About the Library/Academic & Instructional Innovation

The Library/Academic & Instructional Innovation collaborates with campus partners to enhance and promote teaching, learning, and research at Samuel Merritt University. We empower the campus community with quality information resources, instructional services, and academic technology. We provide outstanding service and leadership in support of the University's mission, vision, and values.

Located in the Health Education Center on the Oakland campus of Samuel Merritt University, the John A. Graziano Memorial Library provides access to the largest collection of nursing and podiatric journals and monographs in the East Bay and is one of the best collections of these specialty areas in California.

Curricula in the Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Physician Assistant programs are also strongly supported, including a core medical collection. The library holds additional materials in such areas as biology, psychology and the social sciences, health administration and finance, biomedical ethics, law, policy, research, other allied health disciplines, and alternative health care. The audiovisual collection emphasizes nursing and podiatry. Participation in library consortia extends the available resources.

Each of SMU’s learning centers (located in Sacramento and on the San Francisco Peninsula) house a small library with a focused collection of books and periodicals. Each library also provides access to SMU’s online journals and databases, free delivery of materials from the Oakland campus library, and inter-library loan. In addition, reference help, in-class training, and individual instruction on library resources is available at each learning center. For more information, contact a learning center librarian.

Academic and Instructional Innovation (A&II) partners with Information Technology Services, the Office of Academic Affairs, and the various academic departments to provide faculty, staff, and students with access to pertinent tools to successfully integrate technology in education.

Academic and Instructional Innovation is responsible for evaluating, designing, developing, implementing, and training in instructional and academic focused technology, including Blackboard, Campus Pack, TurningPoint, Respondus Lockdown Browser, and Turnitin. A&II assists faculty in leveraging technology for teaching and learning online and in the classroom. For immediate help with Blackboard during regular business hours, contact the Blackboard help line.

Through the generous gift of Mrs. Louise F. Graziano, the John A. Graziano Memorial Library was built as part of the new Health Education Center in 1985. A patron of cultural and health care institutions, Mrs. Graziano donated the money in memory of her husband, John Angelo Graziano (July 4, 1898 – December 18, 1966). Born in Piedmont, Italy, he came to America as a boy, and through hard work obtained an advanced education. In 1933 he opened the founding office of the Franklin Optical Company in Oakland. For thirty-three years thereafter, his company helped provide better vision for the people of northern California.

The library is a member of the following associations, networks, and consortia:

• Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)
• Medical Library Association (MLA)
• Northern California and Nevada Medical Library Group (NCNMLG)
• Northern California Consortium of Psychology Libraries (NCCPL)
• California Academic and Research Libraries (CARL)
• Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC)
• Califa
• National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM)
• Online Computer Library Center (OCLC)
• Podiatric Medicine Library Consortium (PMLC)