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Suggest a Resource
Becker Library welcomes recommendations for additions to its collection. A member of the collection management staff will evaluate your request.
The criteria for purchasing items is based on:
- Suitability of the topic in meeting the teaching, patient care, and research needs of the faculty, staff, and students
- Budget constraints
- Availability (whether or not the item is in print or in the requested format)
- Electronic access considerations (some items may be unavailable as a single purchase)
Faculty members are encouraged to request the purchase of required and suggested textbooks and books for student class work for course reserves.
Duplicate copies of journals are not purchased. Duplicate copies of print books are purchased only if the title is very heavily used and an e-book version is not available.
Missing/lost/damaged books are not automatically replaced, even when the library is reimbursed for these items. The decision to replace an item is based on use, subject matter and relevance to the needs of faculty and students, date, cost and availability.
Course Reserves
The reserve collection is located behind the Information Services desk on the first floor of the library. Reserve books or DVDs circulate. Visit Borrowing and Renewing for current Loan Periods.
The library does not operate an electronic reserve, but persistent links to eBooks and online journal articles may be added to course management systems. Visit the Curriculum and Instruction guide for more information about persistent links and copyright questions.
Books and DVDs assigned or suggested for use by instructors are placed on reserve for students in Medicine, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Genetic Epidemiology, Psychiatric Epidemiology, Population Health Sciences, and Audiology and Communication Sciences.
If the library does not own a requested book or DVD, the library will try to purchase the material on a rush basis, provided the subject matter fits the profile of the collection.
Faculty should complete a Course Reserve Request Form to place material on reserve. On receipt of the form, library staff will move the requested material to the reserve collection. Material checked out at the time the form is submitted will be recalled and placed on reserve, as soon they are available.
Faculty may also place personal copies of material on reserve. Faculty is responsible for picking up personal copies placed on reserve. Any personal copies not picked up will be added to the collection or placed on the free book cart after the end of the term.
Please contact Angie Rosengarten for more information at 314-747-0023 or rosengaa@wustl.edu.
Donating Materials
The Library accepts gifts of materials with the understanding that upon receipt, the Library becomes the owner of the materials. The Library reserves the right to determine their retention. Classic and contemporary books are often already part of the Library collection and the library does not retain duplicates. The Library places unneeded material on the Free Book cart.
Donors must deliver the material to the library and can fill out a Donation Form to receive a letter of acknowledgment. The Library cannot provide an estimate of value, compile a detailed list of donated materials or, at a later date, provide a precise reconstruction of the contents of a gift.
If you do not live in the area, please donate to a local institution and/or consult Better World Books to see if there is a donation drop box near you.
What to donate (material may still go on the free book cart):
- Books and other items published by WUSM faculty
- New editions of relevant textbooks in medicine, physical therapy and occupational therapy
- Newer unmarked study guides for medicine, physical therapy and occupational therapy
- Rare historical health science materials and archival material – please contact Archives and Rare Books
What not to Donate (material will go on the free book cart or be discarded):
- Outdated textbooks
- Encyclopedias
- Severely damaged or heavily underlined books
- Laboratory manuals
- Newspapers and newsletters
- Reprints of journal articles
- Journals – unbound issues or bound volumes
- Audiovisual materials (slides, videos) or computer programs