Support for Staff and Researchers

The Library provides a comprehensive range of services to support your teaching, learning and research needs, including an extensive collection of print and electronic books and journals. We offer research training and support on a one-to-one level, and should you wish to embed training into your teaching, Academic Liaison Librarians provide information and digital literacy training. If you are new to the Library or would like to ask us a question, please initially contact the Academic Liaison Librarian for your department.

New Resources

Reading lists

In recognition of the importance of reading lists for teaching and learning, the Library has invested in online reading list software, called Talis Aspire. The software provides an easy way for you to create reading lists by bookmarking items from sources such as the Library catalogue, e-journals, etc – you don’t need to enter any of the bibliographic details or worry about creating links as Aspire does all of that for you. Lists can be structured in any way that you want, e.g. by topic, week by week, etc and you can alert the library easily to changes made to your lists in order to ensure that the resources that you are recommending to your students are available. You can find advice about editing and using online reading lists on our Reading List Support Centre guide.

If you have any questions about adding your reading lists to Talis Aspire please contact your Academic Liaison Librarian for further information and to get started on the system.

Digital readings

Where possible, we will digitise book chapters and journal articles listed in your reading lists as part of the reading list process. These are provided within the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) Higher Education Copyright Licence and made available online via Talis Aspire. Please see our Digital Reading Service pages for more information, or contact your Academic Liaison Librarian.

Ordering books and journals

You are welcome to make suggestions for purchase by emailing the details to your Academic Liaison Librarian. Recommendations for new journal subscriptions can be made throughout the year via your Academic Liaison Librarian, or your divisional Library Representative if there is one in place. Journals are, however, a major ongoing expenditure so new subscriptions need to be considered carefully and may need approval from your Department as well as the Library.

Reviewing the collection and donations

Each Academic Liaison Librarian regularly carries out a journals review, requiring input from academics. This ensures that the collection is current, meets the needs of current teaching and research and provides best possible value for money. Withdrawal of stock which is no longer used or needed, and changes in loan periods, are carried out periodically.

Donations are welcome provided the items are unmarked and are relevant to current teaching and research needs. If you have any books you are considering donating, please contact your Academic Liaison Librarian in the first instance. Donations received without prior consultation, which do not meet the above criteria, may be rejected.

Training and Information Literacy

The Academic Library Services team can support your teaching and research needs in a number or ways. We provide one to one consultations, drop-in sessions and dedicated training for staff or students in a range of areas including:

inductions for new member of staff
database training and literature searching
using bibliographic referencing software
advice on referencing and plagiarism
systematic review, bibliometrics and advanced search tips
copyright issues in learning, teaching and research.

The Library offers a range of training to support taught postgraduates and researchers. Topics we cover range from practical hands-on sessions like managing your references and bibliography or exploiting e-journals, to sessions which develop interdisciplinary skills and further professional development such as copyright, research impact and open access and research data management.

The Library delivers sessions on the LibSmart programme, as well as the Graduate School Master's Skills Training and Researcher Development programmes, which can be booked via Training, development and support.

If you have booked a session in advance but can't make it on the day, please cancel online. This helps the facilitator know who to expect, and so we can start sessions promptly.

If you have a suggestion for a session you think would be useful, do let us know. You can contact us via email, live chat, or in person. Or, send us a message via our Facebook page or Twitter.

For further information on training sessions we provide, details of how to arrange training for you or your students, and links to guides and other useful resources go to our LibSmart guide or contact your Academic Liaision Librarian.