For Students

We're so glad you're a part of the Bridgewater community! This page is intended to help you access library resources from your home.

We are available to work with you in a number of ways:

• Chat: We can chat with you through this website during regular business hours (8a–4:30p Monday through Friday). Simply click the speech bubble at the bottom-right of this page to begin a chat with us.
• Email: Ask us a research question at research@bridgewater.edu or request an item from our collection or another library's through ill@bridgewater.edu
• Zoom Research Consultation: We are also available to have a Zoom research consultation with you. You can schedule one by clicking here.

Please know that even if you are a remote student, the Forrer Learning Commons and all of its services are open to you. The FLC is home to:

• Academic Tutoring
• Center for Career Development
• Digital Media Creatives
• Library Services
• Writing Center 

Below are our hours:

As is always the case, there are a number of library resources that are available to you digitally:

• Search through Discovery
  • Request an Interlibrary Loan scan for an article, book chapter, or book
• Use a database through A–Z Databases
• View our research guides

We have started offering a new service that allows you to request an item from the library's physical collection to be sent to your home. If there is something that you find in our Discovery database, simply send a link to the record for the material to circulation@bridgewater.edu along with your mailing address.

We will send the book to you with a prepaid return mailer, so once you are done with the book, place it in the return mailer and drop it off at a UPS location.

We are also able to send an Interlibrary Loan material to you. If you would like to request an item, simply fill out this form and include your home address.

If you are a remote student who is closer to another Virginia library that's part of our consortium, you may register your Bridgewater ID with that academic library in order to participate in reciprocal borrowing. This means that you can borrow their books with your Bridgewater ID and return them at the location convenient for you.

To see a list of Virginia libraries where this is the case, click here or review the map below:

Before visiting the library, make sure that you are able to visit. Some libraries are only open to campus community at this time (as we are here at Bridgewater), so please make sure to call the location before you arrive.

If you currently have a book checked out from last semester and are now a remote student, you may:

• Email circulation@bridgewater.edu to renew your materials until you are able to come back to campus, or
• Request a prepaid return mailer from circulation@bridgewater.edu. For this, we will need you to email us your mailing address and let us know how many books you would like to return. Once you receive the mailers, simply put the books into the envelopes and drop them off at a UPS store.
• Return your title to a partner library through a service called "Courtesy Returns." See a list of libraries in our consortium here.

If you have any questions about this return process, don't hesitate to reach out to us.

If there are any questions that you have about using library resources as a remote student, feel free to submit it here: