Frequently Asked Questions at Grainger Engineering Library

If you have been billed for an overdue or lost item by the Grainger Engineering Library and wish to speak with a member of the Grainger staff, please email enginlib@library.illinois.edu. Please include your NetID and Library Barcode (found on your iCard). 

Please make an effort to locate any materials for which you have been fined to help us rectify the matter. The new online catalog will send an email when you return Library books with the title, where the book was returned, date and time. 

If you return a UIUC Library book after it has gone to "lost" status, the fine will be removed from your account by campus accounting. If you have an overdue book or fine from an I-Share school or other Inter-Library Loan, you will need to contact that school or organization directly. Grainger Library staff cannot adjust fines for other libraries. 

Note: If you have lost a library book please email us and let us know. The Library does not receive any of the fine monies paid to campus for lost books. We will help you locate and purchase a replacement copy if available. This helps the Grainger Library maintain our collection and often the expense is less than a Lost Book fine. 

You can use the Library Catalog to view your personal information.

• Go to the catalog and log in to your library account.
• Click on your name and then click My Account in the drop-down menu.
• Go to the Fines + Fees tab. 
  • Please note that the total amount you owe may differ from what is displayed. If the library has already reported your fines or fees to the Campus Accounting Division, they will no longer be displayed in that tab, but you are still responsible for paying them.

You may be able to find more information about the billed item in the Loans tab in your library account.

Charges for lost materials from an off-campus library within the I-Share Library Consortium must be paid to that school directly. Our Library Billing Office can provide contact information for I-Share institutions.

See the Overdue and Lost Items page for more information. If you have additional questions about a bill, contact the Library Billing Office.

Yes. Appointments must be made a minimum of 48 hours (Monday-Friday) in advance but we prefer at least a week or more so that we have ample time to prepare and make the visit worthwhile. To schedule group or individual tours, contact Grainger staff at enginlib@library.illinois.edu. 

A Borrower ID is the library account number located on the bottom right corner of your i-card. The U of I Library system requires that all patrons have an ID number registered with the University and the library in order to reserve and check out materials.

To change your address in the library’s computer system, you must update your address information with the Office of the Registrar.

No. According to the Illinois Library Records Confidentiality Act, P.A. 83-179, effective January 1, 1984:
"The registration and circulation records of a library are confidential information. Except pursuant to a court order, no person shall publish or make any information contained in such records available to the public." See the library's confidentiality policy for more information.

This means the item has been placed on reserve at the Grainger Engineering Library. The item is now available for in-building use only. It is subject to our reserve loan periods and terms of use. Reserves can be found behind the Circulation Desk and can be charged out for a short period, typically 2 hours, with your iCard.

All CD-ROM’s and DVD’s found at Grainger are located behind the Circulation Desk. Use the online catalog to find the call number for the specific item you are looking for and ask to have it charged to your account.

I-Share allows you to request books from other libraries in Illinois when our library doesn't have the book you need. You can also check out books in person from one of the over 90 Illinois libraries in the consortium.

For more information on how to request items, see our guide on Using the Library Catalog.

Patrons must check with I-Share first. If the desired item is not available with I-Share, it can be requested through Interlibrary Loan. For information on how to request a book through I-Share, see our guide on Using the Library Catalog.

Anyone affiliated with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (faculty, staff, and students) may borrow materials through Interlibrary Loan.

Requests for articles are generally filled within 10 working days, and book requests within 2-3 weeks. Some foreign or rare titles may take longer.

To make an Interlibrary Loan request, go to the ILL webpage. Please note that only materials not available at UIUC or through I-Share may be borrowed through Interlibrary Loan. If you request materials through the form that are available on campus, you will receive a note telling you where you can find the item at UIUC.

Even if a journal has been canceled, it is possible to get articles from issues not in our library. You may request the articles through Interlibrary Loan. See the How to Find Articles guide for more information.

To request that a journal be reinstated, email enginlib@library.illinois.edu. Although such requests will be given full consideration, it may not be possible to fulfill them, given the high cost of journal subscriptions.

The Grainger Engineering Library will staff the reference desk in-person Monday through Thursday from 10am to 9pm. From 9pm to midnight, Grainger reference librarians will work remotely answering library chats. On Friday's, the reference desk is available in-person from 10am to 5pm.

The "Ask Us" library chat feature is available for quick reference assistance! Chat with a librarian here.

Reference assistance is available by phone at (217) 244-7826 when the reference desk is open. You may also email your questions to enginlib@library.illinois.edu.

Reserve items cannot leave the building. There is no overnight circulation on weekends, though the Grainger Engineering Library is open 24 hours during the week. Reserve items are typically checked out for 2-hour loans, but some materials are available for 30-minute loan and others are available for 5-hour loan. When checking out a reserve item at the circulation desk, a return time will be provided to you by library staff.

The Grainger Engineering Library has a number of rooms available for studying, teaching and events. Please see the Room Reservations page for more information on reserving spaces at Grainger.

Please do not call the Grainger Engineering Library to reserve a meeting/group study room. Only reservations submitted through the website will be considered. Reserve spaces here.

• Open Group Study Rooms may be reserved by any U of I students, faculty, or staff member. 
• Family Study Rooms (including the Lactation Space) may only be reserved by U of I students, faculty or staff members who are accompanying children at the current moment.
• CARE Group Study Rooms may be reserved a minimum of 48 hours (Monday-Friday) in advance by U of I students, faculty, or staff member affiliated with the College of Engineering.
• Conference Rooms may be reserved a minimum of 48 hours (Monday-Friday) in advance by groups affiliated with the U of I College of Engineering, Technology Services, or University Library. 

