The end of the semester is approaching faster than you think. As finals hurtle toward you, here are the top ten things you should know about the libraries :

1. Ask Us Now. By chat, text, phone, email, walk-in, or by appointment — from finding an article to the most abstruse research problem — librarians are here to help. Check out all your options for research assistance here.

2. Every area of study has its own librarian. The university’s Subject Librarians are experts in their academic disciplines. They understand the research methods and know the specialized literature in their fields. Chemistry? There’s a librarian for that. Architecture? There’s a librarian for that. Find yours here.

3. There’s a study space in the library to accommodate every learning style. In the Hodges Library there are Quiet Study floors (floors 1, 4, 5) and Group Study floors (floors 2, 3, 6). There are quiet nooks for individual study. There are Study Rooms and Practice Presentation Rooms where you can rehearse for that big speech. There are even collaborative workspaces where your work group can plug in their own laptops to confer on group projects.

4. From academic coaching to tutoring in math, there’s all kinds of help right there, in the library. The Student Success Center, Math Tutorial Center, Stat Lab, and Writing Center all have outposts in the Commons on the 2nd floor of Hodges Library.

5. In addition to books, the library lends laptops and video cameras. Through the library, you have access to all the latest technology (laptops, video cameras, lighting kits…you name it). Here is a full list of equipment available from the Commons.

6. The library will help you use media to enhance your project. Why be plain vanilla when you can be media-enhanced? The Studio in Hodges Library provides media workstations, audio and video recording studios, and instruction in their use. Amaze your friends. Amaze your instructors. (Amaze yourself.)

7. Researching online? The library is still your best guide. The library has created online guides to the fundamentals of research and the most authoritative sources in the various academic disciplines. (Check out these LibGuides.) To get free access to the full features and complete content of many online databases and scholarly journals, you must link to those resources through the Libraries’ gateway. Even if you start with Google, you’ll put the best finish on your project if you end with the library. (Start here.)

8. There are special libraries for students in agriculture, veterinary medicine, and music. Two conveniently located branch libraries serve the specialized needs of those disciplines: the George F. DeVine Music Library (G4, Natalie L. Haslam Music Center) and the Pendergrass Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine Library (A113, UT Veterinary Medical Center).

9. The library is preserving bits of Tennessee history and other rare and unique items. Davy Crockett Almanacs. Civil War-era letters and diaries. Nineteenth-century photographs of the Great Smoky Mountains. The editorial cartoons of Charlie Daniel. All have been preserved by Special Collections. And a selection of those last three are available online as digital collections here. (By the way, check out the UT historical photo exhibit on Classroom Row on the 2nd floor of Hodges Library.) Other rare and unique research materials are made available to researchers — including student researchers — in the Special Collections reading room, 121 Hodges Library.

10. You’re social. We’re social. We’d like to invite you to join us on social media. We’re on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. Join us, also, for contests (like our Student Art in the Library contest) and public programming (like our Writers in the Library series of readings by noted authors).