This how-to will help you make requests in the library catalog for materials in our collection that you want sent home to you. If you need to know how to make requests for materials that we do not have in our collection, hop over to How To Request Materials Via Interlibrary Loan.
Login to Your Account
Start at the library catalog site: https://catalog.goddard.edu
You can search the site without logging in, and you can login at any time, but we recommend doing it first so that you can make requests effortlessly when you find the right materials.
Search
Type in your search terms and hit enter. If you want more help with searching, please feel free to check out the Demystifying Research workshop slides in Library Help, How-Tos, and Workshop Materials the and our page of tutorial videos, which will help you maximize your search abilities, or contact us at library@goddard.edu.
Place Requests: Three Ways
Regardless of whether an items is available or checked out, the “Place Requests” button can be used to make single items requests from within individual item records, or it can be used to make both single AND multiple item requests in lists of search results and your private & our public lists.
Place a Request From an Individual Item Record
Place a Request From Initial Search Results List
Place Request From Your Private and Our Public Lists
Confirm Requests
In general, you will not want to change any settings. However, if you need an item by a specific date, fill that in. Also, if you are looking for a specific volume of a multi-volume set, you can change the last option from “Next Available Copy” to “A Specific Copy” and then select the copy you need.
Requests List in Your Account
When you are done, you’ll be automatically routed to the list of active requests on your account. If you ever want to check on or need to change the status of your requests, simply login to your account and click on the “Requests” tab. You will see the status of and options to cancel, if you don’t need an item anymore, or suspend, if you don’t want us to mail things to you for a period.
Limits
There is a maximum of 5 requests at a time per person. You can only request a number of items that won’t exceed the checkout limit (so if you have 28 items out, you can only request 2 more items). Requests are prevented entirely if you owe more than $300 in billed materials and fees.
Materials That Cannot Be Requested
Generally speaking, most materials can be requested in the catalog. The exceptions are reference materials, which never circulate, and ebooks, which we do not order print copies of.
When Am I Allowed to Make Requests
Requests are available for faculty & students of the Plainfield campus from the week following your residency to the last day of your semester. If you are on campus for your residency period (or you are staff of the Plainfield campus year-round) requests are not available because you are able to access the physical library.
Requests are available for the West Coast campuses from the first day of your semester to the last day, including your residency period.
Requests are not allowed in between semesters unless you are engaged in between semester study.
How We Notify You of Problems
If we are having a problem filling your request, we will email you at your goddard.edu email address. The most common problem is having overdue items on your account. Please be sure that all overdue items are on their way back to the library before placing requests. We will wait to mail new items until we receive the overdues.
What About Items The Library Doesn’t Own?
If you’ve checked the catalog and the material you want is not listed, then you will want to request it via Interlibrary Loan (ILL). See How To Request Materials Via Interlibrary Loan.
Pro Tips
- To save you time and help you keep your place during research, we always recommend doing all of one kind of search before moving on. So, look up all your materials in the catalog, then move on to ILL, then move on to articles, etc.
- For items that are checked out, lost, missing, or otherwise unavailable during your residency, make a list in the catalog that includes all the items you want to request in the week following your residency. That way, you can just request the appropriate number of items all together without having to look them up again.