Library Services for Students

Research Support

Get started with your research by searching for books (including e-books), articles, Archives & Special Collections material, digitized images, and more. Not sure where to start? Take a look at our research guides, stop by the reference desk with any questions, or make an appointment to meet with a librarian. Staying to do research this summer? Check out our workshops and activities just for you.

• Students with current @amherst.edu email accounts may access all Amherst online resources from off-campus at any time.
• Five College students with 5Cxxxxx@amherst.edu email accounts may access all course-related materials and research resources from off-campus during the semester of their Amherst enrollment.

A variety of study spaces are available, including group studies for two or more people.

Thesis Support

** See our updated services guide to learn more about requesting and using material, including information for remote thesis support. Contact us with any questions. We're here to support you! 

Check out our Thesis Support guide, then make an appointment with a subject librarian to kick off your research.

• Zotero is a freely available tool that helps you collect, manage, and cite your sources. It's installed on all campus computer lab machines and is freely available to download on your own computer. Look for library workshops on Zotero in fall and during Interterm.
• Check our Citation and Zotero guide for help with all the major style manuals, including MLA, APA, Chicago, and Turabian.
• Check out our Personal Digital Archiving resources for more information about how to preserve and organize your digital stuff.
• The Writing Center is available to help at any stage of the process.
• The Q Center (Moss Quantitative Center) offers statistical consulting for thesis writers provided by the Mathematics and Statistics Department.

A variety of study spaces are available, including group studies for two or more people.

Loans

• Students can borrow books for 90 days, and 10 DVDs for 5 days; see more on loan periods, including for Five College students.
• Some materials, such as those in Archives & Special Collections and in the print reference collection, need to be used in the library.  
• Materials from another library, whether Five College Delivery (FCD) or interlibrary loan, are subject to the loan rules of the owning library. Check the paperwork delivered with materials borrowed from other libaries for details. 
• Renew your Amherst College and Five College Delivery loans in your library account through Discover. Follow these steps to sign in.
• You can also request extensions for interlibrary loans online.

Purchases

If you don't find what you need for your research (or you think it's something Amherst should have) in Discover, a Research & Instruction librarian can help you decide if a purchase request is a better option than interlibrary loan.

Overdue Notices

• New in 2022: No more overdue fines!
• All notices (recall, overdue, etc.) are sent by email to your official @amherst.edu address (or home campus email for Five Colleges students).
• Please note that while we no longer apply overdue fees on reserve material or recalled items, we do monitor late returns of these items. Please return materials by the due date and time to make them available to others.
• The replacement charge for long overdue items is $85.00.

Contact Circulation at (413) 542-2373 or libcirc@amherst.edu with questions about lost or billed items.