Access to Libraries & Services During COVID-19: Information

Library study spaces open beginning August 17, 2020 for students who are on campus for classes. The Dafoe Library will be on a first-come-first-served basis; Sciences & Technology Library will require advanced booking online. Collections remain closed. UM Libraries continues to provide resources and services online. Learn more about open library study space.

If you need access to material in our physical collections, we'll get it for you!

Although we are unable to open our physical libraries, you can access our collections in the following three ways:

• Get it Digitally: Find books online, including items in our collection or borrow from HathiTrust, which provides temporary access to millions of in-copyright and public domain works.
• Get it Curbside: Faculty, Graduate Students, and Post-Doctoral fellows can request Curbside Pickup of print materials
• Get it Scanned: Request a chapter, section, or table of contents from a print book to be emailed to you

Faculty, graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows can request curbside pickup of print materials. Please follow these instructions to request print material to be picked up curbside.

Physical collections remain inaccessible for students and other library patron at this time.

Use our Ask Us online chat service to ask any questions you have. Check our Ask Us hours.

For subject specific help or research consultations contact your subject librarian directly, by phone, email, or online chat.

Visit our Learn at the Libraries for help with academic writing, how to search the library, evaluating resources, and writing citations. Sections of the website can also be integrated into online courses. Click here for more information.

Watch our help videos for additional help.

View our curated subject guides for recommended resources.

For Archives and Special Collections reference, direct questions to archives@umanitoba.ca.

For help with your UMNetID, password, or email, please contact the IST Service desk. Visit http://umanitoba.ca/computing/ist/help/ for contact information.

A rich collection of digital resources continues to be available through Library Search, including e-books. Borrow online resources from HathiTrust, which provides temporary access to millions of in-copyright and public domain works.

Follow these instructions on how to find digital library material.

We'll Scan It For You!: If you need access to material in our physical collections, we have a small number of staff working in shifts in order to digitize content for you. If you need access to material in our physical collections, here’s how to request it.

The library is offering a series of workshops online to enhance your research skills.  Previous online workshops are available to watch anytime on our YouTube Channel.

Online library resources can be accessed through our online catalogue. The Libraries currently has access to HathiTrust, which provides temporary access to millions of in-copyright and public domain works.

Curbside pickup is currently available for faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows. Click here for instructions for curbside pickup.

On the Fort Garry Campus, you may return any library resources in the return bin outside the Shipping & Receiving door at the back of the Elizabeth Dafoe Library, off Service Road 3N (near parking lot B).

On the Bannatyne Campus, access to the Neil John Maclean Library is restricted to University of Manitoba faculty, staff, and students who are required to be on campus for research and education purposes. To access the campus you must be on an approved list. Patrons on the approved list can drop off library materials in the return bin located near the NJMHS Library on the mezzanine level of Brodie Centre. If you are not on the approved list, please return library materials to the Elizabeth Dafoe Library at the Fort Garry Campus.

You may also return physical items by mail, using the following address:

Elizabeth Dafoe Library

25 Chancellor Circle

University of Manitoba

Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2

Please take necessary precautions in keeping with the health and safety advice from the Health Canada.

Due dates for UM library material currently checked out will be extended to August 21, 2020. Due dates have been automatically extended and no items will be recalled.

Late fees and requests (holds, for non-curbside pickup material) have been suspended.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Manitoba Libraries will be temporarily suspending the lending and borrowing of physical materials effective immediately.

We'll scan it for you! To facilitate access to our own collections, we have a small number of staff on site to scan physical materials. To request scanned content, please complete our request form.

Staff will also be working from home to process requests for electronic resources. Our turnaround time may be slower than usual.

University of Manitoba Staff, Students and Faculty: Any loans University of Manitoba students, staff or faculty currently have out are being automatically renewed by our document delivery staff.

Other Institutions: We will not be returning any materials we presently have on loan from other institutions and ask that materials not be sent back to us at this time.

Any questions should be directed to documentdelivery@umanitoba.ca.

There will be no physical reserves available for Fall term, due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The Libraries will try to obtain digital course reserves that you can use in UM Learn. We can accomplish this in two ways:

• Obtain a digital version of the item, wherever possible.
• Digitize what we can within fair dealing (chapter or 10% or less of a work).

Please contact your Subject Liaison Librarian, either by email or by scheduling an appointment, to discuss your course reserve needs further.

Librarians are available to help faculty find an electronic version of a textbook, or a suitable alternative, for Summer 2020 courses. We will add the e-textbook to the Libraries' collection so that all your students can access it.

Ask us to check to see if an electronic version of your print textbook is available or get more information about electronic textbook availability.

Open Education Resources teaching resources are available in a variety of formats that have an open copyright license and allow anyone to use, adapt and share them as needed.

If you have any questions concerning the use of copyright materials in an online course or adding them to UM Learn contact the UM Copyright Office directly. You can also consult the copyright guidelines here.

Reading Lists is a new tool in UM Learn, designed to help instructors share reading materials within each course. These may include items from the Libraries, such as articles or books, as well as websites, video content, images, or lecture slides. All resources can be added directly to a UM Learn course, making it easier to access relevant content and stay organized. 

During the pandemic, UM Librarians are offering basic literature searching services to support UM faculty.

The service:

• supports faculty with grant proposals, active research, publications and teaching;
• includes a survey of prior research (published literature) on a subject that is limited to a defined date range;
• provides a list of citations (not full-text) from the literature reviewed.

Turnaround time: 10-20 days.

Online services for researchers are still available. Check our Faculty and Researcher Help page for details.