We are unable to fetch items from our Off-site Store this week due to staffing issues so with regret there will be no collection on Thursday 22 October.
We hope to resume Off-site Store collections next week, so any items 
requested will be fetched on Thursday 29 October. If you have requested an item you will receive an email when it is available to collect.
Natalie Guest
Document Delivery Coordinator / Academic Liaison Librarian
Your Library team is excited to announce that from Monday 13 July Library members will be able to borrow some print books via a new ‘Click & Collect’ style service.
Please enter the front door and queue two metres apart
We’ve rearranged things so you’ll be able to place holds via Enterprise (the Library catalogue) on items that are ‘on the shelf’, just like you do with items on loan. We’ll fetch requested books from the shelves each day and you’ll get an email from us when your items are ready for you to collect.
You’ll be able to place holds from Thursday 9 July and the Library will be open for collections only 11:00 – 14:00 Monday to Friday from 13 July. We’ll keep your items available for up to five days as usual.
There’s a one-way route to your collection point
We’ve worked hard to put procedures in place that will keep you and our staff safe whilst participating with this service. When you arrive at the Library you’ll find a queuing system in place providing a one-way contactless route in and out of the building, and signs showing you where to stand to maintain your social distance from others.
You’ll be able to engage with staff at a collection point in the foyer, one at a time. We’ll ask you to put your Campus Card down and then step back so we can step forward to read your name and card number. Once we’ve issued your books to you we’ll put them down and step back so you can come forward to collect your books and card.
Exit by the side door
We’ll wipe the collection point in between each person. We’ll also be wearing gloves when we handle your books.
This service is take-away only and the Library building remains closed for general use. For full details of all aspects of this service visit our Click & Collect FAQs webpage.
Sue Egleton, Associate Director (Systems & User Services)
Your Library team is excited to announce that from Monday 13 July Library members will be able to borrow some print books via a new ‘Click & Collect’ style service.
Please enter the front door and queue two metres apart
We’ve rearranged things so you’ll be able to place holds via Enterprise (the Library catalogue) on items that are ‘on the shelf’, just like you do with items on loan. We’ll fetch requested books from the shelves each day and you’ll get an email from us when your items are ready for you to collect.
You’ll be able to place holds from Thursday 9 July and the Library will be open for collections only 11:00 – 14:00 Monday to Friday from 13 July. We’ll keep your items available for up to five days as usual.
There’s a one-way route to your collection point
We’ve worked hard to put procedures in place that will keep you and our staff safe whilst participating with this service. When you arrive at the Library you’ll find a queuing system in place providing a one-way contactless route in and out of the building, and signs showing you where to stand to maintain your social distance from others.
You’ll be able to engage with staff at a collection point in the foyer, one at a time. We’ll ask you to put your Campus Card down and then step back so we can step forward to read your name and card number. Once we’ve issued your books to you we’ll put them down and step back so you can come forward to collect your books and card.
Exit by the side door
We’ll wipe the collection point in between each person. We’ll also be wearing gloves when we handle your books.
This service is take-away only and the Library building remains closed for general use. For full details of all aspects of this service visit our Click & Collect FAQs webpage.
Sue Egleton, Associate Director (Systems & User Services)
You can borrow print items from the Library building with our ‘Click & Collect’ service.
All of our existing support and electronic resources will continue to be available and delivered to you online over the summer. This means that you can still:
Return loans in the Book Drop flap to the right of the Library front doors
We will renew all books for the entire summer vacation so do not worry as you will not have anything overdue or running up fines! All items will be due on 30 September 2020. If you have already returned items via our Book Drop (right of Library entrance) be assured they will be removed from your Library account as soon as we are able to get back in the building to process them.
We are investigating whether we can accept postal returns of books over the summer and will provide more information if we are able to do so.
Click & Collect service for print items. For those of you writing dissertations, we understand accessing materials is very important. We are providing a service for you to request items (from 13 July 2020). You can still ask your Academic Liaison Librarians whether they can source an alternative option for you.
Any updates on access to the books or changes to any services will be publicised on our website and Library blog so keep an eye out for news.
Stuart Hunt, Director
Fancy treading the boards inside or out this Bank Holiday with Library online access?
Need something enjoyable to relax with this weekend? Why not take up these suggestions from Library staff, who point out that you can also use Library resources to enhance your wellbeing, not only for serious research!
We can all access some excellent film, theatre and television resources with our University username and passwords to take our minds away from worry. Particularly good are Box of broadcasts and Drama Online, the latter also giving us COVID-time access to National Theatre productions. Below, Sarah and Kim review their favourite productions.
