The library provides materials suitable for student assignments and research, and for faculty preparation and professional development. Materials housed at each facility are available for use at the other locations upon request. Professional librarians are available to instruct students and to assist faculty members in developing research assignments. Requesting Materials for Library Purchase Input from instructors is necessary to ensure that the library collection remains relevant to instructional needs. It is especially important for instructors to request items needed by their students.
Faculty members make selections from their own sources or from selection tools available.
Faculty selections for curriculum-related materials are submitted to their division chairman for approval and forwarded to the library for purchase using funds budgeted for the division. Recommendations for items not directly related to the curriculum may be submitted to the library for possible purchase with the library's discretionary funds. Requesters are notified when recommended items are cataloged. Indexing to periodical articles is available via paper and CD-ROM indexes at each library. Faculty requesting material not available at the Blinn library have access to TexShare, a resource sharing initiative, which allows Blinn College to utilize several on-line databases.