Faculty members are encouraged to participate in the development of the Libraries' collection by recommending for purchase new and out-of-print books and audio-visual materials. While our primary responsibility is to support the curriculum and the College programs, the Libraries will also support faculty research when possible.
Materials may be requested directly through your library liaison. Requests may be sent on paper, via email, or through the Libraries' purchase request form (Williams login required). We are happy to work with whatever information you can provide, e.g., marked-up catalogs, bibliographies, records from Books in Print , etc. You do not need to check FRANCIS, the online catalog, before sending your requests. We appreciate at least three weeks lead-time for rush orders.
Academic departments are involved in managing the department's journal subscriptions. New journal requests must be approved by the academic department before the Libraries can start a subscription. Due to increasing journal prices, in order to add a new journal, the department will need to drop subscription(s) of equivalent cost. Feel free to contact your library liaison to get information on subscription costs and other information to support the journal request.