In this play by Richard Bean, recorded by National Theatre Live, 15 September, 2011, Tony Award-winning James Corden plays Francis Henshall in the hilarious West End and Broadway hit. I recommend this play as one of the funniest things I have watched in ages. James Corden gives the role 110% as the play descends into a chaotic, high energy farce. With various members of the audience on stage, James’s character, Francis, tries to serve dinner to his two guvnors without either catching sight of the other and with the ‘help’ of the waiting staff, who keep falling down stairs, popping up at the wrong time and generally providing a perfect spectacle of mishaps! If you enjoyed ‘The Goes Wrong Show’, you’ll love this.
Go to: https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/one-man-two-guvnors-nt-iid-190503 Select ‘Log In’ at the top right of the page, then ‘Log in via your institution’, search for ‘University of Reading’ and log in with your University or Reading username and password.
Sarah Hatcher, Library User Services
Good Omens is a surreal and insightful story about the end of the world, written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman and with a host of supernatural and incredibly human characters. You may already be aware of the recent Amazon Prime-BBC television adaptation which aired last year (and can still be streamed online). But BBC Radio 4’s radio dramatisation starring Mark Heap and Peter Serafinowicz as Aziraphale and Crowley was broadcast a few years earlier, and is a really great adaptation – including not only some excellent performances (Heap is brilliant) and cameos (Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, notably), but some great scenes from the book which didn’t make it to the television adaptation.
You can listen to the radio adaptation (and find the BBC television broadcasts too) on Box of Broadcasts – a TV and radio archive service, that includes a whole host of fantastic programmes, great for researchers and those of us wanting to catch up on favourites alike. I find listening to the radio while working from home really helps my concentration, as I’m not a fan of silence, and so I’m enjoying discovering and re-discovering programmes using Box of Broadcasts. For the next few weeks, you can also enjoy the service from across the EU, so if you’re not based in the UK at the moment, you can still listen and enjoy!
Go to: Box of Broadcasts. If you’re a new user you may need to register using your University username and password. Good Omens Episode 1 is here.
Kim Coles, Academic Liaison Librarian
A valid reason for going outside during lock-down is for health-giving exercise. Judith and Jackie advocate making use of online map resources to search out a new local experience.
Getting bored walking the same old route every day? We all know how important it is to get regular exercise, but after a while you want a change from the routine. Jackie was fed up with her usual local walks so decided to see if she could find some alternative routes with Digimap to explore more widely without getting lost! Digimap is an online collection of maps of Great Britain, including current and old Ordnance survey maps, geology and aerial photographs.
You too can use Digimap Ordnance Survey to create and print a map of your local area – take it on your daily walk to discover new routes, whether you’re in an urban area or the countryside. If you’re feeling adventurous, print out a map from Digimap Historic to discover the area as it was in the past! Using the Roam service, search for your town or village, then zoom in. You will need to register the first time you use it but then the (lockdown) world is your oyster! Enjoy exploring!
Judith Fox, Academic Liaison Librarian/Map Librarian;
Jackie Skinner, Academic Liaison Librarian
Look out for further Library information on the Library website, University Library News blog, Twitter and Facebook.
Kim Coles and Rachel Redrup, Academic Liaison Librarians
In line with the University’s move to online teaching, the University Library moved services fully online with effect from Monday 23 March 2020. Please be assured that we will continue to provide you with our services. We will ensure that all online resources and additional online help are available to you during the current, unprecedented public health situation.
A significant proportion of our resources are already available online. There will be no change to this service and everything that you previously used will continue to be available. A simple way to find existing and new resources in your subject is to check our online subject guides: the new COVID-19 tab lists extra resources provided to UoR during the lockdown period.
Undergraduate and post-graduate taught course students: you can still access UoR online reading lists directly and via Blackboard. Many of the items on your reading lists are accessible online, with some lists fully available online.
For your research, you can still access e-resources through the Library website, to find our extensive collection of e-books, e-journals and databases. The following tools will help you:
All Library staff are still available to help and assist with your studies and research.
Whilst the Library building remains closed the printed book collection will not be available. If you currently have books on loan that are due back do not worry! We will automatically renew them for you so that you do not get fined. And if you incur any fines during this period of online working you will not be charged. Books that you currently have on loan will not be recalled and you will not be expected to return them whilst the building is closed. If you want to place a reservation (hold) on a book you can continue to do so and we will seek to satisfy your request. For loan and general enquiries, please email library@reading.ac.uk
You can still request Inter-Llibrary Loans in the usual manner, completing the online request form. If you currently have Inter-Library Loans (books) from another library do not worry, we will arrange for the return date to be extended for you. For Inter-Library Loan enquiries, please email ill@reading.ac.uk.
