Library Tutorials

Library Orientation

Welcome to Sacred Heart University Library! The Library is your principal gateway to the research materials you need for success in the classroom.

Our primary location is the Ryan Matura Library on the main campus, but we also have a health-sciences focused resource center at the Center for Healthcare Education, otherwise known as the CHE (C-H-E). Both locations offer access to physical materials, dedicated study spaces, printing and scanning facilities, and public computers. These locations, as well as our presence at West Campus, are also spaces for receiving one-on-one assistance from our team of librarians.

In addition to the physical library locations, we have a robust collection of digital materials, accessible from Sacred Heart University Library’s homepage, library.sacredheart.edu. Our primary search tool for both digital and print resources is QuickSearch, which can be found at the center of the homepage.

QuickSearch allows users to search through most of our digital collection and the entirety of our print collection, thus giving you access to hundreds of thousands of resources at your fingertips. The Library provides research tools to help streamline the research process and connect you to the information that you need.

Learning how to properly cite your research and avoiding plagiarism can be stressful and confusing, but it doesn’t need to be. The Library's Citation Help page found under the Research Support dropdown menu can show you how to properly cite your work in all the major citation styles.

This page also introduces Zotero, which is a citation management app that will help to organize your research and automate the process of collecting and creating citations.

Still need help? Check out our collection of over 50 tutorials, which can also be accessed by going to the “Research Support” dropdown menu on the homepage. These tutorials cover a wide variety of library services, tools, and other research tips, and they are presented in several formats.

Video tutorials are generally about 1-3 minutes long. Each video has closed captioning that can be turned on or off, and a printable transcript with screenshots for easy reading.

Zotero tutorials will help you set up the citation management software and show you how to use some of Zotero’s more advanced features.

Guided Tours help you get used to a database with a little help from your friendly librarians. In Guided Tours, the left side of the screen contains directions and hints, while the right side displays a live webpage with which you can interact. You can practice searching with guidance, before diving into your own research projects.

While there is a lot of help available on our website, please don’t feel like you have to figure it all out on your own! From getting started with a project to finalizing a literature review, the librarians and staff at Sacred Heart University Library are available to help. You can speak with a librarian through live chat, videoconferencing software, via email, text, or by telephone during scheduled reference hours. You can also make an appointment for a research consultation with a specific librarian during any of their posted available times. Each librarian on staff has specific subject expertise, so if you have a subject-specific research need it can be helpful to locate the librarian that specializes in that area and schedule a time to work with that individual.

As you join our university community, know that library personnel are here to help you with your research and information needs. Welcome to SHU and we hope to see you soon!