Education Services
The Tompkins-McCaw Library provides training opportunities throughout the year to help students, faculty, and staff develop skills in information management. Library staff can design a specialized program for your course or group. Classes may be held as hands-on sessions in library training labs, or as demo in a room elsewhere on campus. VCU faculty may schedule library instructional sessions for their classes using an online form. View our schedule of upcoming classes.
After receiving the request, we will contact you to confirm your reservation for a library session. Overviews of the course topics we cover are available on our Course Roster resource page. For more information on any of these services or for special accommodations, please contact Thelma Mack at 804-828-0017.
Tours & Orientations
Training and research assistance are also available by appointment. To arrange an appointment for individual instruction, research assistance, or a library tour, please contact Thelma Mack at 804-828-0017.
Self-Guided Instruction
If you are unable to attend library tours or other training, a number of online resources are available to guide you through the process of identifying and locating appropriate resources for your clinical, research, and educational needs.
- TML News and Notes podcast
- Guide to Basic Services at Tompkins-McCaw Library
- Search Guides, Tips, Handouts, and Tutorials
- Research and Topic Guides
- TML Virtual Tour
Outreach Programs
The Tompkins-McCaw Library offers a Library Liaison Program for the faculty, students, and staff. Librarians assigned to each school share information about library services, changes and innovations, collections, and available resources to support the teaching, research, and clinical needs of the departments and programs of the schools at the MVC campus of VCU Library. For more information about the Library Liaison program, and to find out the name of your liaison librarian, please visit the Library Liaison Program resource page.
The Tompkins-McCaw Library also has a new program, the Scholarly Circuit Librarian. This program brings librarians out of the library to public areas that are frequently used by students and faculty. The library sets up a mini-reference desk, essentially holding office hours and making ourselves available to answer questions that students or faculty may have about a number of issues (such as remote access to resources). This is an opportunity for us to answer individual questions that a student or small group may have and find out more about the needs of our patrons in an informal setting. If you are interested in hosting a Scholarly Circuit event in your department, please contact Shannon Jones at 804-828-0626.