Library Welcome Week Events

Posted on 23 September, 2024 by Ruth Ng

A photo of the outside of the library on a sunny day, with a sign in front that reads 'welcome to UoR Library' We’d like to wish you a warm welcome from all the staff here at UoR Library!

If you’re wondering about how to use the Library and what’s available, we have a variety of events planned for you all week, and information to help you settle in:

New student Libguide

This is an online guide telling you about the library including useful videos, answers to questions, where to get help and all our welcome week events.

Introducing your library

We are running tours Monday – Friday, every 30 minutes from 10:00 – 15:00. No need to book, just meet in the Library foyer.

Self-paced tours

We know there’s a lot going on right now! So if you want to just take things slowly, at a time that suits you, we’ve created a self-paced tour for you to go through online. Or you can pick up one of our handy expandable maps in the Library, to take a look around the building yourself. Or check out our Instagram to watch our reel that shows you around!

Special Collections

Come along to make yourself a badge and find out about the University’s Special Collections – in the Library foyer 11:00 – 14:00 on Tuesday.

Mystery Books

On Tuesday and Wednesday we will have a selection of Mystery Books you can borrow. Library staff have recommended some great reads from our collection. We’ve mixed them up and hidden them in bags, so it’s like getting a blind date with a book! Come by, pick up a bag and find something new to read!

The Legendary Library Escape Box Challenge

On Thursday between 12:00 – 16:00 we will be running a library themed escape challenge. Come along as a team, or drop by and we can put you in a group with some new friends! Meet in the Library foyer.

If you join in with any of our activities don’t forget to let us know on social media! You can find us on Instagram and YouTube.

Your Library Team

Wellbeing Collection

Posted on 15 January, 2024 by Ruth Ng

Photograph of a shelf of books relating to wellbeing, with a small crochet succulent plant.

If you are feeling blue on Blue Monday, why not get together with friends and colleagues over a cuppa for ‘Brew Monday’? You can take advantage of a free regular tea or coffee and a space to talk in the Trilobite (in the Health and Life Sciences building) and Breakfast Box (in Edith Morley) cafes 14:00-15:00 on Monday 15 January.

You can also discover the Library’s collection of books and e-books relating to wellbeing. Starting from a generous donation from the Alumni and Supporter Engagement Team, the collection has been growing ever since. The books can be found in our Wellbeing Collection, on the Ground Floor of the Library in the Quiet Study and Holds area.

We also have a list of the items available, including the e-books that can be borrowed.

The books cover lots of different topics including mindfulness, change, relationships, diet, gardening, emotions, anxiety and student life. A selection of 4 books from the Wellbeing Collection, spread out on a desk.

Students and staff are able to come and borrow any books they’d like to read using their campus cards, or just access the e-books using their University username and password.

If you are a Reading student and you need to talk to someone there’s lots of help and guidance available from the Counselling and Wellbeing Team, whilst staff can access support through the Health and Wellbeing Resources.

Ruth Ng & Karen Drury, Academic Liaison Librarians

Pride month: Library resources

Posted on 6 June, 2023 by Ruth Ng

Graphic of stripes of the different colours from the Pride flag. Text reads Pride Month Library Resources June is Pride month, so we’re taking a moment to highlight our LGBT+ online guide which provides links to resources for researching LGBT+ issues across a wide range of academic disciplines.

It is one of a series of cross-disciplinary research guides we have developed to support research in areas such as disability and inclusion, gender, and race and ethnicity.

Suggest resources to continue to diversify our collections

Do you think we’re missing something? Put forward your suggestions for Library materials to help support a more diverse curriculum.

If you would like to suggest other items for the Library, please complete our regular book suggestion form.

You can see all the Diversity fund titles purchased in current and previous academic years on our dedicated Library Diversity fund reading lists.

Your Library Team

Our new look Enterprise!

Posted on 16 June, 2022 by Ruth Ng

Enterprise, our Library Catalogue, has had a refresh. We’ve done some updates, and brought the look more in line with our Library website.

