We are approaching the assessment and examination period when there is increased demand from students completing their studies. In order to give fair access to books, we will continue to recall loans that have been reserved by other users. You may be asked to return books during the Easter Vacation (3 April – 21 April 2023).

Please check your university email regularly and be ready to return books if they are recalled, by posting them back to us securely if necessary.

For most people, it’s much easier to learn this from someone else than to read about it. Today, I’m going to outline the much simpler process of borrowing and returning books, and then explain how reservations and recalls work, which is something I skipped over in Tuesday’s already overlong post.

We’re helping a lot of students find the books they need for their course. While we always enjoy meeting you, it occurred to me that perhaps some of you might need a helping hand getting started finding books for yourselves. It is easier to show someone how to find a book than describe how to do so in writing, in fact it’s easier to actually find a book, but I’ll try to spell everything out anyway…

If you are new here, you might not realise this yet but the period around Christmas is the only time of the year that the Library closes (apart from the August Bank Holiday in the summer). We are always open …

Library closed days and service restrictions around Christmas Read more »

The "Locate on shelf" button in the catalogue lets you find a book with the tap of a button.

While you can always put in a Click & Collect request, sometimes you just want to walk in and walk out with the book(s) you want. Here’s a quick three step guide to finding books for yourself.

Finding books might involve a learning curve but borrowing and returning books is easy. The self-service kiosks in the Atrium let you borrow an entire stack of books at once at any time the library is open, which means anytime 24/7 during term-time! Pile your books up on the glass plate, tap “Borrow” on the screen, scan your university card against the black fob on the front until the kiosk recognises you, then wait a moment until all the books are listed on screen.