Academic English

Listen to the recording and read along with the conversation. Review the key vocabulary and the sample sentences.

Hello and welcome to the university library. This taped tour will introduce you to our library facilities and operating hours.

First of all, the library’s collection of books, reference materials, and other resources are found on levels one to four in this building. Level one houses our humanities and map collections. On level two, you will find our circulation desk, current periodicals and journals, and our copy facilities. Our science and engineering sections can be found on level three. You can also find back issues of periodicals and journals older than six months on this level. Finally, group study rooms, our microfilm collection, and the multimedia center are located on level four.

Undergraduate students can check out up to five books for two weeks. Graduate students can check out fifteen books for two months. Books can be renewed up to two times. There is a 50-cents-a-day late fee for overdue books up to the maximum of $15.00. Periodicals and reference books cannot be checked out.

The library is open weekdays, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. The library is closed on Sundays.

• facilities (noun): usually buildings with different types of equipment and offices 
  – Full-time students can use all of the university facilities, including the library and gym.
• reference materials (noun): generally books such as dictionaries and encyclopedias that can not be checked out
  – I’m sorry, but reference materials can only be used in the library. They cannot be checked out.
• houses (verb): preserves, holds, contains
  – The special collection on the fifth floor houses our rare books.
• circulation desk (noun): the main desk where you check out books
  – Please go to the circulation desk to check out these books.
• periodicals (noun): magazines, journals, and newspapers
  – You can find that magazine in our periodicals section straight down this hall.
• back issues (noun): older periodicals, sometimes over several months old
  – Back issues of Time magazine can be found on the third floor.
• renew (verb): check out again
  – Yes, I’d like to renew this book, please.
• overdue books (noun): books that have been checked past the due date
  – I have two overdue books that need to be returned to the library.