Last updated August 30, 2022

We know that many students and faculty may be attending classes and teaching remotely or in hybrid formats throughout the year. You can still get research help from librarians via Zoom and chat. Faculty teaching online can schedule library class visits and get help with adding course materials to Canvas.

Our online collections include access to thousands of ebooks and journal articles, available through Library Search and our databases.

Visit our Ebooks Research Guide to learn more about searching and using ebooks.

Each semester, we compile a list of digitally available textbooks and reading materials, based on information Temple faculty provide to the bookstore. [Note: this list is typically updated for each new semester within the first or second week of the semester.]

We provide access to streaming video content. Visit our Streaming Video guide to learn more.

Our digital special collections offer access to the unique primary historical and cultural resources held by the Libraries and to selected scholarly works and other publications produced at Temple. 

We also encourage you to explore PA Digital, Pennsylvania’s service hub for the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), and its collection of primary source sets. 

Librarians are available to assist with research questions and assignments. Librarian appointments may be held as online meetings. Go to our online appointment scheduler to pick a date and time that works for you. Librarians are also available to assist via chat and email.

Library chat is available 24/7! No matter when you're working, we will be here to answer your questions. 

You can also email your subject librarian directly.

You can find thousands of online journals, books, and other digital materials in Library Search. In addition, we can request digital copies of journal articles and book chapters from other libraries through ILLiad. 

Our library staff can help you find a digital copy of a physical item in the library's collection. If you only need specific chapters from a book, or a single journal article, submit an ILLiad request. For help finding a digital copy of a complete book, video, or other item in our collection, find the item in Library Search and follow the options under “How to get this.” We’ll do our best to find a digital copy, or we’ll suggest an alternative for you to consider.

To access journal articles through Google Scholar, follow our instructions to automatically connect Google Scholar search results to Temple’s licensed digital content. You do need to be signed into your Temple account to download full article PDFs. If you are signed into your Temple email, that sign-on will already be in place when you access Google Scholar.

We’re here to support you as you teach remotely.

Library instruction may take place online, either synchronously through Zoom or asynchronously. Asynchronous instruction can include pre-recorded lectures, interactive tutorials, demonstrations via screen recording, information literacy assignments, and more. Please contact your liaison librarian to arrange for instruction, or use our general instruction request form.

Our tutorials and research guides can easily be embedded into your Canvas courses. Contact your subject librarian for more information on any instruction related questions.

Library resources and services that can be integrated into online learning through Canvas have been fully documented and that information is available on the Center for the Advancement of Teaching website.

Given the recent popularity of digital course reserve materials, the Libraries are moving toward becoming a digital first environment for reserves. Course materials such as scanned or electronic book chapters, articles, ebooks, and streaming media are accessible from anywhere and often allow multiple, simultaneous users.

 

While we are planning to minimize physical items on reserve at Charles Library, we will not be eliminating physical reserves completely. Please email preserve@temple.edu with questions.

 

Instructions for embedding the Course reserves tool into your Canvas course can be found here.

We encourage faculty to consider online resources and tools that are—and will continue to be—free to you and your students.

Explore the online resources already in the Libraries’ collection, including ebooks, ejournals, streaming video, and more. Contact your subject librarian who can check on the resource license as not all of our ebooks are available for multiuser simultaneous usage. Your subject librarian may also be able to purchase online resources, such as textbooks and streaming video, for remote instruction.

Explore no-cost digital teaching and learning resources that integrate easily into your remote instruction. Open Educational Resources (OER) are released under open licenses, allowing for no-cost access to quality materials and permitting modifications to meet your specific needs. New to OER? Learn how and why some Temple faculty have used OER in their past courses. 

Find open textbooks and other OER in these collections: 

Temple Libraries' Textbook Affordability Project offers awards to faculty who seek support to transition their course materials to OER or other zero-cost materials or to engage in other open education projects.

A new affordable course materials resource is Temple’s Open and Affordable Learning Materials Inventory. Developed from faculty responses to an affordable course materials survey, use the Inventory to discover which courses are currently using OER and other affordable materials. Read this blog post to learn more about the Inventory and how you can add your open and affordable course materials to it.

Discover additional OER in your subject area by reaching out to your subject librarian or by checking out Discovering Open Educational Resources for tips on finding OER.

Have additional questions? There are many ways to contact us: