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Access Services

Access Services supports the mission of the University of Washington Libraries by putting library materials into people’s hands.

We are user centered and align our services with the needs of our research communities, striving to create spaces and provide resources in which a diverse group of people can successfully interact with the library.

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What We Do

Branch Operations Services runs the daily operations of the Art, Built Environments, Drama, Engineering, Foster Business, Math Research, Music, and Tateuchi East Asia Libraries. We can answer your questions about the libraries and its services, as well as help you find and check out materials, place requests, use library equipment, and reserve rooms.

Central Circulation Services helps you locate and retrieve library materials in the Suzzallo & Allen Stacks, off-site storage, Government Publications, and Media collections. Our public desk is on the first floor of Suzzallo Library, and this is where you can check out and return books, pick up your requested items, and ask questions about loans and library policies.

Interlibrary Loan & Scanning Services serves the UW community on all three campuses for free by working with libraries around the world to obtain print or electronic materials for users when the UW Libraries doesn’t have what you need. We also serve the greater  research community by providing scanning services to non-UW users including Cascadia, UW alumni, businesses, and non-affiliated individuals for a fee. We also provide interlibrary loan services to libraries, archives, museums, and government agencies. 

Library Account Services issues, renews, and manages library accounts for the University of Washington community, as well as off-campus borrowers, across all three campuses. Library Account Services is also responsible for collecting payments for library charges, notifying library borrowers of charges and sanctions, overseeing the UW Libraries appeals process for library charges, and issuing and renewing study carrels and spaces.

Meet the Access Services Team

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Related Resources

Interlibrary Loan & Scanning Services

Obtain materials that the UW does not own; scanning services for articles and book chapters owned by the UW Libraries; scanning services for course materials.

Get UW Materials & Beyond >

Accounts & Privileges

Learn more about your library account and access privileges 

Find  your account details >

Requesting & Delivery

Request and receive materials, have them delivered, or get scans from UW Libraries.

Learn More About Requesting & Delivery >

Information Technology Services & Digital Strategies

Information Technology Services & Digital Strategies (ITSDS) partners with colleagues throughout the Libraries, across campuses, and beyond on projects and initiatives to support the University’s mission, which is the preservation, advancement, and dissemination of knowledge. We strongly identify with the Libraries’ values of user-centered approaches, collaboration, equity, creativity, and sustainability.

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What We Do

Staff in the department provide collaborative leadership and support for:

ITSDS coordinates Student Technology Fund allocations and can support IT tool reviews. ITSDS can also provide best-effort consulting for other topics such as IT security.

ITSDS maintains tools such as ArcGIS, InMagic, and CONTENTdm that support digital collections. ITSDS manages tools to support UW’s institutional repository, such as ResearchWorks and Dryad.

ITSDS supports library employee computing, which includes supporting desktop machines, laptops, phones, scanners, and printers.

ITSDS manages physical and virtual IT infrastructure for UW Libraries, including system architecture and system engineering. For example, we manage servers in UW-IT’s data center and networking for UW Libraries physical locations.

ITSDS supports tools that ensure effective and efficient UW Libraries business operations. This includes tools such as listservs and the Libraries intranet.

ITSDS manages tools for library resource management and discovery. These include ExLibris tools such as Alma and Primo, and also other tools such as ILLiad, EZproxy, and integrations with MyUW.

ITSDS supports digital signage, room reservation forms, and public computers for patrons to use.

ITSDS supports the libraries’ web site, web sites created with LibGuides, and other public website resources such as Google Analytics.

ITSDS supports Open Journal Systems (OJS).

ITSDS manages a network storage appliance with 116 TB of storage. ITSDS also supports other storage systems such as Google Drive, OneDrive, lolo, and libdocs. ITSDS also supports tools for archiving digital records such as Archivematica.

ITSDS provides research, design, and testing to help improve the user experience.

Our Values

We hold paramount, the privacy and security of our staff and patron information.

We do this by:

  • Continuously and iteratively refactoring our workflows and architecture to optimize the health of our systems
  • Keeping up-to-date with potential areas of ingress and egress
  • Creating and documenting security and privacy policies
  • Building a Libraries-wide understanding of the importance of data security

We strive for 24/7 access to our online services.

We do this by:

  • Continuously improving the monitoring, efficiency, and maintenance of our infrastructure and processes
  • Maintaining robust workstations and technology for staff and public use
  • Planning and scheduling service down times to minimize disruption to our staff and users

We align our services and programs with the needs of our communities and strive to create shared ownership of the Libraries.

