About
Staff at Tisch Library and our branch libraries, Ruth Lilly Music Library and the W. Van Alan Clark, Jr. Library at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA), are available by appointment, email, or chat to provide in-depth assistance in your area of need. Librarians and experts can help you find information and data, organize your research materials, share your research and scholarship, create multimedia projects, and more! View our Ask Us webpage for specialized information, hours, and contact information.
This virtual welcome will highlight some of our many services and collections. Learn more at our About Tisch Library webpage.
Our Collections
JumboSearch is a discovery tool that allows you to search for most of the material that Tufts subscribes to or owns as part of our collection. These include books and ebooks, articles and scholarly journals, magazines and newspapers, DVDs and streaming videos, research databases, theses and dissertations, music in many formats, rare books and manuscripts, and much more.
Use JumboSearch to find materials contained in the Tufts Catalog as well as the Tufts Digital Library and ResearchGuides@Tufts. As the primary discovery tool for Tufts Libraries, JumboSearch includes citations from over 80% of the journals to which we subscribe and, where possible, provides direct links to the complete text of online books, articles, journals, streaming videos, and more.
Course Reserves
Course reserves are common resources identified by instructors for the use of everyone in a specific class. For Fall 2022 - 2023, course reserves will be offered both in print and online via Canvas. When you log into Canvas, open the course you want, then click Reading Lists in the menu on the left, where you will find information about the physical reserve items you can borrow from one of our libraries as well as links to eBooks, online journal articles, streaming films, and streaming audio files.
If you are teaching a class and need to put items on reserve, course reserves can be managed through the Canvas Reading List Tool (preferred) or by emailing tischres@tufts.edu. View our step-by-step instructions for creating your Reading List as well as a video tutorial.
Interlibrary Loan
Interlibrary Loan service enables Tufts students, faculty, and staff to borrow materials from libraries worldwide. If you need an item that is not available at a Tufts library, you can submit a request using the Interlibrary Loan application, ILLiad. Once you've made a request, you'll be able to review its status via ILLiad. You will receive an email notification once the item has been received at the library. Come to the library's Main Service Desk to retrieve your material.
Need a book chapter or article scanned? Tisch Library, SMFA Library and Lilly Music Library will do it for you! Once you find an item you need, log into ILLiad with your Tufts username and password. Choose either the article or book chapter from the Request menu on the left-hand side of the page. Fill out the form and submit your request. You can also request scans through JumboSearch by looking up the item you need and clicking Request Scanned Chapter or Pages, which will take you to the ILLiad request form.
Subject Specialists
Our Subject Librarians and Experts offer individual help in your discipline or area of need. Ask questions and make appointments for Consultations with an Expert. Subject Librarians and Experts have also created Subject Guides to get you started and Research Guides that include more in-depth information that can help you find relevant resources on your own.
We also offer teaching/course support! Tisch Library is here to help as you prepare to teach, design new courses, and explore different ways to engage students in the research process.
Special Collections
Tisch Special Collections supports students and the faculty, in classes or individually, to incorporate primary sources in teaching and research.
We have medieval manuscripts, early printed books, early modern science and medicine, travel and exploration, philosophy, religion, history, politics, education, art, theater, music…and a good deal more.
Contact us by email at specialcollections@tufts.edu and visit us online or in Tisch Room 103, at the foot of the stairs down from the lobby. Follow us on Instagram to keep up with special events and the latest views from the rare books collection.
Digital Design Studio
The Digital Design Studio (DDS) is an educational space for entry into digital design focused on audio and video production as well as visual design. We support student projects for courses and research as well as extracurricular work by students, faculty, and staff. The DDS is managed by the Digital Scholarship department of Tisch Library. We’re part of a broader digital scholarship community at Tufts, which includes the Data Lab and Tufts Maker Network.