If you have any other enquiries or require any additional support, please email library@reading.ac.uk.
Look out for further Library service updates on the Library website, University Library News blog, Twitter and Facebook.
Stuart Hunt, Director
We’re really excited to welcome all new students starting this week, with various events to help you get to know your Library.
Come and chat with our friendly staff at the Induction Marketplace on Wednesday 15 January 13:00-17:00.For more information and help with Library resources ask at the Welcome Desk or have a look at our YouTube channel. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for library updates.
Ruth Ng & Karen Drury, Academic Liaison Librarians
Visit first woman UK MP, Nancy Astor’s home locally at Cliveden. Or research her papers at UoR Special Collections.
Gender studies is an area of research which can cover a wide range of academic disciplines. In celebration of Astor 100, marking 100 years since Nancy Astor became the first woman to take her seat in British Parliament, the Library has introduced a new online guide to support research into gender-related topics. The guide takes the same format as our subject guides but focuses on the range of materials available from the Library and Special Collections relating to gender studies. It has been created 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 our new guide, so let us know what you think!
You can also help us to diversify the Library’s collections by putting forward your suggestions for Library materials to help support a more diverse curriculum. All you need to do is complete our Diversify our collections suggestion form to suggest a book, DVD, topic or author for purchase in an area you feel is currently underrepresented in our Library collections. We’ll do the rest!
If you would like to suggest other items for the Library, please complete our regular book suggestion form.
Tim Chapman, Library Diversity & Inclusion Group
The University Library is now open following its major refurbishment. Over £40 million has been invested into improving key features and facilities, including:
Borrow at contactless Self-Service Points; return at the new book sorter machine.
Minor finishing works will continue to take place as and when needed over the coming weeks. Any major work will take place outside typical user hours.
The Library now houses the largest collection of study spaces on campus. There are still plenty of other places on campus to go for studying – details of these can be found on the Study Space Across Campus Essentials page.
Those returning to campus may note that the URS Building is being used for teaching this term and is no longer used as Library study space.
Study Advice and Maths Support Desk
There are plenty of places within the Library you can get help.
Maps of each floor are also available – please take a look to see exactly where specific features are located within the building
You may find that any Closed Access requests you make this week could be slightly delayed. Due to ongoing refurbishment works we are unable to access certain areas of our basement meaning that the collection of items from this area could take longer than usual.
We recommend that you wait for the confirmation email to tell you the request is ready for collection before visiting the Library to collect your requests.
Normal service should resume after this week, so please keep on placing your Closed Access requests as usual!
For more information about placing requests see our website.
What’s changing?With the Library refurbishment drawing towards its later stages, the 2nd Floor is nearly ready to be reopened. The next phase involves moving stock to their final locations on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Floors.
We anticipate that the book moves will start in the week beginning 29 July, though this is subject to approval from Building Maintenance. We’ll keep you updated on this blog and on Twitter (@UniRdg_Library) and Facebook (@universityofreadinglibrary).
Yes! In keeping with our strategy to maximise access to stock throughout the Refurbishment Project, all books will remain accessible as far as possible throughout the move. Each shelf will be unavailable for around thirty minutes whilst the stock is being moved. The Library catalogue will also be updated to reflect the new locations, usually within a day.
Normal size books, large books and journals of the same Call Number will all be found on the same floor.
2nd Floor
000s – computer science
100s – philosophy, psychology
200s – religion
300s – social sciences, law
3rd Floor
400s – languages, linguistics
500s – science
600s – technology, business, typography
700s – arts
Teaching Practice
4th Floor
800s – literature
900s – history, geography, archaeology
Library staff will still be available at the Welcome Desk on the Ground Floor – please contact them if you can’t find what you’re looking for.
Keep up to date with the latest study space and Library refurbishment news on our Library refurbishment webpage.
Katie Winter, Academic Liaison Support Librarian
You may find that any Closed Access requests you make over the next two weeks may be slightly delayed in their collection as work continues on the Library refurbishment project.
Library staff will be unable to access certain areas during the week meaning that the collection of user Closed Access requests could take longer than usual to be ready for collection for users.
We recommend that you wait for the confirmation email to tell you the request is ready for collection before visiting the Library to collect your requests.
Normal service should resume after the two weeks so please keep on placing your Closed Access requests as usual!
For more information please visit our website.