We do this by:

  • Making User Experience (UX) improvements to systems, content, workflows, and/or processes
  • Understanding user (including staff as users) needs
  • Designing for accessibility
  • Basing decisions on research data

With regard both to our users and to our staff members, we strive to examine our biases, and to acknowledge and improve our shortcomings in personal, work, and professional spheres.

We do this by:

  • Striving to eliminate roadblocks by conducting accessibility audits, staff surveys, user research, environmental scans, and promoting universal design
  • Valuing diverse perspectives and expertise which leads to better end results
  • Repeatedly and iteratively examining our internal documentation, practices, and hiring and retention policies

We seek clarity and openness in our communication within ITS & DS, within the Libraries, and with Libraries’ users.

We do this by:

  • Timely posting of alerts, communication of planned outages, and notification of status in unplanned outages
  • Notifying external partners when projects/work plans are delayed
  • Recognizing and respecting different opinions and areas of expertise
  • Having thoughtful and deliberate discussions regarding various approaches to the technical solutions we are trying to deploy

We strive to create a healthy work environment that facilitates the well-being of our staff. We hold true to the belief that a healthy workplace and work-life balance not only benefits individuals, but also optimizes the performance of our work.

 

We do this by:

  • Actively identifying and reducing toil
  • Documenting tasks and procedures
  • Striving for redundancy of knowledge
  • Actively pursuing a healthy and enjoyable workplace environment
  • Building time into work schedules to learn new technologies
  • Respecting personal time and expertise
  • Recognizing that healthy, well-designed, and well implemented systems and policies contribute to a healthy staff

Meet the Information Technology Services & Digital Strategies Team

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Who We Are

Data Services, Sciences, and Health Sciences (DSSHS)

The Data Services, Sciences, and Health Sciences (DSSHS) department provides leadership and support for departments associated with the Sciences and Health Sciences, as well as supporting open, public and emerging forms of scholarship, especially in response to changing data landscapes. The Health Sciences Library also supports and collaborates with users across Washington state and the Pacific Northwest.

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Get help from librarians by email, phone, 24/7 chat, or make an appointment with a subject expert

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International Studies

About

International Studies Librarians provide services to students, faculty and community members for teaching and research on Near East Studies, Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies and Southeast Asian Studies.  

We also offer specialized assistance with foreign language sources.

Services include class teaching, in-library instruction using specialized research tools for foreign language and non-roman script materials (e.g Cyrillic, Arabic, Thai etc).

Meet the International Studies Team

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Related Resources

Near East

Ancient Near East Studies

Near East Studies

Jewish Studies

Sephardic Studies

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia Studies

Slavic, Baltic and East European

Baltic Studies

Slavic Studies

Russia, Central, and Eastern Europe Studies

Learning Services & Social Sciences

About

The Learning Services & Social Sciences Department advances the UW Libraries Mission & Vision through the lens of teaching, learning, and engagement. The department leads the UW Libraries in supporting students holistically by deepening their learning related to inquiry and the critical use of information both inside and outside of formal class settings.

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Get help from librarians by email, phone, 24/7 chat, or make an appointment with a subject expert

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Featured Learning Services

  • Research Help UW Libraries offers a variety of online and in-person options for individual users seeking help with research.
  • Student Programs UW Libraries regularly offers programs that help students build resilience, reduce stress, and create meaningful connections.
  • Teaching Support UW Libraries collaborates with instructors to support classroom-based opportunities for developing students’ research and critical thinking skills.

News & Updates

Meet the Learning Services & Social Sciences Team

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Related Locations

Open Scholarship & Publishing and Arts & Humanities Department (OSPAH)

Photo of a person writing on a whiteboard while two others look on in a collaborative learning or a study group session

About

Open Scholarship & Publishing and Arts & Humanities (OSPAH) Department is one of eight departments situated within the Research & Learning Services portfolio. OSPAH is comprised of: 

  • Government Publications, Maps, Microforms & Newspapers
  • Open & Interdisciplinary Research Support
  • Arts & Humanities liaison team

Together, the department supports the entire research lifecycle from collecting and navigating primary source materials, supporting analysis and new knowledge creation, to publishing and sharing of research with broad audiences for the public good.

