☑️ Start your semester with strong study skills
Whether you’re just starting out at SAIT or returning after a summer break, one of the most valuable things you can do at the beginning of the semester is to develop strong study skills. These skills not only help you succeed academically but can also build confidence and reduce stress. Learning how to manage your time, take effective notes, prepare for exams, and look after yourself can make a huge difference to your SAIT learning experience.
Here's a small selection of books with advice and techniques for a smooth learning journey. Check out the glass cases at the front of the library for more titles you can borrow.
In Pursuit of the Good Life
An invaluable resource for students to improve their personal well-being and thrive in college. The college experience offers educational and social opportunities that can be incredibly rewarding for students. For many, however, college is a time of extreme anxiety and stress-but it doesn't have to be. In Pursuit of the Good Life: Strategies for Well-Being and Success in College digs into the challenges that most frequently plague students and provides practical guidance to overcome these difficulties and thrive.
Connections are Everything
Decades of research demonstrate how important the relationships with peers and professors are for students academically, personally, and professionally. Yet many students lack the strategies to develop educationally purposeful relationships in college. Connections Are Everything shows students the simple steps they can take to make their own college experience meaningful and transformational. In short, practical chapters, this guide helps readers learn how to build relationships through various strategies, including using "relationship accelerators" like internships and mentorships, undergraduate research, and campus employment.
Success in Groupwork
This guide provides students with practical advice and ideas to help them work effectively with other people and get the most out of their group project. It takes the reader from forming a group, working together on a project, dealing with conflict, using online resources through to delivering a group assessment.
The Academic Skills Handbook
Packed with tips, tools and a digital companion loaded with real-life examples, this book will help you communicate your ideas with confidence and clarity, create your own study plan tailored to the skills you need, know what your tutor is looking for and how to deliver, and turn your skills into success after university. This book is specially designed to show you where your strengths are and what you need to work on, so you get a practice plan that is perfect for your needs. It then arms you with the principles and practice to get ahead in your academic writing, presentations and group work.
10 Steps to Successful Presentations
Connect with your audience and become a think-on-your-feet presenter with 10 strategies for communicating with authority. 10 Steps to Successful Presentations presents strategies to conquer the phobia of public speaking and deliver dynamic, stress-free presentations. Create captivating content; simplify complex ideas; design impactful visual aids; and contrast the characteristics of effective, dynamic presentations against those of awkward, unsuccessful presentations.
Generative AI for Students
This practical guide puts a study buddy at your fingertips, showing you how to ethically leverage Generative Artificial Intelligence as a powerful study aid. By the end of this book you will become critically literate at using Generative AI, understand what the ethical use of Generative AI looks like in practice, encounter real-life case studies and worked-through examples to put theory into practice, and gain a comprehensive grounding in how to engage with Generative AI Tools.
The Student's Guide to Reflective Writing
The Student's Guide to Reflective Writing is an ideal resource for anyone faced with reflective writing assignments, different to essays or reports. It shows you how to record your experiences, choose what to write about, structure your assignment, and write reflectively using appropriate tone and language. Throughout the book, there are a wealth of practice tasks and detailed examples of reflective writing from a range of disciplines.
How to Take Smart Notes
The key to good and efficient writing lies in the intelligent organization of ideas and notes. This book helps students, academics and other knowledge workers to get more done, write intelligent texts and learn for the long run. It teaches you how to take smart notes and ensure they bring you and your projects forward. The Take Smart Notes principle is based on established psychological insight and draws from a tried and tested note-taking technique: the Zettelkasten. Instead of wasting your time searching for your notes, quotes or references, you can focus on what really counts: thinking, understanding and developing new ideas in writing.
Math Anxiety - How to Beat it!
How do we conquer uncertainty, insecurity, and anxiety over college mathematics? You can do it, and this book can help. Based on interviews with over 50 students, the book develops approaches to address the struggles and success these students shared. Then the author took these ideas and experiences and built a process for overcoming and achieving when studying not only the mathematics many colleges and universities require as a minimum for graduation, but more to encourage reluctant students to look forward to their mathematics courses and even learn to embrace additional ones.
Thinking Through Writing
This book offers a manual for developing reading, writing, and thinking skills in tandem. With short, practical chapters, Thinking through Writing helps readers learn to think critically about themselves and the world at large, read carefully and get the necessary literary support, write clearly and persuasively, stay on point, and finish their work as cleanly and compellingly as possible. Includes advice on how to structure an argument, write for an audience, work through writer’s block and anxiety, and gives you tips on how to make your writing unique and personal.
The Study Skills Handbook
When it comes to studying, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. This engaging and accessible guide shows students how to tailor their learning to their individual needs in order to boost their grades, build their confidence and increase their employability. It contains everything students need to succeed. This is an invaluable resource for undergraduate students of all disciplines, and is also ideal for postgraduates, mature students and international students.
How to Become a Successful College Student
The shift from high school to college can be a challenge, with many students finding the skills that had previously worked so well no longer seem to be enough. How to Become a Successful College Student outlines the strategies you need to “level up” your current processes in order to foster learning and retention of information in a new and rigorous environment, while also addressing topics that affect your experience outside of the classroom, such as financial literacy and career preparation. This guide is a must-have resource for anyone who wants to maximize their higher education experience.