During DDS service hours, the studio space is staffed by student Studio Assistants to guide you through access to our services, troubleshoot software, offer design feedback, and help you get your questions answered. Our services include: a recording room for working on audio and video projects; a large-format printer for conference posters and photographs; 3D printing by request. We also are happy to help you learn how to use the media equipment available for checkout at the Tisch Library front desk!
The Medford Data Lab is a teaching and research computing space designed to foster collaboration and innovation among students, faculty, and staff across all Tufts’ schools and departments. The Data Lab provides interdisciplinary methodological and technological support for all aspects of the data science workflow, including data reference, analysis, and visualization. The wide range of expertise encompassed by the Data Lab staff allows for support in a variety of geospatial, statistical, and computational applications, including GIS, remote sensing, machine learning, and digital humanities.
The Data Lab is staffed with Student Data Lab Assistants who are available for immediate walk-in assistance. The Data Lab is open for individual or collaborative work during the same hours as Tisch Library. The Data Lab team offers a wide range of services to the Tufts community, including workshops, in-class instruction, and advanced GIS and Data Science consultations.
Tufts Archival Research Center (TARC) is the archives and manuscript repository of Tufts University. We welcome visits and research questions from Tufts students, faculty, and staff.
TARC is home to more than 700 unique collections documenting the history of Tufts and several specialized subject areas. TARC's collections range from the papers of activists Lois Gibbs and Rubin Carter and broadcaster Edward R. Murrow, to the records of students and faculty documenting life at the University. TARC collects both analog and digital material. All collections are described and discoverable online in our Archives at Tufts database. Online exhibits for select collections are available at our exhibits portal.
In addition to providing stewardship for the Tufts University Archives, several hundred manuscript collections, and other permanently valuable physical and digital archival materials, TARC staff also assist Tufts students, faculty, and staff with recordkeeping activities through records management and digital library services.
Tufts Archival Research Center staff partner with undergraduate and graduate classes from all disciplines across the University to introduce, develop, and support primary source research skills through our manuscript and University record collections.
We offer a variety of established active learning activities and work with instructors to develop course-specific programming for in-person, hybrid, and remote learning. Come teach with us!
Please get in touch at archives@tufts.edu or through our Ask an Archivist service on our website.
The StAAR Center (Student Accessibility and Academic Resources) offers a variety of resources for Tufts students, including writing support, subject tutoring, and academic coaching, as well as assistance for students with disabilities. StAAR values the diverse educational and cultural experiences of every student and promotes access to an inclusive and collaborative learning environment.
StAAR operates the Writing Center (room 128) and the Academic Coaching Center (room 126) located on the 1st level of Tisch Library. Please log into Tutor Finder to book an appointment or see a schedule of drop-in hours held in the centers.
Lilly Music Library
The Ruth Lilly Music Library is a branch of Tisch Library located in the lower level of the Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center. The Library holds ca. 28,000 scores of all types – performance parts, critical study, and facsimiles of historically important or unique compositions. It is also the main repository for Tufts' research resources about music – ca. 21,000 books on musical topics (from histories, to biographies, to studies of genres, instruments, other world cultures, etc.) as well as a variety of periodical subscriptions (both in print and electronic).
Lilly Music Library has a significant sound recording collection of ca. 25,000 CDs and ca. 5,000 LPs, as well as several million streaming audio files offered through our subscriptions to multiple music databases. Music of all styles from all historical periods and from all around the globe are represented! The library also has listening stations, high-density compressible stacks, and comfortable study areas open to all students.
School of the Museum of Fine Arts Library
The W. Van Alan Clark, Jr. Library at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) is the fine arts branch of Tufts University's Tisch Library. Our mission is to support the curriculum, research, and creative exploration of students, faculty, and staff.
Focusing on contemporary art and studio practice, our collections encompass exhibition catalogs, monographs, theoretical and art historical texts, technical manuals, periodicals, media, artists' books, zines, graphic novels, and more. Library staff are available for help at all stages of research, assignments, and independent projects.
All students, faculty, and staff with a Tufts ID are welcome to visit and access the SMFA Library's collections.