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Where to Find Us

Our work spans a variety of Libraries spaces including:

Additional Libraries Locations
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Open Resources

Openly sharing the work of the University and the region is important to us. Explore our work:

Learn How to Openly Share Your Work
A speaker at a podium addressing a seated audience, with interpreters and other participants nearby and individuals taking turns reading at a podium, many positioned beside American flags

Featured Events & Exhibits

As part of the Federal requirement to provide educational programming on the US Constitution, the UW Libraries holds an annual Constitution read aloud. We welcome students, faculty, staff and community members to join us in reading the Constitution and critically examining the historical and contemporary significance this document holds.

See Libraries Calendar

Meet the Open Scholarship & Publishing and Arts & Humanities Department (OSPAH) Team

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News

photo of MLK with quote "The time is always right to do what's right"

Stories

Celebrating MLK

January 14, 2026

updated 1/2025 In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. day, UW Libraries encourages you to explore resources within our collections and across campus that reflect Dr. King’s work and collective efforts to combat racism, inequality, and injustice in our community and beyond. MLK visit to Seattle – Seattle Labor History Project At the invitation of his friend, Reverend Samuel B McKinney, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Seattle in November 1961. The visit proved to be much more controversial…

Cataloging and Metadata Services

What We Do

Cataloging and Metadata Services (CAMS) makes the University of Washington Libraries’ collection searchable so that students and researchers can quickly and efficiently find the resources they need. CAMS staff catalog print, audio, video, digital, archival, and other kinds of library materials in over 45 languages. Our staff creates standardized descriptions that help users discover and access millions of library items through UW Libraries Search and other systems.

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Get help from librarians by email, phone, 24/7 chat, or make an appointment with a subject expert

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Found a record that needs updating?

Please use this form to report inaccuracies or issues with catalog records, digital collection records, or archival finding aids.

Report a Catalog Error

UW Libraries Open Metadata Guidelines

The University of Washington Libraries provides open access to the metadata we create, adding restrictions only when required by legal, ethical, or contractual obligations.

Open Metadata Guidelines

Meet the Cataloging and Metadata Services (CAMS) Team

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The Secret Life of Student Catalogers

Meet our students doing the behind-the-scenes work that makes finding library resources possible.

Payne2025

Nov 17, 2025

Cypress Payne’s computer science background was helpful in her significant contributions to a global effort to map and transform of legacy MARC21 records to the more modern LRM/RDA/RDF format that allows for easier sharing of bibliographic data.

Read about Cypress’ work >

Fer 1

August 19, 2025

María Fernanda (Fer) Palomares Carranco simplified workflows for adding metadata profiles to local digital images and collaborated on a new data model and best practices for personal pronouns for Wikidata.

Read about Fer’s work >

Ally Okun

Oct 1, 2024

Ally Okun contributed to Homosaurus, an open, standardized vocabulary of LGBTQ+ terms.

Read about Ally’s work >

Valerie Rollins

Mar 12. 2024

Valerie Rollins contributed to Wikidata, a collaboratively edited multilingual knowledge graph.

Read about Valerie’s work >

Zhuo Pan

Jan 22, 2024

Zhuo Pan contributed to the MARC21 to LRM/RDA/RDF Mapping and Transformation Project.

Read about Zhuo’s work >

Odeegard Page (5)

Oct 11, 2023

Melissa Morgan worked on multiple projects involving linked data conversion. (no image available)

Read about Melissa’s work > 

Acquisitions and Rapid Cataloging Services

About

Acquisitions and Rapid Cataloging Services (ARCS) is the central library department responsible for acquiring, receiving, invoice processing, and simple copy cataloging of library resources. We work with English, Western European, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages.

ARCS collaborates with vendors, suppliers, and other library departments to ensure its purchasing, processing, and invoicing activities align with University accounting rules and standards.

 

Advancement

UW Libraries Advancement works to secure support to strengthen Libraries’ ability to serve students, faculty, researchers, and the broader community. We collaborate with donors, alumni, and friends to provide resources for collections, programs, spaces, and initiatives that advance teaching, learning, and research at the University of Washington. 

Support the Libraries through donations, gifts, and other philanthropic opportunities.

Give to UW Libraries

What We Do

Your gift to UW Libraries ensures resources for every Husky’s success. Through scholarships and staff endowments, we support student employees and library professionals, the architects of information and facilitators of knowledge.

