Strength in Reserve (and Periodicals too): Lost? Missing? Here's What to Do:

If you are helping a patron who reports that an item just isn't on the shelf, do the following:

1) Get full-time staff, if available. We'll do an on-the-spot in-depth search to try to help locate the item.

2) If full-time staff are not availbale, fill out a blue search card. Ask the patron to fill in their email and/or phone under the 'please mail' line. Also put the date somewhere on the form, and your name. We will contact them within 1 business day about the item they need.

Never ever turn away a patron because an item is missing. There are important options to give the user:
-- Staff will search for the item (as mentioned above)
-- If we don't find the item within a day, INTERLIBRARY LOAN can get the item for them from another Library outside the University. In this case, it's important for the patron to write in the "notes" section of their ILL request that the item is missing from the shelf and they have talked to Wilson Periodicals staff about it. ILL requests for journal articles have an average turnaround time of just 3 days!!