Vision

The University Library as the repository of resources shall seek to extend easy access, provide the venue and render assistance to quality information materials for the benefit of all constituents.

Mission

The University Library’s primary responsibility is to provide information support to the teaching and learning process, research and extension services activities of the students, faculty and other members of the academic community through the use of organized, relevant and fast delivery of information services.

Philosophy

The main philosophy of the library is efficiency of service.  Its primary function is to transmit into action its institutional objectives.

As a service agency, it is considered the brain of the institution and acts as the teaching agency in terms of giving assistance in the location of information from all available library resources. Read More

The Kundo E. Pahm Learning Resource Center is the information arm of the University. It supports basically the curricular offerings, research engagement and information needs of the faculty, students, and researchers of the entire university community.  In this Pandemic, the nature of services of the library totally shifted from a conventional type to a virtual type of services that libraries and librarians must embrace.  The University administration had not stop extending and delivering quality education to all constituents through creating a campus in various places of the Province.  Along with the expansion USM campuses in the community and opening of new programs and colleges the establishment of campus-based, college-based and unit-based libraries of the University to ensure that the information needs of the stakeholders will be catered.

Philosophy

The main philosophy of the library is efficiency of service.  Its primary function is to transmit into action its institutional objectives.

As a service agency, it is considered the brain of the institution and acts as the teaching agency in terms of giving assistance in the location of information from all available library resources.  To achieve the full expression of service to its clientele, the library must be:

  1. An active and even aggressive participant in the whole program of education as it strives to meet the needs of the students, teachers and administration as well;
  2. A living repository of well-distributed and up-dated collections which readily support the course curriculum offerings and enhances the education’s learning processes and teaching competence;
  3. A resourceful facilitation of materials appropriate and most meaningful in the clientele’s growth and development as individuals;
  4. An efficient teaching instrument in the formation of a genuine citizen through the development of moral and spiritual values as designed in the curriculum; and
  5. It must be an efficient service agency that could readily answers the needs of every library clientele and whole objectives are adequately met by providing reference materials in all the subjects in the curriculum.

Goals and Objectives of the Library

In line with the Vision and Mission of the University, the library shall achieve the following goals and objectives.

Goals

  1. The foremost provider of information resources to support the academic requirements of our students and professional development for faculty, staff and researchers.
  2. The foremost provider of information resources to support the teaching and research functions of our students, faculty, staff and researchers.
  3. A teaching library engaged in the development of the information research skills of students, faculty, staff and researchers.
  4. A preserver and developer of collection and archives essential to faculty and student researches.

Objectives

  1. To acquire printed, non-printed, electronic resources and other instructional materials in line with the demands of the curriculum and the needs of the clientele and to organize these materials for effective use.
  2. To guide the clientele on the choice of resources and other learning materials for personal and curricular purposes.
  3. To develop clientele’s skill and resourcefulness on the use of printed, non-printed and electronic resources in the library and to encourage the habit of personal investigation.
  4. To help every library clientele establish a wide range of significant interests.
  5. To provide aesthetic experience and develop appreciation of the arts.
  6. To encourage lifelong education through the use of library resources.
  7. To encourage social attitudes and provide experience in a social and democratic living.
  8. To include provisions for physical, social aspects and professional development of staff.
  9. To work cooperatively and constructively with the entire university constituents.

Library Services

Library Hours

The Library is open from Monday to Friday at 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM with No Noon Break. During Midterm and Final examination period, the library is open on Saturday’s from 7:00am to 6:00pm with No noon break.

Technical Services

This section combines acquisition, organization, maintenance and updating of library collections. It is composed of the following services:

  1. Selection and Acquisition – This service is a participative activity done by the University Library Committee, faculty members, students, administrators and librarians. The Director of Libraries is responsible for establishing linkages and network with the book industry in order to facilitate cost effective and systematic acquisition of books and other materials. The processes are: a. Selection, b. Book examination/Request for price quotation, c. Preparation of vouchers, d. Purchasing based on RA 9184, e. Donations, solicitations, etc.
  2. Cataloging and Classification – the process the books by accessioning, assigning call numbers and barcode numbers through library software. Prepare descriptive cataloging using the Dewey Decimal Classification System (DDCS). Encode processed books in the Integrated Library System (ILS) – Follett Destiny Library Manager for access through Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC).
  3. Preservation and Care of Materials – preserve books and other library materials including repairs and binding. Conduct inventory of book holdings and other information sources. Weed out and deselect outdated and obsolete books and other reading materials. Participation of the University Library Committee in the evaluation for condemnation of the library materials.