Questions? Email us at enginlib@library.illinois.edu

There is no reservation needed to gain access to the Lactation Space. Access to the lactation space is offered on a first-come, first-served basis. The key is available by request from the circulation desk on the first floor, unless the room is currently in use. The lactation space is open as long as the library is.

The Family Study Space is reserved for U of I students, faculty, and staff who are actively in a care-giving situation. The Family Study Space is specially furnished for students of all ages, and is kept open for those wishing to study with children. Students without family present will be asked to reserve a group study room.

Engineering Workstations are computers supported by the College of Engineering and accessible to all engineering students. There are several locations throughout campus, including the center and east end of the fourth floor of the Grainger Engineering Library. EWS is available to Engineering students with an EWS account.

Hours of operation are the same as the the Grainger Engineering Library. Each workstation is a stand-alone computer with its own disk drive, memory and CPU, as well as file and resource sharing capabilities. For more information on EWS resources and policies, visit their website.

For help contact the Engineering IT Help Desk at ews@illinois.edu or 217-333-1313.

Four public computer terminals are available in the first floor printing area. They provide access to information resources, including the online catalog, article databases, and the Internet.

In addition, there is a cluster of public computers at the east end of the first floor that require an Active Directory Password for access. These computers provide access to the Internet, email, and several other software packages including Microsoft Office.

Engineering Workstation Labs are located in the center and east end of the Fourth Floor for use by College of Engineering students only.

The Computer-Based Testing Facility (CBTF) is located on the west end of the lower level in room 057.

Access to Engineering Workstation computers is limited to engineering students and to non-engineering students taking courses in the College of Engineering. 

Report any hardware or software problems on Grainger Engineering Library computers to a reference librarian or to a staff member at the Circulation Desk. Problems with an Engineering Workstation computer (4th floor) should be addressed to the EWS Engineering IT.

No. Users do not have administrative rights to install any software on any computer in the building. Students who would like to request new software be added to campus PCs may fill out a request form. Net ID and password are required.

The computers in the first floor cluster provide access to the software listed on the Grainger Software page here.

The Engineering Work Station computers (EWS) have more specialized software available, which can be found on the Engineering IT Lab Software page here. 

Other software may be available elsewhere on campus, at an Instructional Computing Software (ICS) lab. Check the ICS Software List for more information.

Students who would like to request new software be added to campus PCs may fill out a request form. Net ID and password are required.

GELIC houses four black and white printers and two color printers on the first floor. The first floor computer cluster features sit-down and standing computer stations, with four public kiosks that do not require a university login for use. There are six scanners available on the first floor of the library, too. If a photocopy is desired, the best option would be to use one of these scanners to scan a copy of the document and print it.

The fourth floor of Grainger houses Engineering Work Stations (EWS). These computers are only available to engineering students. EWS also has four printers - two black and white and two color - as well as one scanner on the fourth floor of the library.

See the Library Technology printing page for printing costs by library location.

If you would like to pay for a print job in cash, please go to the Grainger Engineering Library. Your documents will not print until you pay in person there. To print at other libraries, you must charge the cost to your student account or to a pre-paid printing account.

Some steps to try if you run into this issue:

• Did you print to LibraryColor or LibraryB&W? Make sure you are at the color printer if you sent your job to the former, or at a black and white printer if it was the latter.
• Did you select "Pay Cash" or "Pay at Circulation Desk"? If so, your job must be released by library staff. Please see the front desk!
• If working on a library computer, return to your station and ensure there are no pop-ups from PaperCut that need to be approved.
• Printing from a laptop/through an internet browser? In the PaperCut Web Print submissions page, what is the status of your job?
  • Does it say "Held in a Queue?" If it is held in a queue, make sure the job was sent to one of our cash print options, LibraryColor, or LibraryB&W. 
  • Has it already been sent to a printer? If there is a printer listed under the status, then that job has been released and is now printed wherever that printer is housed. You can request a refund on the print job and try again. Be sure to scan the QR code at the Print Release Station you desire before releasing your job in order to avoid this happening again. 

If you were charged but your print job printed out incorrectly due to a printer error, you can request a refund via PaperCut.

See the Library Technology page for more details.

No. At this time the Grainger Engineering Library does not offer these services. However, the Main Library does loan certain equipment. Please see the Scholarly Commons webpage for more information.

A microform reader/printer is available at the Grainger Engineering Library. Please ask the reference staff for assistance.

Also, the History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library (room 246 in the Main Library) has fiche scanners, which allow you to convert fiche documents to PDF files.

Free wireless internet access is provided for affiliated members of the University of Illinois; guests can also register for a guest account. Please follow these instructions for more information on how to configure wireless access for your phone, tablet, laptop, gaming system, and other devices. 

For more information about wireless internet access, please visit the Technology Services page, where you can also learn more information about the individual networks.

The Technology Services Help Desk is located in the Digital Computer Lab (DCL), located just north of the Grainger Engineering Library. When class is in session, their hours are M-F 8am-9pm, Sat & Sun, 12pm-5pm.

The Technology Services Help Desk can also be reached by phone at 217-244-7000, or email at consult@illinois.edu.

Cell phones should be used in a courteous manner and away from others who are studying. Please be respectful to your fellow library users.