Libraries are evolving to meet the needs of today’s students and researchers. Your support helps transform physical spaces to foster learning, collaboration and innovation.

We create and support initiatives that expand access to knowledge and foster a more informed, connected and humane world.

Who We Are

UW Libraries Advancement Staff Page

Related Resources

UW Libraries Advancement
Learn more about giving to the University Libraries.

Fundraising Priorities: Supporting People, Places and Programs
Discover how your gift helps create meaningful opportunities to support and strengthen our Libraries. 

Assessment

The UW Libraries Assessment Program has delivered critical information about user needs, library and information use, importance, impact and priorities for more than 20 years.

Our work helps Libraries staff to understand user community needs and improve support for teaching, learning, and research at the University of Washington. We actively partner with Libraries and UW units to advance data gathering, analysis, and communication that is aligned with the mission, vision, and values of the UW and the Libraries. Assessment activities inform and are guided by the Libraries Strategic Plan.

Quantitative and qualitative assessment data gathered through this program informs decision-making and illuminates the impact of the Libraries on student and faculty success.

Do you have questions about the Libraries Assessment Program?

Email the Assessment Team

What we Do

Assessment staff lead large scale projects that require a Libraries-wide view and have broad impact. The program emphasis is on projects that actively guide improvement and decision making, and that lead to a deeper understanding of user needs in ways that can lead to changes to services, spaces, and/or resources. 

We offer expertise for projects that require more complex methodologies and data analysis approaches, and work with Libraries staff to coordinate small-scale assessment activities through the Libraries. We share our commitment to best practices in assessment by providing support to staff working with Libraries data and data visualizations and by offering training, resources, and support to staff throughout the assessment and data gathering cycle.

The Libraries conducts large-scale user surveys to help us understand faculty, graduate, and undergraduate student needs, satisfaction, and priorities. We use these results to improve Libraries services, resources, and spaces. The Libraries has conducted extensive large-scale surveys of faculty and students since 1992.

Recent Surveys

The Libraries engages annually in targeted projects focused on specific questions, services, spaces, and/or user groups. Results from these focused projects are used for the ongoing improvement of Libraries support for faculty and students. 

Recent Projects

The Libraries collects a range of statistical data to inform decision making and improve services for users across all three campuses. Key statistics include: gate counts, circulation, reference, and instruction statistics. Statistics are also reported to the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), which facilitates national benchmarking among peer libraries.

Recent Statistics

The Libraries employs a range of tools to support planning and management activities; Assessment manages the Libraries Tableau, Qualtrics, and LibInsight licenses, developing data processes, dashboards and visualizations that support effective decision-making and communication.

Recent Dashboards

Guiding Principles

Our focus is on library patrons and the ongoing improvement of spaces, services and resources for the diverse communities served by the UW Libraries. Internal data gathering and process improvement is approached through the lens of outcomes and impact for Libraries users.

We strive to connect assessment and planning in meaningful ways: our assessment activities are guided by Libraries strategic priorities, and we aim to ensure that these priorities are informed by the needs of our communities. Assessment & Planning staff take an intentional, coordinated approach for assessment activities to ensure ethical, inclusive, and actionable data gathering. We recognize that our work is connected to others throughout the LIbraries and approach experimentation thoughtfully and iteratively, mindful of the downstream effects. We invest in creating sustainable processes and procedures to save Libraries staff time and reduce burdens on library users.

Assessment & Planning staff leverage their Libraries-wide purview to encourage coordination, information sharing, and communication among Libraries staff in order to guide improvements and decision-making. We recognize the complex workflows and experiences of Libraries users and aim to foster assessment projects that transcend traditional operational silos and illuminate the holistic user experience. These partnerships provide opportunities for staff growth while empowering staff to take action on data and ensure that projects have a meaningful impact. We actively seek participatory methods and partnerships beyond the Libraries in order to take a broader view of student and faculty needs.

We commit to centering equity and inclusion at all stages of the assessment process. In line with Libraries values and priorities, Assessment staff seek to employ intentional recruitment strategies to ensure that data reflects our diverse user communities, draw upon methods that advance co-creation and shared decision-making, and foster ongoing dialogue about changes made in response to user feedback. We recognize that data represents and simplifies the complexity of human life and that we hold positions of power and privilege in representing that experience. We aim to bring a critical lens to our work while remaining responsive to rapidly changing environments.

Meet the Assessment Team

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