Author: kaurna

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How to look up your textbooks on the HSRC website?

Textbook Lending Program(TLP) at the HSRC is a great resource for students to have their course textbooks for free. TLP ensures that students get the books that they need in the easiest way possible. All students have to do is come to the HSRC at Champinefu Lodge, show their OSU id and borrow the book for one whole term. To make this process even easier and efficient for students, we have an option for them on our HSRC website to look up their textbooks before coming to check it out. Looking up textbooks through the website ensures the student that HSRC have their book, and it is available for them to checkout. A student can look up their textbooks following these easy step guidelines:

  1. Go to the HSRC website at https://studentlife.oregonstate.edu/hsrc
  2. Click on the Textbook Lending Program Section top left
  3. Now you are on the main TLP page, and you will see the following four options:

4. Clicking the first button “Look Up My Textbooks” will take you to the page where you can easily see if we have your book or not.

5. On this page you can search your books by book title, or the class course name ex. MTH 251

6. This will give you all the information if we have the book or not, if it is available to checkout or not, and how many copies are available.

So this was an easy step by step guide to look for your textbooks sitting at home. So if you do find your book at the HSRC, just stop by and we will check it out for you 🙂

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My experience as a new member in the HSRC team!

Human services resource center (HSRC) is located in Champinefu Lodge at the Oregon State University. I first came to know about the HSRC when my roommate told me that “There’s this awesome place that puts money in your student card for food.” I went onto their website and learned that not only with food insecurity but HSRC helps people with textbooks, housing, and other facilities like free laundry, showers and printing etc.

Being a student, especially an international student, it is very hard to take care of yourself while dealing with the school stress. There’s so many students who just eat one meal and get through the day with that. One thing I learned throughout my time in OSU is that taking care of your health is more important than anything. Nobody should skip their meals to buy course materials; but unfortunately, we all do for our own reasons.

I always wanted to work at a place that helps people making their lives a little easier. I was searching a lot, and then I found out HSRC had a job opening. I knew this was it. I was always so impressed by the HSRC team and what they did for students and the OSU community. I applied for the job as  Textbook Lending Program Coordinator and got this job after going through an in-person interview.

The first person I met here was Erica. She was one of the GTA’s who worked with us and guide our way. After my first interaction with Erica, I knew working at the HSRC was going to be a great experience. She introduced me to the awesome team we have here, and gave me a full tour of the place. Each one of our team members welcomed me as if they knew me from earlier. They all were so welcoming and made sure I was comfortable and all settled here. I love asking questions and for my luck, people here at the HSRC love helping you with any concerns too. The work place is highly open for new ideas and our boss makes sure we all are heard and gives us the required feedback. We have staff meetings every other week where we discuss every possible work related agenda, and where we give our feedback to our boss on how things are working overall. I believe these meetings are a great way to discuss any negatives, or positives happening at our workplace. Other than that, we have one-to-one interactions with one of our GTAs every other week. In these conversations we can talk about anything work related or our personal lives. These interactions helped me a lot to lower my school stress and to ask any random questions about work.

Overall, my first term working at the HSRC has been great. I learned a lot about our food pantry, textbook program, SNAP program and all the other amazing services that we have here. I love our team, and their enthusiasm to help others. I am looking forward to my time here in the coming terms.

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Get to know our staff: Nav

Name: Navdeep Kaur

Pronouns: She/ Her/ Hers

HSRC Job Title: Textbook Lending Program Assistant

Major/Minor: Computer Science with my focus on Human Computer Interaction (HCI)

Career Aspirations: My career goal is to develop my own website that will offer various things to help the people in need. I also want to work with a company that will help me gain all the experience that I need to go out in the real world and work on my own.

Why did you want to work at the HSRC?

I wanted to work at the HSRC because I love helping others. When I first heard about the HSRC, I was so amazed by the work they do. Working at the HSRC means meeting new people, making connections and it gave me a chance to be an active part of the OSU community too.

What will we be working on this year?

I will focus on reaching out to more people about our textbook lending program and HSRC.

What do you like to do in your free time?

In my free time I like to make some tea or coffee and watch Netflix. I also play badminton when I have time.

What’s your favorite yummy and cheap meal to make?

My favorite quick, yummy and cheap meal is egg sandwich. I just make an omelet and put it in toasted bread with mayonnaise and ketchup.

Do you have tips for students on how to save money?

My first tip would be to get involved with our HSRC. We have all different kinds of services that can help a student save a lot of money. My second tip would be to make food at home instead of going out to eat because I saved a lot of money when I stopped eating outside everyday.

What is your favorite thing to do in Corvallis?

Corvallis is all about nature. I love going to  the different parks . I like to walk around Downtown Corvallis too in the night.