Image shows a screenshot of the library catalogue.

Enterprise will now adjust the display depending on the device that you’re using, providing you with a better experience of searching and using the catalogue, whether you are on a laptop, or on your phone.

Image shows a screenshot of the library catalogue.

Additionally, Reading List links have been added to book records. Select ‘Reading List’ to see the list(s) that a book appears on, and click the name of the module to see the full reading list.

All the links and functions that were available in the older version can still be found on this one, so if you have any difficulty finding your way around the catalogue, let us know.

Have you tried our new look Enterprise yet? If you have any feedback, let us know!

Your Library Team

Our Masters Dissertation Fair is nearly over, where else can you find help?

Posted on 10 June, 2022 by Ruth Ng

Image shows a student studying, all in purple colours, with the text Masters Dissertation Fair on top. Today’s the final day of our Masters Dissertation Fair. We hope you’ve found the sessions useful if you attended. But don’t worry if you couldn’t make it! The slides from the sessions are available on the dissertation fair guide and we have lots of other support for you…

Support for your studies is always available, both online and in the Library. The Study Advice guides are here and we also have some links here to some of the online guides you might want to look at for further help on specific topics:

You can get in touch with your Academic Liaison Librarian for help with finding resources, and referencing or you might like to book an appointment or use the videos and guides from the Study Advice Team for help with time management, organising your writing and other academic skills.

Academic Liaison Librarians and Study Advisors

Book your place for the Masters Dissertation Fair this week!

Posted on 4 June, 2022 by Ruth Ng

Purple background shows image of a student studying. Text reads Masters dissertation fair, 6-10 June, Booking now! Wondering about how to start researching and writing your Masters dissertation or project? Why not book onto the Masters Dissertation Fair that’s being run by our Academic Liaison and Study Advice team?

Choose from a selection of different webinars, workshops and drop-ins running this week until Friday 10 June offering advice on all elements of your dissertation planning, researching, and writing.

For more information on each session and to book, take a look at our Masters Dissertation Fair Guide

Our friendly sessions include topics such as:

Managing your dissertation project
Overcoming writer’s block
Critical writing
Systematic literature searching
Finalising your research question
Writing your literature review
Literature searching tips
Finding information beyond the UoR Library
Reference management tools
Writing your discussion

More help available

You can also book a 1-2-1 session with a Study Adviser, who can offer advice to enable you to manage your project, write critically and ensure academic integrity and your Academic Liaison Librarian who can support you with researching and accessing the material you need and how to reference it correctly. And for those that prefer self-paced online resources, we have a suite of videos and guides on dissertations, major projects and literature reviews.

Remember, you can always discover key resources in your subject area in the liaison team’s guides and use our guide for Taught Postgraduates.

Academic Liaison Librarians and Study Advisers

UoR Library Welcome Week Events 2021

Posted on 20 September, 2021 by Ruth Ng

We’d like to wish you a great big welcome from all the staff at the University of Reading Library! Wondering about how to use the Library and what’s available? We have a variety of events planned for you for Welcome Week and beyond. Here’s a rundown of what’s going on:

Image show the outside of the Library and the text reads Welcome! We're looking forward to meeting you! Want to know more about the Library, and what's happening this week? Take a look at our New Student Libguide.

New student Libguide

An online guide telling you about how everything is working in the library including useful videos, answers to questions, where to get help and all our welcome week events.

Introducing your library

We are running online webinars to guide you through some basics about using the Library, and how we can help you in your studies at UoR.

Self-paced tours

Virtual Escape Game

We have an online time travel escape game that you can play solo or with friends to introduce you to some slightly usual events in the Library! Time yourself as you play and let us know how speedy you are on social media! Image shows a locked door surrounded by steampunk clocks and patterns. Text reads how about playing our virtual time travel escape game? You can play online with friends, or by yourself. See the new student libguide for how to play.

