7 things to know about your university library

[Updated: February 23 2008] 7. You won't find a book simply if the database says the book is in. Quite often you'll find out that a book that's perfectly supposed to be there isn't; in that case, look for the book in nearby shelves. If you're lucky you'll find it. The next step would be to talk to the librarian. 6. You can make great friends there who help you out with your assignments (it's called a library blessing). 5. You can't keep renewing books forever. People can actually recall a checked out book and yes, you have to return it. Grads get to keep books longer. 4. If you're not careful, your fines might just surprise you (I have horrible experiences). 3. For the desperate geek: your university library is almost certainly spread across a number of locations, and each part has its own specialization. Moreover, the departments will have their own collections ('reading rooms'), and you can actually order books from other libraries (public/other university). How enchanting. 2. It's the most comfortable place to study on-campus (great for those last-minute study bouts). You get to see more people sleeping or gossiping than reading, so you get the idea. No library has ever managed to bar students from munching sandwiches, despite the yeah-right-so-scary signs. 1. You can find more material there than you could ever dig up on the net. It's true, and unfortunately profs seem to enjoy references to offline stuff. (It's either the generation gap or the hardcover fetish. Your pick.) Here's the UBC specs:

• Library website (http://library.ubc.ca delivers a blank page.. really silly)
• Links to all UBC library branches
• Services for people not affiliated with UBC
• Facts (community users page)
• Maps of all UBC library branches (though I like this map better; if you're really lost you might want to take a look at the Sunsite interactive UBC map)