In order to make the Orwig Music building more accessible, the door at the accessible entrance is being replaced. The work will occur from Tuesday, October 5 – Wednesday, October 6, necessitating the closure of the entrance. We apologize for any inconvenience caused and look forward to welcoming you through a more accessible door on Thursday, October 7.
The front door will remain open as usual. If you have any questions or concerns, please email orwig@brown.edu.
Beginning in June 2021, NCBI will no longer have a direct login option (username/password). This change is occurring to improve account security by using third-party logins. Your NCBI account is used to access MyBibliography, SciENcv, and MyNCBI.
If you currently log in to MyNCBI with a username and password, you will need to add an additional login path to your account. This will not change anything saved in your account — it will simply add different login credentials.
To update your account, first login to MyNCBI:
Then click your account name in the top right hand corner:
Click “Account settings”:
Under the “Linked Accounts” section on the following page, click “Change” to add an account. Note that the “Native NCBI” account option will no longer be available to be used as a login after the June cutover.
You can use your Brown shibboleth login, or an additional third party login such as Login.gov. If you anticipate changing organizations in the future, you may want to choose Login.gov or ORCiD. If you have NIH funding and an eRA Commons account, you should use the same login mechanism for both. Search for Brown or Login.gov, and click the result to continue configuring the login.
See NCBI’s Blog post, and FAQs for more information, or please contact your librarians at healthscilibrarians@brown.edu for help.
Your Brown University Library will be offering the following schedule of services for the end of the Fall semester:
| DATES | ROCKEFELLER | SCIENCES | HAY |
| Wed., 11/25 | All Library Buildings Close at 5 pm | ||
| Thurs. & Fri., 11/26 – 27 |
Thanksgiving Holiday: All Library Buildings Closed | ||
| Sat., 11/28 – Thurs., 12/10 |
Fall Term Hours Resume: Study Spaces and Circulation Pickup: Monday–Thursday: 12:30 – 10 pm Friday–Sunday: 12:30 – 5 pm |
Fall Term Hours Resume: Study Spaces: Monday–Thursday: 9 am – 9 pm Friday: 9 am – 5 pm Saturday & Sunday: 12 – 5 pm |
Fall Term Hours Resume: Willis Reading Room: Monday–Friday 9:30 am – 6 pm Gildor Special Collections Reading Room: Wednesday and Thursday, 1 – 4 pm (by appointment) Closed Saturday and Sunday |
| Fri., 12/11 | Open 12:30 – 5 pm | Open 9 – 5 pm | Open 9:45 – 5 pm |
| Sat., 12/12 – Sun., 12/20 |
Circulation Pickup: Monday–Thursday: 12:30 – 10 pm Friday–Sunday: 12:30 – 5 pm Study Spaces CLOSED, except Wernig Graduate Student Reading Room and assigned Carrels (same hours as above) |
Study Spaces: Monday–Thursday: 9 am – 9 pm Friday: 9 am – 5 pm Saturday and Sunday: 12 – 5 pm |
Study Spaces: Willis Reading Room: Closed Gildor Special Collections Reading Room: Wednesday and Thursday, 1 – 4 pm (by appointment) |
| Mon., 12/21/20 – Sun., 1/3/21 |
Winter Break: All Library Buildings Closed | ||
The major changes will be to concentrate reservable seats for individual study at the Sciences Library starting on December 12, following the end of the remote exam period for undergraduates. This is in service of safely increasing staff activity in other buildings to prepare reserves and other course materials for the Spring term. Pickup circulation will continue in the Rock lobby through December 20, and graduate students will continue to have access to the Wernig Graduate Student Reading Room and their assigned carrels during the same period.
Information about reserving seats, ordering materials, and all other core Library services is available here.
The Library staff sincerely appreciate all the expressions of support and encouragement we have received from students, faculty, and staff over the Fall term. Your patience, partnership, and good will have enabled us to carry out our most essential functions to sustain Brown’s academic mission in the safest possible manner.
With best wishes for the remainder of the term, the holidays, and a restful Winter Break.
The Library is thrilled to welcome students into our large study spaces for independent work during the Fall 2020 semester. Staff onsite will be primarily engaged in helping to keep our study spaces safe and healthy. They will not be providing in-person library services.
We are continuing to provide a robust slate of online services, detailed below. If you have any questions, you can email rock@brown.edu (general) or hay@brown.edu (special collections). You can also chat with a Library expert through the Ask a Librarian service. Many other services, resources, and updates can be found at library.brown.edu and here on our news blog.
The Library is pleased to announce an expansion of circulation services. Materials requested will be available for pickup any time the Library is open. It is no longer necessary to make a reservation for pickup. (Reservations to study in the Library are still required.)
Current Brown faculty/instructors and students may request up to ten (10) items per week from our collections, including physical books. Materials held at the Rockefeller Library, the Library Annex, the Sciences Library, and Orwig Music Library should be requested directly through Josiah, the Library’s online catalog and picked up in the Rockefeller Library lobby. Library staff will retrieve the items and email the requestor with instructions for pickup when the items are ready. Pickup for ALL items will take place in front of the Rockefeller Library.
If you reserve space in a library, please continue to make use of Josiah (and Aeon for special collection) to request materials. Please do not enter the stacks.