Reference and Information Services

The KEPLRC provided various services to its clientele such as:

  1. Information Service – provide answer to specific questions, statistical data, biographies, etc. thru searching and retrieval of appropriate materials based on the query of the clientele.
  2. Library Instruction – provide orientation to new students and transferees about library policies, borrowing procedures, and services and how to use the library materials and research tools such as the card catalog, periodical index, bibliographies, services, etc. Instructional tours to the different sections of the library may be scheduled.
  3. Bibliographic service – provide bibliographies of materials requested by the faculty such as list of new title of books or list of books by subject area including list of new acquisitions.
  4. Reader’s advisory Service – provide guidance to clientele in the choice of reading materials.
  5. Learning and Teaching Support Unit (LTSU) – provide assistance in the information of research paper.

Circulation Services

The KEPLRC provide and facilitate various circulation process such as:

  1. Book Lending Service – is a systematic process in the utilization of books for on-site and off-site on reservation, borrow, return, renew, overdue, replace and damage or lost of books.
  2. Reserve Book Service – provides book needed during for current curricular offering of the University, with rare and limited number of copies, very expensive and reserved by the faculty.

Periodical Services

The KEPLRC provide and facilitate serial collection services processes such as:

  1. Current Awareness Service – provide current information thru Bulletin display, and current materials such as news, newspapers, scholarly journals and magazines both current and back issues. Vertical file materials such as clippings, pamphlets, pictures and other monographs materials are also found in this section. Single or bound issues of periodicals are not for home use.  They are to be read inside the reading room only. However, photocopy service is available for a fee.
  2. Indexing Service – provision of an in-house indexing of important articles from journals.

Filipiniana Collection Services

The KEPLRC develop the materials about the Philippines or containing substantial portions, published locally or abroad, government documents, faculty researches and other publication written by Filipino authors.  Theses and dissertations which are considered unpublished materials are also found in this section. It also includes collections on local history materials and written by local authors publications.

Reading Room Services

Provision of reading rooms, carrels for individual use and various learning hubs for learner’s comfortability.

Shelving and Stack Services

Students may not return the books that have used to the shelves.  The Library student assistants will take charge of returning materials left in the tables to avoid misplacement of materials.  Regular shelf reading is done.  Daily statistics of in-house use is also maintained

Photocopying Services

The library provides photographic reproduction facilities for those materials that are needed to photoduplication on materials that are not allowed to be loaned out for home use and other references materials with and a minimum fee per page.  This enhances the availability of reading materials especially those single copy books.

Inter-Library Use Services

These services provide access of users from other libraries and agencies to USM library and vice versa.

E-library Services

Aside for the printed resources the library also provides electronic information resources and access such as: Internet searching, Online Resources such as e-books and e-Journals, CD-ROM searching and researching, E-mail, Picture scanning, Printing, and Encoding.

Other Services

It includes Document Delivery Service, Table of Contents (Compilation for readers), Current Contents, Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI) and many more.

New Services

To address current demand of the user’s needs, the library provides new services such as: Bibliotherapy Corner and Prayer Room.

Online Public Access Catalog

You can access our opac via this direct URL: opac.usm.edu.ph

Table of Organization

Subscribe Electronic Resources

With the ever-growing advancements in technology, the University of Southern Mindanao through the Kundo E. Pahm Learning Resource Center provides an efficient and convenient way to access information. Thus, to add to its vast collections, subscriptions to electronic resources in which library users can access an overwhelming amount of digital information in the library are done. This includes the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), a platform that delivers full access to journals to the world’s highest quality technical literature in engineering, electronics, computer science,  and technology.  Wiley Online Books (National Consortium), a resource-sharing project that enables its members to access more than a thousand perpetually owned eBook contents, published by John Wiley & Sons Inc., OVID Clinical Edge, is a research tool for medical students and clinicians. They provide top medical eBooks and eJournals published by Lippincott. Medline, which includes medical literature is also a part of this platform. Furthermore, DE Gruyter, where relevant eBook content across several subject areas such as Filipiniana, Linguistics, and Political Sciences can be found, is also included in the subscriptions.   These electronic information resources will provide a positive impact on the research activities of library users in several ways, which include, access to an inclusive range of research information and findings, improved research methods, and getting into wide and up-to-date information in the digital world.

  • IEEE XPLORE (IEEE-ASPP) delivers full-text access journals to the world’s highest quality technical literature in engineering, electronics, computer science, and technology.
  • WILEY ONLINE BOOKS – NATIONAL CONSORTIUM is a resource-sharing project that enables its members to access more than a thousand perpetually-owned eBook contents, published by John Wiley & Sons. Inc.
  • DE GRUYTER finds relevant eBook content across several subject areas such as Filipiniana, Linguistics, Political, and Social Sciences.
  • OVID CLINICAL EDGE is a research tool for medical students and clinicians, providing top medical eBooks and eJournals, published by Lippincott. Stay updated on the medical literature with MEDLINE that is included in this database.