Top 5 tips to get the most out of your library
1. 💳 Set up your official SAIT ID (eCard)
Your SAIT ID (eCard) is what you need in order to borrow textbooks, laptops, phone chargers and other loanable items from the library. It's a good idea to set up your eCard now, at the beginning of the semester, so that it's ready when you need it. You can use your eCard to:
Borrow library items: Have your eCard ready to tap at the information desk. Your account will automatically display on our screen, allowing us to check out items for you.
Print at the library: Load funds onto your eCard in advance so you can print or photocopy from one of our multifunction printers. Add funds online, via the eCard machine, or at the eCard office.
How to set up your SAIT ID (eCard) on your phone:
- Download the Transact eAccounts App on your phone
- Set your institution to Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
- Sign in with your SAIT SSO credentials
- Submit photos for approval - approval takes up to 48 hours
- Save your eCard to your phone's wallet for easy access!
2. ℹ️ Get Help at our Information Desk 
The Information Desk is the go-to place for all your enquiries. Our friendly staff are here to help you with resources, information, citations, printing, directions, and knowledge of the wider community and services at SAIT.
Check out and return: You can check out and return books and other library items at the information desk. If we're busy and you're in a hurry, you can check out books via out Meescan self-checkout kiosk, or return items (except laptops) to our book drops or our quick return basket.
3. 💻 Choose your Study Space
Your library's a great place to do your academic work and we have several different study spaces for you to choose from:
- Quiet Individual Study: The basement of the library (Level 0) is for working quietly on your own. You can chose from study carrels, workstations, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) stations where you can hook up your laptop to a larger monitor, or a carrel in the calming "Focus Area" with dimmable lighting. We also have a bookable Individual Study Booth up on Level 1.
- Collaborative study: On our main floor (Level 1) it's okay to work collaboratively with a friend or two. We have a combination of individual carrels, workstations, BYOD stations and 30 study tables for groups of up to 4 students.
- Bookable Group Study Rooms: We have 11 bookable group study rooms equipped with huge monitors to hook up to your laptop. Most study rooms can accommodate up to 8 students.
4. 🚨 Be Aware of our Library Policies
Take a look at our library policies. They've changed recently!
Earlier in 2025, we ran our Student Library Survey to ask about your library experience and what we could do to improve it. Overwhelmingly we heard that the library can be too loud.
Over the summer, we introduced changes in order to reduce noise levels and distractions in the library. These changes may affect the way you use the library!
New Policies: You can familiarize yourself with our new library policies by picking up a small brochure on or around the information desk or reading informational posters as you enter the library. You can learn more about the Reg Erhardt Library Policies and Code of Conduct online.
5. 🙋♂️ Meet Your Librarian
Our librarians are super helpful. Each librarian has an area of expertise relating to a specific academic school at SAIT, so your librarian will be familiar with the resources you need for your program. They can help you with research strategies, evaluating and using information, and citing your sources.
Book a meeting: You can book a one-on-one meeting, or a small group meeting (up to 4 students) with your librarian for in-depth help. You can find out who your librarian is, and book an appointment on our Meet Your Librarian page.
Staff Updates
🍾Congratulations to Chris Savage on his new role as Coordinator of Technical Services and as the liaison for the School of Transportation! Chris is one of our own SAIT graduates from the Library and Information Technology Program. He joined the Reg Erhardt Library in 2011 and has since served in several roles as part of our Collections Development Team.
🎉Welcome back Hilary Wallis! We're absolutely thrilled to welcome Hilary back to the library team after her maternity leave. The library just wasn't the same without her! Hilary returns to her role as Communications and User Experience Librarian and as liaison to the MacPhail School of Energy.
Unexpected library perks you'll enjoy
Fun e-resources
Did you know that most of our library collections are available to students and staff online through our subscriptions to hundreds of licensed e-resources. You have access to e-books, e-journals, streaming videos, digital images, datasets and more. All our e-resources can be accessed via the library with your SAIT credentials!
🎬 Some of our favourites are streaming video resources!
ACF Streaming contains over a thousand popular and recent films from studios such as Universal Studios Canada, Sony Pictures, MGM Studios, VVS Films, and Lionsgate Films. We also have other video-streaming resources worth checking out.
Kanopy is an award-winning collection of thousands of streaming films, documentaries and training videos. Kanopy has a diverse catalogue and new titles are added each month.
Criterion on Demand offers more than 6,500 educationally relevant feature films for use in Canadian Higher Educational Institutions, representing a large number of feature film producers.
List of eResourcesReg Erhardt Library
Oki, Âba wathtech, Danit'ada, Tawnshi, Hello.
SAIT is located on the traditional territories of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) and the people of Treaty 7 which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuut’ina and the Îyârhe Nakoda of Bearspaw, Chiniki and Goodstoney.
We are situated in an area the Blackfoot tribes traditionally called Moh’kinsstis, where the Bow River meets the Elbow River. We now call it the city of Calgary, which is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta.