Look It Up Workstations Help Users Find Materials in the Library

Over the summer, special workstations were set up and distributed to 13 locations near book stacks areas throughout Howard-Tilton Memorial Library. They’re built specifically to help library users quickly find library resources, especially books in the library’s circulating collections. Each workstation is identified by a sign labeled Look It Up.

The workstations are configured with special software that limits their use to a web browser opening to the Tulane University Libraries basic search page. The URL window in the browser is locked to limit access to just library resources. Users are free to type in searches within the pages displayed and then navigate with the browser arrows and End Session controls. Ending a session takes the user back to the basic search page. No login is required.

The workstations are a complement to other measures, such as some changes in building signage and the Libraries’ “Map-it” links in the catalog that provide floorplans showing the physical location of books in the stacks—all aimed at promoting and better facilitating book reading at Tulane.

General computers are available in the Howard-Tilton building too, and these require login with a Tulane ID and password to access a suite of common applications, and many are provided with dual monitors. These general computers are located on the building's 1st floor and in the elevator lobbies of the 5th and 6th floors.

- AC 8/21/2023