If you are working in the Robarts Common during extended hours, you can print from the black & white printer located on the 2nd floor of the Robarts Common.
FAQs
Physical media (video, microform, etc.) may be requested via interlibrary loan.
When submitting an interlibrary loan request for such material, select "Book" in the "Publication type" field. This will ensure that you receive a physical copy of the requested material.
In some cases, if a book is recalled by another user, or under extenuating circumstances, you may receive permission to return University of Toronto items to another university library. Please contact the library that loaned you the item for more information. You can find a list of libraries here.
Yes, you can return most books to any U of T Library. Books that are on short term loan or course reserves must be returned to the library that owns the book.
Yes. Even if the library that loaned you the book is closed, books and other library items can be returned to a drop-box outside the library building or near the library entrance.
Yes! Cut and paste the ISBN (for books) or ISSN (for serial publications such as journals) into the LibrarySearch search box.
If we have the book you're looking for, it will show up in the search results.
Notice that while this book is available in Robarts Library stacks, it is also available electronically via our current HathiTrust agreement. To see it electronically, click on the link and then login into HathiTrust with your UTORid and password.
If no book is found, check that you have the correct ISBN. If we don't have the item in our collection, you can borrow it from another library through interlibrary loan.
Important:
- ISSNs have a dash in the middle (e.g. 2210-6707), but ISBNs have no dashes.
- A book may have more than one ISBN (e.g. one each for hardcover and ebook versions)
- The library catalogue entry does not always contain the ISSN or ISBN number, so always try searching the title, too.
It depends on the restrictions that your instructor requested when they put it on reserve and on which library the book is held in.
Ask the library staff member about your book when you check it out.
If you have University of Toronto Libraries borrowing privileges, you may check out books from the stacks, as long as they are not serials (i.e. print journals) or labelled with a "For use in library only" sticker.
You will need a valid TCard to check out books.
You might be eligible for borrowing privileges if you are a
- current University of Toronto student, faculty, or staff member
- University of Toronto alumni
- graduate student, faculty, or staff member from another Canadian university (with valid home university ID)
- external researcher (undergraduates not eligible).
Tap technology is not currently available at libraries on the St. George campus. Some services and vendors on campus may install tap technology in the future.
You will swipe (rather than insert) your TCard or Guest Card in the new card readers at the printers and scanner/photocopiers.
Fine payments can be made by:
- Visa
- MasterCard
- American Express
- Visa Debit
- Debit MasterCard
Interac online payments from the following banks are also accepted:
- First Nations Bank of Canada
- RBC Royal Bank
- TD Canada Trust
Yes you can. LibrarySearch has a citation generating feature, with seven citation styles to choose from.
Find the book or article you wish to cite, click on the ellipsis (...) in the upper right of the individual item record to open up a set of icons – email, permalink, citation, and more.
Click on CITATION, choose a citation style, then cut and paste the results, as shown below.
ALWAYS check the generated citation to make sure it is fully correct. In the above example, APA 7 requires all authors up to 20 be listed, and the first author should be Almqvist, B. S. G.
For more information on using all the many features and functions of LibrarySearch, have a look at this guide on using the new system.
Yes! LibrarySearch makes it easy to search within a specific e-journal – either by 1) Searching for topics across all available issues, or 2) By browsing through years, volumes, issues.
1. Search within the journal
- First find the journal by its title
- Look for the SEARCH INSIDE link on the left side of the journal's catalogue record.
- This brings you to an area where you can enter keywords.
- This example shows searching for the keyword covid-19 in the online version of Chronicle of Higher Education
2. Browse through the journal by years, volumes, issues
- Notice that there is a section showing FULL TEXT AVAILABILITY
- You must be signed in to get to the fulltext articles.
- This shows that we get content from 1999 – the previous month from the vendor, Education Source.
- Clicking on the link for Education Source will take you to a browseable list of the journals in descending date order.
For more information on using all the many features and functions of LibrarySearch, have a look at this guide on using the new system.
