FAQs

About licensed e-resources  

U of T Libraries provides an extensive collection of e-books, e-journals, e-articles and other electronic/digital content to its faculty, staff, students, and other authorized users. To do so, we must sign contracts with many different vendors and publishers of the e-content. Contracts contain specific terms and conditions that users must comply with, when accessing and using the e-content.

Different terms for different resources

The terms of use are not the same for all e-resources.  Therefore, each licensed article, book, or journal has its particular terms listed in the record for that item. Terms dictate if the user can print a copy, or share it with a 3rd party for scholarly use, or other actions, as described more fully on this UTL information page.

How to see the license for an electronic resource

The record for the e-book Robots, published by MIT Press and available to users from the IEEE Xplore platform is shown below.  Next to the name of the provider of the electronic content, you can click on the SHOW LICENSE link to see the terms for this e-book.

Clicking on the SHOW LICENSE link reveals the terms, as illustrated below. 

So, users may print a portion of this book, but the book cannot be uploaded to Quercus, since Course Reserve Electronic Copy is prohibited. Providing a direct link to the resources is permitted.

Read more about using licensed library e-content. Users who need more clarity about license terms can contact library.licensequeries@utoronto.ca

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.

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, you can! Paste the part of the DOI that comes after https://doi.org/ into LibrarySearch. DOIs usually start with the number 10.

If the search mode is visible, leave it as "Everything".

DOI for an online article

Find articles by DOI outside of LibrarySearch using LibKey.io.

DOI for an ebook

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. 

The University of Toronto Libraries is not able to grant permission to reproduce works which they do not hold copyright in. Permission to reproduce copyright protected material rests with the author of the work.  We recommend that you contact the author or publisher of the work to seek these permissions. 

Copyright protection does expire at some point. When the term of copyright expires, works enter the public domain, which allows for anyone to use and reproduce works without permission, even for commercial purposes.  

The term of copyright protection will also vary from country to country. Please refer to the applicable copyright laws in the country which you reside in. In Canada, the general term of copyright protection in literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works was extended from 50 to 70 years after the end of the year of the creator’s death as of December 30, 2022. This means that works by authors who died in 1972 will enter the public domain on January 1, 2043, rather than January 1, 2023 as previously expected.  This term extension will not apply to works already in the public domain. To learn more about how this will affect public domain works, please visit the following link: https://onesearch.library.utoronto.ca/copyright/scholarly-communications-and-copyright-office.

Please see our online research guide: Introduction to Patents and Patent Searching.

You can read more about evaluating your impact using more traditional citation analysis tools or altmetrics using our Research Impact LibGuide. 

For help evaluating your research impact, ask your Liaison Librarian or contact the Scholarly Communications & Copyright Office. 

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.