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The Albert Sloman Library |
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The Albert Sloman Library |
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Books and e-books |
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How do I...? Finding specific materials Other Skills Support Library Quick links  |
Finding books and e-books Whenever you want to look for something in the Library, the Library catalogue should be your first port of call. The catalogue contains details of all materials held by the Library, whether printed, electronic, audio-visual or microform. To find a particular book in the Library, search by Title or Author in the catalogue. If you want to see what books the Library has on a specific topic, use the Keyword search option. Once you have found a relevant title you need to look at the full catalogue record for that book in order to be able to find it in the Library. The catalogue record provides information about the author, title, publication details and physical description of the book, as well as information about the number of copies held by the Library, whether they are currently available and where they are shelved. To find a book, you need to make a note of the classmark, availability and shelved at information. See also: borrowing books and renewing books What is a classmark? The classmark is a code made up of letters and numbers which reflects the subject of the book. Books are shelved in the Library in classmark order and each book has a classmark label on the spine. Several books can share the same classmark. To see which classmarks are shelved on which floors, look at the Classification scheme summary or the Library floor plans. Is it available for me to borrow? The availability of a book will usually be "IN LIBRARY". When a book is out on loan, the catalogue record will display the date it is due back, e.g. "DUE 20-03-08". Books which are out on loan can be requested through the catalogue by clicking the Request button on the relevant catalogue record. Availability may also show as "AT DESK". This means that the book has been requested by another user and is waiting for them to collect at the Circulation desk. Where is it shelved? The shelved at information tells you where a book can be found and how long it can be borrowed for. Most books are available from the main shelves of the Library and can be borrowed for two weeks by undergraduates and until the end of term by postgraduates and staff. Some books may only be borrowed for three days or seven days. Some can only be borrowed for four hours and are kept in the Short Loan collection on the ground floor. Other books are shelved in the Library stores or as part of a special collection and must be requested in advance using the online store requests form. More information is available from the Shelved at locations page. What are e-books? The catalogue also contains details of e-books which have the classmark "Online book" and the tag "[electronic resource]". To read an e-book, click on the link in the middle of the catalogue record "view the full text on...". You will then need to put in your University username and password to get through to the book itself. If you are accessing an e-book from home, you may need to install some software to read it; click on the link "install the..." from the relevant record. It is possible to search the catalogue for e-books only by entering your search in the usual search screen and changing the pull-down menu from "view full collection" to "e-books" and clicking submit. What if the Library doesn't have the book I am looking for? If you are searching for a particular book and you cannot find it in the Library catalogue, there are a number of ways you can get hold of it: 1. Use the
book suggestions form to suggest that the
Library purchases the book How do I search for books more generally? You may want to try searching the catalogues of other libraries, such as COPAC, the online catalogue of major research libraries in the UK which includes the British Library catalogue, or searching online booksellers, such as Amazon, or using a Library database in your subject area. |
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