Yes, LibrarySearch supports searching for e-books and e-articles by DOI.
Definition: DOI (digital object identifier): "A DOI is a unique alphanumeric string that identifies content and provides a persistent link to its location on the internet."*
Simply paste the numbers part of the DOI into the search box, choosing the EVERYTHING search mode.
See also: Find article by title
DOI for an e-article
DOI for an e-book
*From APA https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/dois-urls
–Updated April 5, 2022.
No. Only funds loaded to your TBucks account can be used for photocopying and printing at the library. For questions about the meal plan funds stored in your TCard+ account, please see: https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/tcardplus/.
Yes, there is wireless access throughout the library.
Many areas such as the Morrison Pavillion and the Heritage Reading Room have electrical outlets in the desks.
Wireless printing from laptops is also available: more info
No. Only a valid University of Toronto library card or TCard allows you to borrow books.
You can purchase a Direct Borrower or Research Reader card to obtain University of Toronto library borrowing privileges. University of Toronto alumni are also eligible for Alumni Reader or Alumni Research Reader cards.
Yes you can use these materials but you must use them in the Short Term Loan area at Gerstein; these materials cannot be taken elsewhere in the library by individuals who do not have a current valid UofT Library affiliation.
Policies may vary at other campus locations.
Please do not write in library books. By refraining from doing so, you are respecting your fellow library users and helping us preserve the cultural record of the past.
University of Toronto Library Conduct Regulations
Prohibited activities: "Mutilation of library materials or files by marking, underlining, removing pages or portions of pages, removing binding or staples, removing security devices, tampering electronically, or in any other way damaging or defacing library materials."
Only registered students, staff and faculty have access to the UofT wireless network including wireless printing.
You'll lose wifi access when your academic status changes to "alumni". This happens at different times for different students, so contact the Information Commons Help Desk about your individual case. Generally, you will not have access after your convocation.
Once your academic status has been changed to alumni, you can purchase an alumni library card and access one of our onsite computers. Or, if you are currently associated with a participating institution, you can use eduroam.
Scanning is free and no card is required. You will need a USB key to save your scans.
You can purchase a guest print/copy card at Robarts Library, the Gerstein Science Information Centre and service desks at some libraries.
A visitor print/copy card is included with a Robarts stack access card or short-term visitor stack pass.
Load your card with TBucks for printing and photocopying at a Guest Card & Cash Loading Station at Robarts Library or the Gerstein Science Information Centre.
Permission to publish or republish creative works rests with the author of the work not the University of Toronto Libraries. We recommend that you contact the author or publisher of the work to seek these permissions.
Public Domain
In many countries, the author's copyright expires after a certain period. Check to see if the work you wish to reproduce is in the public domain. Public domain works must still be attributed to the author, however.
| Country | When the work enters public domain | Legislation |
| Canada | 50 years after the author's death | Canadian Copyright Act |
| United States | Max. 95 years or 120 years with several exceptions | U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 |
| United Kingdom | Depends on the work type. For literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works: 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last remaining author of the work dies. | Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 see also: Intellectual Property Office |
| France | 70 years after the author's death | Code de la propriété intellectuelle |
| Germany | 70 years after the author's death | Gesetz über das Urheberrecht und verwandte Schutzrechte (Urheberrechtsgesetz) |
| Mexico | 100 years after the death of the author | Ley Federal del Derecho de Autor del 5 de diciembre de 1996 |
Please see our online research guide: Introduction to Patents and Patent Searching.
Please visit the help guides below, or contact us for help with individual cases.
Microsoft has excellent Excel tutorials available for free online.
As a student, staff, or faculty member at University of Toronto, you also have access to Coursera for University of Toronto, which includes several Excel tutorials for all levels.
Some articles may not have a DOI. For example, articles published outside of the sciences tend not to have DOIs. An article may also not have a DOI if it was published before DOIs existed (though some older articles will have had DOIs added!).
DOIs are becoming more common in the scientific community, so recently published articles tend to have a DOI assigned to them.
Source. Reproduced with generous permission of author.