Q. My students are complaining that they cannot complete an assignment because the library does not have a particular required textbook! What can we do?

Sawyer Library is constantly acquiring new Reserve material, particularly as the semester begins and the material becomes available at the Suffolk bookstore. If you wish to check on the status of material available for your class, check the Reserves listing with your course number in the Library catalog.

Common reasons why the library does not have a particular title include:

• It is on the way to the Reserves shelf, but has yet to arrive. Every semester both the bookstore and the library have to process some 1,500 titles for courses, which takes time. We both are working as fast as possible to make sure each title gets on the shelf in a timely manner, but there will inevitably be some delays.
• It is backordered at the bookstore. Because the library receives all of its Reserve materials from the bookstore, if they do not have it on the shelf, then we will not have it on the shelf.
• The library is unaware that the book is a required text. The library receives all its information from the bookstore. If they are not aware of the need for a particular title, then unless you have contacted the library separately, we will not be aware of it either.