Faculty Services

JMU Libraries offers expertise in educational technologies, instructional design, digital class projects, research, information literacy, scholarly communications, classroom technology, and so much more. We also manage physical and online collections to support your research and teaching.

If you’re not a faculty member or instructor, switch to our resources for students, staff, graduate students, or visitors. 

We’re here to help you:

Teach

Find & Borrow

Research & Create

Teach

Get expert advice to support your teaching:

• Help with Canvas
  We provide Canvas (JMU’s course management system) and can help you use Canvas effectively.
• Course evaluations
  We manage JMU’s course evaluation tool, Blue, which is integrated into Canvas and MyMadison as “Course Evaluation Task.” We can help you customize course evaluations. Check out the course evaluation schedule and Blue Instructor Guide for more information.
• Personalized support for using educational technologies
  Our Learning Innovations & Design Desk team can give you expert advice on using classroom technology, academic software, and more. Learn about all of our educational technology services for faculty.
• Instructional design
  Request a consultation to design and develop inclusive and engaging assignments, courses, and more. Our instructional design services can also help you meaningfully integrate educational technologies into the academic experience.
• Media production
  We can help you create videos, audio, graphics, and more to support your teaching. Learn more about our video & audio production studio, other media production support for faculty, and related services from The Makery.
• Workshops and training
  Take a faculty workshop to enhance your teaching in traditional, online, or blended environments.

Provide course materials to your students:

• Affordable course materials
  Consider these 11 ways you can make course materials more affordable for your students.
• Course reserves
  Use course reserves to place high-demand materials on reserve for students by limiting checkout times.
• Open educational resources
  Open textbooks and other open educational resources are affordable and accessible for students and customizable for instructors. Learn how to find open course materials or request a consultation on open educational resources.
• Video content for courses
  Learn how to find video content for your courses. Find other videos available through JMU Libraries.

Try our self-paced learning opportunities:

• Asynchronous online learning options
  Try one of our self-paced learning opportunities for busy faculty members. Dive into topics such as accessibility, strategies for teaching digital learning environments, or how to find and create open textbooks.
• LinkedIn Learning
  You can also access on-demand learning on a variety of topics with LinkedIn Learning.
• Guides to online & hybrid teaching
  Check out our guide for online or hybrid teaching, including how to teach with Zoom at JMU. Or request a consultation on online and hybrid learning to explore technologies and pedagogical approaches for success.
• Best practices in teaching & learning
  Our Readings about Teaching site offers a curated list of books on inclusive teaching practices, the science of learning, and more.

Invite us to your class:

• Workshops for your courses
  Invite us into your in-person or online classroom. We offer instruction sessions that help your students build skills in research, podcasting, data management, information literacy, technology, and more.
• Digital class projects
  Digital assignments such as podcasts, oral histories, timelines, maps, data visualizations, and more can promote engaged learning and a sense of belonging. Request a consultation to connect with our digital projects and instructional design teams, who can help you leverage critical digital pedagogy and inclusion-oriented strategies as you design a digital assignment.

Get classroom support:

• Classroom technologies
  Contact the Learning Innovations & Design Desk for help with projectors, microphones, and other classroom technology or equipment.
• 3D printing classroom and EPICx
  Our 3SPACE classroom is the first general-education college 3D printing classroom in the U.S. We also support EPICx (Enhancing Pedagogy through Innovative Classrooms), with some of JMU’s most innovative classrooms.

Find & Borrow

• Articles, books and more
  Use Library Search to find books, e-books, articles, and more. If you can’t find what you need, Ask the Library is here to help you.
• How to borrow items
  Your JACard is your library card. Learn more about our borrowing services.
• Databases, journals, video, and more
  Visit our online resources page for details on accessing journals, databases, video, and more. Get instructions for connecting from off-campus to use some of the Libraries’ online resources
• Delivery services
  Get library books or materials delivered to your departmental mailbox or try our other delivery services.
• Scanned articles and chapters
  We can scan articles and book chapters for you, whether they are in our collections or only available from other libraries.  
• Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
  When you need a resource that’s not in JMU’s collections, request it from Interlibrary Loan. We use our global network of libraries to do our best to get your item to you quickly and free of charge.
• Newspapers & magazines
  Access the Washington Post, New York Times, and other newspapers using our subscriptions. You can also read popular and industry magazines through Flipster. Visit our Newspapers and Magazines guide or see our full list of news-related databases.
• Music
  Find music in all its forms in our Music Library. Check out CDs, sheet music, vinyl, and more—or stream a wide range of music online. The Music Library is not just for the School of Music. See this list of Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do in the Music Library to learn more about what’s available to everyone.
• Special Collections
  Special Collections is our repository for rare and unique materials, with a focus on the history of JMU and the Shenandoah Valley. Make an appointment to access these physical collections or peruse our digital special collections online.

Research & Create

• Academic software
  JMU Libraries provides a variety of academic software to catalyze your research and teaching.
• Data management
  Request a consultation on data management, including creating a data management plan and more.
• Equipment loans
  You and your students can borrow multimedia equipment such as laptops, cameras, and microphones at the Learning Innovations & Design Desk in Rose Library. Our Music Library also offers equipment to check out.
• Liaison librarians
  When you have research questions, contact your department’s liaison librarian, a subject expert who can help you and your students with discipline-specific research.
• Publishing at JMU
  We provide holistic support for scholarly communications, offering consultations on open publishing, copyright and author rights, finding a journal for publication, and more.
• Printing & scanning
  JMU Libraries offers pay-per-page printing and free scanning.
• Research guides
  Our research guides, created by JMU librarians, provide our best resources in a variety of disciplines. Your department’s liaison librarian may also be able to create a research guide for a course.
• Scholarly Commons
  Share your scholarship worldwide by adding it to JMU’s open-access institutional repository. Check out our top 6 reasons to add your work to the JMU Scholarly Commons.
• The Makery
  Our makerspace, The Makery, encourages creativity, brainstorming, exploring, rethinking, problem-solving and curiosity by offering technologies, software, equipment, and workshops. The Makery is especially eager to collaborate on course assignments and research projects.
• Video, photography, and graphic design services
  Get expert assistance with media production — including creating images, graphs, and other visual representations of data — for your scholarly publications.
• Accessing data on obsolete devices
  We offer services and resources to help you access data saved on obsolete devices or older media.

More info

• Library locations
  Watch this short video to learn about our four library locations: Rose Library, the Music Library, the Educational Technology and Media Center (ETMC), and JMU Libraries Express.

• Fun things to do in JMU Libraries
  Learn about our Community Seed Library, book displays, and more in Fun Things to Do in JMU Libraries.
• We’re here to help!
  Visit our Help page to access our live chat, consultation request form, and more. We look forward to working with you!