May 9, 2022, by Emma

10 services from Libraries you may not know about

What are Interlibrary Loans? Can I get a book posted to me if I don’t live in Nottingham? How do I access material that is held in the Central Store? 

Here are ten things you might not know about the services we offer in your libraries.

1. Bookable study spaces

We have a wide range of study spaces available across our libraries that you can book in advance online or turn up to use on the day. To avoid disappointment, we strongly recommend booking ahead when our libraries are at their busiest. We also have group study rooms, which we would advise booking well in advance due to their popularity. You can find out more on our Study space webpages).

Some of our libraries also have classrooms and meeting rooms, such as the Translation Suite and Screening Room in Hallward Library. They are primarily used by staff for teaching, but should you ever need to book one of these rooms, you can do so through your school, a student service centre, or the Student Union reception if the room is required for an SU affiliated group.

Bookable individual study spaces at Hallward Library

2. Enhanced Library Support

We offer Assistive Technology Rooms (ATRs) in Greenfield Medical Library, Hallward, George Green and the Djanogly Learning Resource Centre for students with disabilities, long term health issues and learning difficulties.

These rooms have facilities to support your needs ranging from specialist software to video magnifiers to ergonomic mice and keyboards. You can find a comprehensive list of what each of our Assistive Technology Rooms have to offer on our ATR webpage, as well as instructions on booking them.

We have a number of Enhanced Library Support study spaces available in Hallward and George Green, which you can book using the contact details supplied on our Accessibility and Enhanced Library Support webpage. This page also provides information on other forms of support we offer in our libraries to our students, including Calm spaces in libraries and the Alternative Formats Service.

Assistive Technology Room in Greenfield Medical Library

3. Manuscripts and Special Collections

Have you found a book on the library catalogue NUsearch that is held in Manuscripts and Special Collections? Are you unsure how to access these resources?

Due to the rare and/or fragile nature of some of our holdings, you will need to consult items held at Manuscripts and Special Collections in the Reading Room on King’s Meadow Campus. The Reading Room also has dedicated computers for digitised material and a microform and microfiche reader, among other facilities.

Manuscripts and Special Collections is an enormous resource that collects manuscript and archive material, with some records dating as far back as the 1150s, in addition to holding rare books and published works. Have a look through our Collections and Catalogues webpages to learn more about the types of items we hold and the catalogues available for hunting down elusive items.

Manuscript archives at Kings Meadow Campus

4. Requesting items for delivery

Did you know that you can request books from our libraries and have them sent to your preferred library? To do this, simply log into NUsearch and click the Request link on the page for the item you wish to request and select where you would like to pick up your book. You may also see items on NUsearch listed as being held in the Central Store, which you can request in the same way.

Unable to visit any of our libraries, but need an excerpt from a book or journal? You can request scans from our physical collections (within copyright), and if you’re living outside the local area or if you are unable to make it to our libraries, we can post books to you through our Postal loans service.

Student receiving a postal loan

5. Interlibrary loans and book suggestions

Can’t find the book or article you need on NUsearch? You can request items that we don’t hold in our collections from other UK libraries through the Interlibrary Loans scheme.

To do so, sign into NUsearch and click on the Interlibrary Loans tab at the top of the page. This will direct you to a form that you’ll need to fill in with the details of the item you need. Please bear in mind that we can’t get hold of entire digital copies of books and journals, but we can request chapters and articles, plus physical books.

Our Interlibrary Loans webpage contains more information about the scheme, including the number of requests you can submit per year.

More Books

Are we missing items from our collections? Did you know you can also suggest new books for wider reading or research for our own collections via our More Books service?

6. Leisure Reading

Need a break from working on assignments or preparing for exams? Why not check out our leisure reading collection in George Green, James Cameron-Gifford and Greenfield Medical libraries? As well as visiting each library, you can browse online via NUsearch or our library-specific reading lists. Find out more

We also have a large range of fiction titles on Level 4 of our Arts library, Hallward. These books are available to all staff and students.

Did you know we also have BookCrossing Zones across our campuses, where you can pick up a free book (or several), as well as donate your own. You can find BookCrossing Zones in Hallward and James Cameron-Gifford Library, among other locations.

Books on the shelves at Hallward Library

7. E-resources

We have a vast collection of online resources that you can access on or off campus through NUsearch. These include e-books and journals, specialist and subject-specific databases, current and archival newspapers, video (including TV, Film and theatre productions) plus the university’s digital research archive.

Unsure how to use our online resources? Visit our guide to finding online resources. You can also visit our libraries and speak to any member of staff. You can also send us a message through Live Chat or the Libraries Helpline by email at library-helpline@nottingham.ac.uk

8. Live Chat

Library staff are available to answer your questions online about our libraries.

Look out for the blue Live Chat popup on the University of Nottingham Libraries website between 10am – 12pm and 2pm – 4pm every day of the week.

9. Ask Libraries

We regularly hold webinars on Microsoft Teams, which cover topics such as searching for items through NUsearch, accessing online resources and booking study spaces.

Visit the Ask Libraries webpages to find out when the next webinar is taking place and how to join.

10. Support for your studies

Need some guidance on how to take full advantage of the resources touched upon in this post? The Teaching and Learning Support team deliver information skills training to undergraduates and postgraduate students (taught and research) through lectures, workshops and online resources and sessions. Some of the online courses for research postgraduates include researcher information skills for specific faculties, referencing your research, and literature searching and the literature review.

In addition to supporting your information and research skills, we also have the Student Academic Skills team, who provide online workshops and resources for helping you to develop your academic skills. Subjects covered include academic writing, referencing, presentation skills, note taking and preparing for exams.

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