UoR Library reading challenge

This year we’ve created a month by month reading challenge including both e-books and hard copy books. Why not take some downtime from your studies and try something you might not have otherwise read? Share your favourites with us on our social media channels.

UoR Library virtual crafts

Take a quick 3 minute break to learn how to make an easy origami bookmark!

If you join in with anything don’t forget to let us know on social media! You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Your Library Team

Highlighting our LGBT+ resources for Pride month!

Posted on 28 June, 2021 by Ruth Ng

Image shows a crochet cactus in a Pride rainbow striped pot.

Moss the Pride cactus (they/them) crocheted by Academic Liaison Librarian, Ruth (she/her).

As we come to the end of Pride month, we just wanted to remind you that our LGBT+ Libguide will be here all year (Library resources for researching LGBT+ related topics). It’s a really great starting point to learn more about LGBT+ issues.

If you can help us to futher diversify our Library collections, please submit a suggestion for purchase from the Library Diversity Fund. This was created to help us to continue to build and diversify our collections. You can see all the Diversity titles purchased in current and previous academic years on our dedicated Library Diversity fund reading lists.

(If you would like to suggest other items for the Library, please complete our regular book suggestion form.)

Meanwhile, we’re introducing you to Moss the cactus, wearing their crocheted rainbow pot … with great Pride.

Ruth Ng, Academic Liaison Librarian for Henley Business School

Celebrate LGBT+ History month

Posted on 1 February, 2021 by Ruth Ng

Image kindly provided by https://lgbtplushistorymonth.co.uk/resources/lgbt-history-month/

This month is LGBT+ History month, an opportunity to learn about lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and non-binary history, and we wanted to share some resources with you all…

LGBT+ Guide

LGBT+ is an area of research which can cover a wide range of academic disciplines so we would like to highlight the online guide to support research into LGBT+-related topics.

Taking the same format as our subject guides this guide focusses on the range of materials available from the Library and Special Collections relating to LGBT+ topics.

It is one of a series of cross-disciplinary research guides we have developed to support research in areas such as disability and inclusion, gender, and race and ethnicity (forthcoming).

It has been created, in consultation with staff and student representatives, to help you find some of the key resources the Library can provide in this area, as well as point you towards other useful online resources, libraries and archives.

We’d love to hear your feedback on the guide, so let us know what you think!

Join in with our 2020/2021 reading challenge

We’ve taken LGBT+ history as our February topic for our reading challenge. We have both e-books and ‘real’ books available to read on our reading challenge list here! Tag us on social media if you try any, or use #UoRreads2021, we’d love to hear about anything you have read and enjoyed!

Suggest resources to help diversify our collections

You can also help us to continue to diversify the Library’s collections by putting forward your suggestions for Library materials to help support a more diverse curriculum.

If you would like to suggest other items for the Library, please complete our regular book suggestion form.

You can see all the Diversity fund titles purchased in current and previous academic years on our dedicated Library Diversity fund reading lists.

Ruth Ng, Academic Liaison Librarian

UoR Library welcomes new and returning students!

Posted on 11 January, 2021 by Ruth Ng

We’d like to wish all of you joining us for your first term a great big welcome, and welcome back to all our virtual & on-campus returning students, from all the staff at the University of Reading Library! We have lots of online support available to help you get started with using the Library, or to refresh your memory if you’ve forgotten over the Christmas break, as well as staff in the Library building who can help if you are on campus.

Image shows a mug with hello written on it, and a mobile phone. Text reads Welcome! We have various virtual library activities going on this week and beyond for both our new and returning students. See our new student Libguide for more info!

New student Libguide

An online guide telling you about how everything is working in the library including useful videos, answers to questions, where to get help and all our virtual events.

Introducing your library

We have a recorded webinar, to guide you through some basics about using the Library, and how we can help you in your studies at UoR.