Materials requested for pickup will be placed in bags on carts and quarantined, untouched, for a minimum of 72 hours. The most current research tells us that 72 hours (three days) of quarantine is safe for circulating library materials.
You will be notified with the date the material will be available. Once available, the requested materials will be pre-checked out to you and placed in bins arranged by last name in the Rockefeller Library lobby. You may retrieve this material any time the Library is open — no reservation required.
Please do not clean or disinfect library materials. It would likely damage the item(s) and is not necessary given the precautions Library staff are taking.
The John Hay Library will digitize special collections material for research and teaching needs. Requests from current Brown faculty and graduate students will be prioritized. Other requests will be fulfilled as time allows. This service is limited to members of the Brown community. To make a request, email hay@brown.edu or fill out the request form.
Brown University graduate and undergraduate students and faculty: the Special Collections Reading Room opened on an appointment-only basis on September 23, 2020, Wednesday and Thursday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Appointments must be made at least one week (5 business days) in advance so that staff can adequately prepare materials.
Faculty members should continue to use Online Course Reserves Access (OCRA) to request materials for course reserves and course packs. Once received, the Library will make the reserves available to students through the course site in Canvas.
If you are using a course pack from a previous semester, the Library will make the content available in Canvas and/or OCRA. Email rock@brown.edu to initiate this process.
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) for physical materials will not resume until a later phase, and (by agreement with our Ivy-plus partners) no earlier than September 1. We will continue to accept and fill ILL requests for articles and book chapters that are available electronically, which will be sent to patrons via email. We will also continue searching for electronic versions of requested books.
Contact us at the following email addresses to request items, ask research questions, and connect with a Library expert:
As a response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, many of the Library’s content providers have expanded Brown’s access to digital content in order to support online research, learning, and teaching. In addition to the 2 million+ digital books and journals available through the Library’s subscriptions, we are excited to share many additional resources from our partners.
All requests may take up to seven days. Quarantine protocols for handling physical materials will make requests for rush or expedited delivery less feasible for the time being.
We are providing online services, including research consultations and instruction. Subject librarians can be reached by email and on chat, which is staffed Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Not sure who to ask? Email most questions to rock@brown.edu and email questions about special collections to hay@brown.edu.
Additional resources:
Please return physical materials to the Rockefeller Library, through the book return drop located to the left of the front doors.
You can keep the items in your possession until you are able to return to campus. This includes items obtained through Borrow Direct, easyBorrow, and ILLiad. Fines and late fees will be waived.
To protect the safety of staff and patrons, we are operating at minimum staffing levels with modified workflows to allow for social distancing and quarantine of materials. We will add staff and increase service levels as public health guidance allows.
Email rock@brown.edu with questions. If you have a question about special collections, email hay@brown.edu.
Read the latest on Brown’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of June 29, the Library is providing limited in-person, contactless services.
As a response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, many of the Library’s content providers have expanded Brown’s access to digital content in order to support online research, learning, and teaching. In addition to the 2 million+ digital books and journals available through the Library’s subscriptions, we are excited to share many additional resources from our partners.
We are providing online services, including research consultations and instruction. Subject librarians can be reached by email and on chat, which is staffed Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Not sure who to ask? Email most questions to rock@brown.edu and email questions about special collections to hay@brown.edu.
Additional resources:
You can request access to digital material! Contact us at the following email addresses to request items, ask research questions, and connect with a Library expert:
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) requests for resources available electronically are being filled!
As of June 29, the Library is providing limited in-person, contactless services.
Note that most Brown books can be renewed indefinitely.
Faculty members should continue to use Online Course Reserves Access (OCRA) to request materials for course reserves and course packs. Once received, the Library will make the reserves available to students through the course site in Canvas.
If you are using a course pack from a previous semester, the Library will make the content available in Canvas and/or OCRA. Email rock@brown.edu to initiate this process.
Graduating students are urged to return physical materials to the Rockefeller Library, through the book return drop located to the left of the front doors. Other students may also drop off materials at the Rock, or you can keep the items in your possession until you are able to return to campus. This includes items obtained through Borrow Direct, easyBorrow, and ILLiad. Fines and late fees will be waived.
Please check the University’s 2019 Novel Coronavirus Updates web page frequently for timely information.
Take good care and be well.
The following Brown University Libraries will close at 12 p.m. on Friday, January 17, 2020 to allow Library staff to attend our annual winter celebration:
Orwig Music Library will remain open.
The Brown University Library will close at 12 p.m. on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 for the annual staff summer picnic.
The following locations will close:
The Sciences Library will remain open, but there will be no library services available in the Friedman Center.
Thank you for your understanding.
The library has scheduled an update and associated maintenance for the library catalog software on Tuesday, March 26 beginning at 10 am. This will require approximately eight hours of downtime for the library catalog and services tied to the software API. We chose this date to reduce the number of faculty, staff, and students affected by downtime.
We don’t expect the system to be down for more than eight hours, but we will send out an update should that time be extended for any reason. This update from version 3.4 to 4.2 will bring the library to the current release of this software and should resolve many outstanding issues.
Services interrupted include:
Thank you for your patience and understanding while we work to improve services and facilitate world-class, innovative research.
The Library will be updating one of its core servers on Thursday morning, March 21. You may see instability in some Library services for a brief period of time. All buildings will remain open and all in-person services will continue to operate normally during the system update.
The following Library services have been restored as of this morning:
