O'Callahan Science Library
The O’Callahan Science Library has over 95,000 physical volumes and increasing numbers of electronic product occupies the entire first floor of Swords Hall, the central portion of the five-building Integrated Science Complex. The Science Library subscribes to over 50 major article databases just in the science disciplines, which contain access to thousands of journals.
The Library serves Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics & Computer Science and Physics, as well as the more neuroscientific side of Psychology.
Reserve a Study Room
Students are able to reserve a study room in the Science Library for 2 hour blocks of time, up to one week in advance.
Please note: At this time, Study Room 1 is the only group study room that can be reserved. Study Rooms 2-4 are still open on a first-come, first-served basis.
You Should Know
For ENVS 117, you should know the following library research skills:
- How to access the libraries' homepage, CrossSearch database, and individual research databases such as Biological Abstracts, Scopus, or ScienceDirect
- How to evaluate resources that you find in a database, and identify various types of articles including scholarly articles, magazine articles, book chapters, conference proceedings, and other sources.
- How to read an abstract to determine if an article is relevant to a research topic.
- How to find the full text of an article, and how to use interlibrary loan to access articles we do not own in the libraries' collections
This online guide covers many of these topics. If you have any questions, please reach out to Science Librarian Laura Wilson (contact information is on the "Help" page of this guide).
Drop In Hours
In addition to these options, you can always email us at libref@holycross.edu. We will usually respond within 1-2 business days.