Frequently Asked Questions

Accessible to Students, Faculty/Staff, and Community Members (including alums)

• Ask a Librarian (library@alverno.edu)
• Ask the Archivist (archives@alverno.edu)
• One-on-one research consultations
• Library Collections (Stacks; Teaching Materials Collection; Music Scores Collection; Disc Cabinet; YA & Adult Fiction; Picture Books; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Collection)
• Research Guides & Tutorials
• Alverno College Digital Commons
• Alverno Archives Digital Commons
• Desktop computer access, database access, and printing

Accessible to Students and Faculty/Staff

• Equipment Reserves
• Resource Sharing
• Interlibrary Loan
• Off-campus database access

Accessible to Students Only

• Course Reserves (“Textbooks Collection”)
• Equipment Reserves laptops
• Study room reservations

If you have any questions about library policies, please contact library@alverno.edu.

• "Community member" is the Library's designation for all patrons who are not active students or employees of Alverno College. For Library purposes, alums are considered community members.
• Time permitting, librarians and the archivist can provide research help to community members by phone, email, and virtual or physical appointment.
  • Community members are encouraged to submit their initial inquiries via email to library@alverno.edu or archives@alverno.edu.
• Community members may sign up for a community card that allows them to check out items from all circulating collections with the exception of Course Reserves ("Textbooks") and Equipment Reserves, as these items are in high demand and must be available to students.
• Community members are also welcome to use the non-circulating Reference Collection while visiting the Library.
• The Library's physical spaces are open to community members with the exception of the study room reservation system. Community members can use study rooms on a walk-in basis, but must vacate the room if a student has reserved the space.
• Community members are strongly encouraged to use the nearby public library for computer and printing access because they are able to offer better computer access and less expensive printing, but the Alverno College Library can provide guest access if necessary (such as for research purposes.)
• Community members have full access to all Alverno College Library resources freely available on our website, including Research & Course Guides, the Alverno College Digital Commons, and the Alverno Archives Digital Commons.
• Due to licensing restrictions, Resource Sharing, Interlibrary Loan, and off-campus database access are restricted to students and faculty/staff.

Librarians are available to help student with their research - that’s a big part of why we’re here! If you have a question, please reach out to us at library@alverno.edu.

Visit the library’s APA 7 Citation Format guide to view examples of how to cite dozens of types of sources including class notes, journal articles, books, and more. If you have any questions this guide can’t answer, please feel free to reach out to a librarian at library@alverno.edu, but please be aware that librarians will not create or carefully review citations for you. We will give you some direction and point you to helpful resources, but your work must be your own.

The Library's Finding & Requesting Resources guide contains detailed instructions for searching and requesting both physical items and PDF copies of articles/book chapters. 

The Alverno College Library Digital Commons includes master's program theses, doctoral dissertations, graduate capstone projects student/faculty research projects, faculty-created Open Educational Resources (OER), and published faculty and staff research. Students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to submit their research projects to the Commons.

Please visit our Interlibrary Loan page for more information.

Alverno students are able to print from either the library’s desktop computers or from their personal devices connected to the student wifi network. 

From a campus desktop computer:

• Log in with your Alverno username and password.
• Pull up your document and choose either the black and white or color campus print server. The default printer is usually not either of these and if you do not specify the correct printer, your job will not print. You must choose either Alverno_Campus_BW on PRINTSRV1 or Alverno_Campus_Color on PRINTSRV1.
• Once you have sent your document to the server, you must release the print job at the appropriate printer. Scan your Alverno ID or enter your username and password to log in to the computers at the printers and select Print Job to print your document.

From a personal device:

• Follow the Mobility Print instructions from Tech Services. This requires registering your device to the network and installing an app, but it will allow you to print from your personal device without logging in to a campus computer.

• Printing is available from the time the library opens until 15 minutes prior to close. This is to ensure that student workers are able to leave work on time, as the printers take a substantial amount of time to power on or off.
• Patrons who need to print outside of these times may print from the public access printers in the Read Center and in the Founders Hall mail room (FO-G60.) These printers are available 24/7 and use the same print server as other campus computers.

Any library worker is able to help you add more pages to your account. Each printer page added to your account costs 10 cents - black and white printing uses 1 page per single- or double-sided page and color printing uses 10 pages per single-sided page. We can only accept cash and we must add a minimum of 50 pages ($5) to student accounts.

If your print job doesn’t turn out right, go to http://printsrv1:9191/user and request a refund from Tech Services. Click on “Recent Print Jobs” on the left, find the appropriate job in the list, and request a full or partial refund as necessary. The library is not able to issue refunds.

