Libraries staff to test ideas and technologies.
Get Classroom Support:
- Classroom technologies: Contact the Learning Innovations & Design Desk for help with projectors, microphones, and other classroom technology or classroom equipment.
Find & Borrow our Collections and Scholarly Resources
- Articles, books and more: Use Library Search to find books, e-books, articles, and more. If you can’t find what you need, Ask the Library is here to help you.
- How to borrow items: Your JACard is your library card. Learn more about our borrowing services.
- Databases, journals, video, and more: Visit our online resources page for details on accessing journals, databases, video, and more. Learn how to connect from off-campus when needed.
- Delivery services: Get library books or materials delivered to your departmental mailbox or try our other delivery services.
- Scanned articles and chapters: We can scan articles and book chapters for you, whether they are in our collections or only available from other libraries.
- Interlibrary Loan (ILL): When you need a resource that’s not in JMU’s collections, request it from Interlibrary Loan. We use our global network of libraries to do our best to get your item to you quickly and free of charge.
- Newspapers & magazines: Access the Washington Post, New York Times, and other newspapers using our subscriptions. You can also read popular and industry magazines through Flipster. Visit our Newspapers and Magazines guide or see our full list of news-related databases.
- Music: Find music in all its forms in our Music Library. Check out CDs, sheet music, vinyl, and more—or stream a wide range of music online.
- Special Collections: Special Collections is our repository for rare and unique materials, with a focus on the history of JMU and the Shenandoah Valley.
Research & Create
- Academic software: JMU Libraries provides a variety of academic software to catalyze your research and teaching.
- AI in research: We offer an Artificial Intelligence and Research guide as one of our AI Resources for Faculty. You can also review our Ethical Considerations When Using Content with AI page or request a consultation.
- Data services: We can help you and your students learn how to plan, manage, share, and preserve your research data. Visit our Data Services page to learn more.
- Equipment: You and your students can borrow equipment such as laptops, cameras, and microphones. Our Music Library also offers equipment to check out. The Makery offers additional media production and makerspace equipment. HDMI cables and disc drives are available to check out from the Ask The Library Desk in Rose Library.
- Liaison librarians: When you have research questions, contact your department’s liaison librarian, a subject expert who can help you and your students with discipline-specific research.
- Publishing at JMU: We provide holistic support for scholarly communications, offering consultations on open publishing, copyright and author rights, finding a journal for publication, and more.
- Printing & scanning: JMU Libraries offers pay-per-page printing and free scanning.
- Research guides: Our research guides, created by JMU librarians, provide our best resources in a variety of disciplines. Your department’s liaison librarian may also be able to create a research guide for a course.
- Research methods, data management, and statistics: Plan and conduct your research with our four guides: Qualitative Data Analysis, Quantitative Data Analysis, Data Management, and AI and Research. Sage Research Methods also offers info about statistics and research methods.
- Scholarly Commons: Share your scholarship worldwide by adding it to JMU’s open-access institutional repository. Check out our top 6 reasons to add your work to the JMU Scholarly Commons.
- Makerspaces: Our makerspaces in Carrier Library and Rose Library encourage creativity, brainstorming, exploring, rethinking, problem-solving and curiosity by offering technologies, software, equipment, and workshops. The Makery is especially eager to collaborate on course assignments and research projects.
- Video, photography, and graphic design services: We can help you create videos, audio, graphics, and more to support your scholarly publications and research. Learn more about our Audio/Video Studios, other media production support for faculty, and related services from The Makery.
- Accessing data on obsolete devices: We offer services and resources to help you access data saved on obsolete devices or older media.
Learn More
- Library locations: Learn about our four library locations.
- Fun things to do with JMU Libraries: View our Fun Reads & Movies guide. Learn about our Community Seed Library, book displays, and more in Fun Things to Do in JMU Libraries.
- We’re here to help! Visit our Get Help page if you’re not sure where to start. We look forward to working with you!