Services for DTS Faculty

This is a list of standard services we provide for faculty. But we want to go beyond this minimum. Please don't hesitate to contact library staff if there is anything we can do to support your teaching and research.

Orientation for New Faculty

At your request we will provide a personalized orientation in person or via video conferencing. See also the library website for tutorials, rules, calendar, etc.

Instruction for Your Students

We offer brief instruction sessions for new students at the start of the school year. Send any student to us for help on an informal basis. Alternatively, we will conduct formal group instruction sessions for your students about how to use any library resource you specify, including reference works, bibliographies and databases, and large complex primary source collections. Please schedule a full month in advance.

Reference Assistance

We provide reference assistance by phone, email, and video conferencing. Library reference staff will answer faculty reference questions on a priority basis. We do not have sufficient staffing to provide complex or long-term research assistance. We will train your assistants and interns to do your complex long-term research project. We can show you how to configure a database to automatically alert you on a monthly basis to publication of new items in areas of special long-term research interest.

Request for Special Purchase

If an essential resource is not part of our collection, let us know. We will probabaly purchase a copy and notify you when it is available.

Access to Online Collection. Tech Support

The library catalog (WorldCat) and scores of databases are available via the Internet. If you are not on the Dallas campus, you will be prompted for familiar DTS credentials. If you are unable to access databases or other online resources, contact the library. We may forward you to the IT helpdesk, depending on the nature of the problem. If you need immediate access, we will do a search for you and email you the results.

Access to Physical Collection

Faculty who reside in the Dallas/Fort Worth area must retrieve books and other materials themselves. We ship books to faculty who reside elsewhere in the continental United States. We do not ship outside the US. We scan and email book chapters and journal articles anywhere in the world. Copyright does not permit us to scan entire books. Because faculty who do not live in the DFW area cannot browse the bookstacks to determine if a given book is relevant to their needs, we will vet titles they suggest and scan or ship as appropriate.

Borrowing Privileges and Procedures

Eligible faculty (i.e., those who reside in the US) may borrow up to 100 items at one time. Loan period varies with item type; books, for example, are loaned for 90 days, with a maximum of one renewal possible. You may renew eligible items yourself via WorldCat or ask us to do it for you. Faculty are not billed for overdue materials (but very long overdue materials will be declared lost and the borrower invoiced). Some materials, such as reference books and periodicals, are non-circulating, but faculty may take non-circulating reference books and most rare books to class for short show and tell sessions.

Loans must be properly recorded against the borrower's account before materials can be removed from the building. Circulation staff process all borrowing transactions including course reserves. All borrowed items must be returned to the circulation desk on or before the date due. Regular books and other sturdy items may be returned after hours in the overnight book drop near the main entrance. Faculty should not ignore due dates or overdue notices. If you find library borrowing rules create a problem for you in a specific situation, then contact reference staff or the director.

Course Reserve Services

In years gone by, faculty placed books and DVDs on course reserve in the library. This was a means of guaranteeing an entire class would have access to specific high-demand resources so the students could complete specific required assignments. We still offer that service, but faculty hardly ever use it. Most students are better served by making the material available in Canvas, the DTS learning management software. In order to copy and display the desired material in Canvas, faculty must secure permission from copyright holders (or make an adequate Fair Use case for copyright compliance). If you do wish to use library course reserve, please submit your request three weeks before the semester begins so library staff can recall items currently on loan and process materials before the start of the semester. Required text-books are normally not put on reserve, but please contact the library if a required text-book is temporarily out of print or unavailable so the library can place multiple copies on reserve.

Hold Notification

Faculty may ask to be notified when unavailable items (e.g., items currently on loan, at the bindery, etc.) become available. This is called placing a hold. In most cases you may use WorldCat to place the hold yourself. When the item is returned, you will be notified (via email) and the item will be kept for you at the circulation desk. If a hold is placed on an item that is on loan to someone, the system will prevent the current borrower from renewing the loan.

Search for Missing/NOS Items

Library staff will help you search for missing items. By missing we mean the item is supposed to be on the shelf, available for use, but it is not there. Once the missing item has been reported to staff, they will search the entire building for the missing item. If the item is not found within 90 days, a replacement may be purchased. It is possible to place a hold on a missing book in order to be notified when the item is found.

Archives and Special Collections

Faculty have full use of these collections. At your request, archives staff will teach your students how to use our archives and what to expect at other archives. Please schedule formal instructional sessions a full month in advance. Additional details available on the Special Collections page.

Interlibrary Loan

Use interlibrary loan to obtain items that are not in the DTS library collection. Any faculty member can request the scan of a small item (a journal article, a book chapter). Faculty in the DFW area can request whole print books. Whole books are shipped to Dallas from other libraries. Book forwarding is not permitted. In other words, we cannot borrow a book from another library and forward it to you at a remote location. However, we might be able to purchase a copy for your use or scan a portion of the book for you.

You can use the following forms to request an item.

Some faculty prefer to send email to library@dts.edu to ask for an item. That's fine. We need an accurate bibliographic citation for each item.

  • author, book title, edition, publisher and date; or
  • author, article title, journal title, volume, issue, pages, and date.

ILL is intended to supplement our local collection, not substitute for it. If you discover the Turpin Library collection is not adequately supporting your teaching or research needs, please contact the library and explain your needs. We aim to meet all your teaching needs and most of your research needs from our own collection.

Borrowing Privileges at Other Libraries

Faculty who reside in Texas and wish to borrow books directly from other Texas libraries may contact Turpin Library to obtain a TexShare card. Most universities and seminaries in Texas participate in the program. There is no cost other than possible fines for overdue or lost material.

DTS participates in the Atla Reciprocal Borrowing Program. Scores of libraries all across the US will lend to DTS faculty. Just walk into a participating library, show proof of faculty status at DTS, and borrow materials based on local lending policies. There is no cost other than possible fines for overdue or lost material.

How You Can Help Us

Help us build the collection. We eagerly solicit faculty recommendations. While our first priority is to purchase materials that directly support the existing curriculum, we welcome recommendations in the broad scope of everything germane to the seminary mission and ministry.

Work together with library staff to help students become skillful researchers. Tell reference staff what specific library and research skills students most need to improve. Describe and define the level of proficiency they need. Help us develop practical programs that will equip graduates to meet their information needs throughout a lifetime of ministry after they leave DTS.

Serve on the library committee or communicate your concerns to the committee or to the director.