Self-paced online tours

We know there’s a lot happening at the moment, so for those of you on campus who want to just take things at your own pace we’ve created a self-paced online tour which will introduce you to the physical building.

Virtual Escape Game

An online time travel escape game that you can play solo or with friends to introduce you to some Library basics via some unusual events in the Library! Time yourself as you play and let us know how speedy you are on social media! Image shows lots of clocks set to different times. Text reads Virtual time travel escape game! Play solo or with friends over an online chat. See the new student Libguide for how to play!

UoR Library reading challenge

A month by month reading challenge including both e-books and hard copy books. Why not take some downtime from your studies and try something you might not have otherwise read? Share your reading finds with us on our social media channels.

UoR Library virtual crafts

Take a quick 3 minute break to learn how to make an easy origami bookmark!

If you join in with anything don’t forget to let us know on social media! You can find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Ruth Ng, Academic Liaison Librarian

UoR Library Welcome Week Events

Posted on 21 September, 2020 by Ruth Ng

We’d like to wish you a great big welcome from all the staff at the University of Reading Library! Although we’re doing things a little differently this year, we still have a great variety of events planned for you for Welcome Week and beyond. Here’s a rundown of what’s going on:

Image welcoming new students to the library with a photo of a mug of coffee that has hello written on it and a mobile phone next to the mug.

New student Libguide

An online guide telling you about how everything is working in the library including useful videos, answers to questions, where to get help and all our welcome week events.

Introducing your library

We are running online workshops to guide you through some basics about using the Library, and how we can help you in your studies at UoR.

Self-paced tours

We know there’s a lot happening during Welcome Week, so if you want to just take things at your own pace we’ve created a self-paced tour for you to go through online.

Virtual Escape Game

An online time travel escape game that you can play solo or with friends to introduce you to some slightly usual events in the Library! Time yourself as you play and let us know how speedy you are on social media! Image shows lots of clocks to advertise the Library's time travel virtual escape game

UoR Library reading challenge

UoR Library virtual crafts

Take a quick 3 minute break to learn how to make an easy origami bookmark!

If you join in with anything don’t forget to let us know on social media! You can find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Library study space bookings open

Posted on 7 September, 2020 by Ruth Ng

From today you can make bookings for Library study spaces for Monday 14 September and going forwards. We hope that being able to book your slot will help you organise your time, and help us ensure that our study space can be shared as safely as possible.

One of the available study spaces.

We’ve tried to label all the zones and types of furniture in the Library as descriptively as possible so you can choose to book the space that suits you best. We’ve created a document with a list of the labels and pictures of the furniture to help you make your choice. Once you’ve chosen the type of space you want you can opt for a one, two, or three hour slot within the restrictions of the building’s opening hours. You can make a booking up to 7 days in advance.

To make a booking you can use the widget in the ‘booking a study space’ section of our Current Library Services LibGuide or you can use a booking form via this direct link.

Please make sure you make the booking in the same name that is printed on your Campus Card and bring your card and booking confirmation email with you when you come to the Library. You will need both to access the building. Please note that from Monday 14 September you’ll need to have made a booking in advance of coming to the Library and we will not be able to give you access without one.

Please observe the following points of etiquette when visiting us:

Bring your booking confirmation email and your Campus Card.
Observe the one-way routing around the building by following signage and checking out the floorplans. (You may move freely in the bookstacks when fetching books, please maintain social distance when doing so).
Use the stairs if possible. Lifts are for individual use only.
Sanitise yourself and your workspace using the hand gel and wipes provided on every floor.
Sit where chairs are sited. They’ve been laid out to ensure everyone can study 2m apart.
Eat elsewhere to help us keep your study space hygienic and clean for everyone.
Stick to your booking slot, someone else will have booked the space after you.
Maintain your social distance from other Library users.
Be kind and patient with other Library users and staff as we navigate these unusual circumstances

If you have any questions please email library@reading.ac.uk and we will do our best to help you.

Sue Egleton, Associate Director (Systems and User Services)