Students are able to create and view reservations for all four Library study rooms using theEMS website. For more information about study rooms, please visit our Study Rooms page as well as our Policies page.

The library maintains a Course Reserves collection that contains copies of books we own that are being used in current course offerings. Some items in Course Reserves are also personal copies temporarily lended to our library by course instructors. To check if we have the textbooks for your course, search for your course number or your instructor's name in a Course Reserves search in TOPCAT..

The Southeastern Wisconsin Information Technology Exchange is a non-profit organization of college libraries in the Milwaukee area. Members of SWITCH freely share physical and digital resources quickly and easily, with daily deliveries between member institutions. If an Alverno patron requests an item that another SWITCH library owns, we are generally able to receive that item within a day or two of the request. 

The members of SWITCH are Alverno College, Concordia University Wisconsin, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Mount Mary University, Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology, St. Francis de Sales Seminary, and Wisconsin Lutheran College.

TOPCAT is a search tool that makes it easy to search catalogs belonging to Alverno, all 7 SWITCH libraries combined, the UW System schools in our partner network, and hundreds more libraries in our national partner network. Alverno patrons are able to quickly and easily place requests for eligible items from any of these libraries directly from TOPCAT by signing in to their Alverno account. Once signed in, patrons can view loans and due dates, renew eligible items, and check if they have any fines or fees in My Library Account.

We encourage active, collaborative work in our library at a normal speaking volume.  It is often quieter behind the glass wall in the library's main room, in the library's computer classroom, and on the upper floors of the stacks, but due to our open floor plan, it is impossible for us to have any designated silent study spaces.

We have successfully eliminated overdue fines for most items in our collections, but we do maintain small overdue fines on our Textbooks Collection and reserve equipment. Overdue fines on late Textbooks and equipment can be paid in cash or in donations for the Alverno Food Pantry through our Food for Fines program.

We also charge replacement fees for lost/damaged items, including items belonging to other institutions. We will accept a replacement copy with an identical ISBN for lost items belonging to Alverno on a case-by-case basis, but replacement fees assessed by other institutions generally must be paid in cash.

For more information about fines and fees, please visit our Policies page or reach out to the librarians at library@alverno.edu.

Use your Alverno network login. This is the same username and password you use for your email. If you can't remember your password, you can set it by trying to log in to office.com, clicking the link for resetting a password, and following the instructions on screen.

Log in to your TOPCAT account and go to My Loans. All items eligible for renewal will have a red renew link to the right of the item information. Items that are eligible for renewal can typically be renewed twice. Please note the Maximum Renewal Date listed when selecting which items to renew as it is possible to use up a renewal on an item you’ve just checked out. 

Course Reserves items are ineligible for renewal. Some ILL books are also not eligible for renewal, but this varies based on the lending institution’s policies. If you have questions about your loans, please contact the librarians at library@alverno.edu.

For off-campus use of many databases and journal articles, authentication is required to prove that you are currently an Alverno student, staff, or faculty member.

Log in with your Alverno username and password. If you have trouble logging in, you can reset your password by trying to log in to office.com, clicking the link for resetting a password, and following the instructions on screen. The library is not able to reset your password for you.

For further assistance, email the librarians at library@alverno.edu or contact the 24/7 Technology Services Help Desk at (414) 382-6700.

If you have trouble logging in, you can reset your password by trying to log in to office.com, clicking the link for resetting a password, and following the instructions on screen. If you are unable to follow these steps, you must contact Technology Services. The library is not able to reset your password for you.

The library does not have a fax machine.

Typically yes, but we do need advance notice and would like to know what your filming project is before you come in. Anyone wishing to film or photograph any part of the library should fill out this form at least one business day prior to the requested filming date. This will allow the library to prepare for your visit and determine if any special requests can be accommodated.

Textbooks from the virtual bookstore are shipped directly to the address you supplied at checkout. We are not the bookstore and we cannot give you any information about your book order or about your book advance. 

The library does not buy books from or sell books to patrons.

• For financial reporting reasons, the library no longer accepts donations of books or other materials from outside of Alverno College, including from current students and alums.
• Other departments within the college who would like to transfer ownership of college materials to the library may reach out to the librarians at library@alverno.edu to determine if the library will accept their items. We will typically only add items to our collection if they are assigned in current course offerings.

The library does not typically give away free books. Books in usable condition that are removed from our collections are given to Better World Books, a reseller who shares a portion of their profits with us. The college does have shelves of free books by the mail room in the basement of Founders Hall, where some of our deselected items may end up if Better World Books will not accept them.