Library Resources

Research Consultation Service

Initiated as a response to the limited access to physical materials caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this service will provide immediate assistance for Yale graduate students and faculty to learn more about research materials in all formats available at Yale and elsewhere that could support their projects. After providing a brief description of their research interest, the student or faculty member will be invited to have a consultation by Zoom or phone with one or more Yale Library information professionals with expertise related to the research project.  The Yale Library staff members will follow up with additional resource suggestions after the initial consultation and will remain available for follow up questions. 

Request a consultation through this form: https://bit.ly/primary-source-consultation

Additional Support and Resources

Yale’s physical and electronic collections can be searched through either of our catalog systems, Orbis and Quicksearch (Orbis will not include results from the Law Library’s catalog, MORRIS). If you are unable to find a book, article, or other research material you need within Yale’s collections, consider placing a request through one of our resource sharing services, which allow Yale’s libraries to borrow materials from neighboring institutions.

The library offers a broad range of workshops on research-related topics. You can find dates and descriptions for workshops here.

Librarians are available to conduct virtual research consultations by phone or Zoom; help identify online resources to support teaching, learning, or research; and provide virtual library instruction. Graduate and professional students and Yale College students who have declared a major should contact their department liaison librarians for assistance. First- or second-year undergraduates who have not yet declared a major should contact their personal librarians; PL assignments and contact information can be found here. Students may also request digital humanities services from the Digital Humanities Lab, access GIS services by emailing gishelp@yale.edu, or sign up for a StatLab drop-in consultation via Zoom. If you have questions about using special collections for your research, you can contact the relevant repository for further assistance.

A full list of medical, nursing, and public health faculty liaison librarians is here.

Librarians have created and are actively maintaining many research guides that are always available for consultation. These guides include quick links to important resources in various fields, suggestions for research strategies, contact information for subject specialists, and more. 

FAQs

The Ask Yale Library page is always available with answers to many general library questions. The library has expanded the live chat component of this service from 45 to 91 hours per week and added a pop-up chat box to the library website’s home page. New questions can also be sent to askyalelibrary@yale.edu.

For information on the status of library services and policies, including borrowing, course reserves, and digitization, please see the library’s COVID-19 page, which contains up-to-date news on these topics and others.