Faculty Guide

The library gives current Cincinnati State students, faculty, & staff free access to almost 100 databases, making it easy to find scholarly articles, news from credible magazines & newspapers, e-books, & more. Most can be accessed from off-campus by following the links on our site & then entering your name & 7-digit College ID.

Not sure what your ID number is? You can look it up using the ID Verification Form. Be sure to check the box to display your College ID with your results. Students can also find their Id in Self Services, while employees can find it on their pay advice (Employee Id number).

For a list of frequently used databases, visit our Databases A-Z guide or visit the "Finding Articles" tab. You may also want to see if there is a library guide for your subject area.. The library guides will list the most commonly used databases for that discipline .

In addition to having borrowing privileges at Cincinnati State's main campus library, you & your students have access to over 200,000 ebooks.You also have borrowing privileges at OhioLINK member libraries. Find a participating library near you by using OhioLINK's interactive map.

If you have a public library card, you may even be able to use it to request OhioLINK books (including Cincinnati State books!) to the public library closest to you. Visit the "Step-by-Step" guide for more information and for a video tutorial on how to use the Cincinnati State Library catalog.

Please Note: Faculty, and staff must present a valid Cincinnati State ID card to check out materials at the Johnnie Mae Berry Library. There is no limit to the numbers of books that may be checked out at one time; however, only 5 hold requests can be placed on Cincinnati State materials at one time. Most books are due in ten weeks, and may be renewed up to six times, if no other user has requested the material in the meantime. Faculty & staff are responsible for overdue fines accumulated from circulating fiction videos, OhioLINK, and SearchOhio materials, as well as replacement costs for damaged and unreturned items.

Have you come across a book or video that you think will really benefit our students? We’re happy to consider your suggestions for library purchases. Our Collection Development Policy (linked below) has additional guidelines & details on our selection criteria, but generally:

• Language: Materials are only collected in the English Language
• Format: Book & Video materials are only purchased in physical format. We have robust electronic collections of eBooks through various platforms & streaming videos through Films on Demand, but do not add individual titles to these collections. Depending on budget & purpose, a small number of individual streaming films may be leased through Kanopy Films
• Textbooks: The Library does not intentionally purchase required textbooks for all courses, but you may find that we have your required text in our collection already. If you would like to place a copy of your course's required textbook on reserve, we encourage you to reach out to the publisher for a copy.
• Databases: The Library may consider adding research databases that are accessible College-wide via our EZProxy authentication. We are not able to support databases that are accessible to a limited number of "seats", such as those that are only available to students in a specific course or program for a limited time (those need to go to the department or division for approval). Many databases are cost-prohibitive (15K+)& will require an approved increase of the Library's budget; to increase the likelihood of approval, new databases should be trialed & requested by March of the current fiscal year to potentially be added to the next fiscal year's budget.
• Individual Periodicals: Print periodicals are being phased-out due to lack of usage & increased costs. Individual journals are typically only licensed through EBSCO for maximum visibility & are only added when they are core to a program's accreditation (e.g. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, American Journal of Nursing, etc.) or support general faculty teaching & learning needs (e.g. Community College Journal of Research & Practice).

Please contact Kathleen Pickens (kathleen.pickens@cincinnatistate.edu) if you have questions or would like to make a recommendation regarding purchases or subscriptions.

More Options: EBooks | OhioLINK | Library Catalog