It’s every student’s worst nightmare – you’ve finally found the perfect item for your assignment, only to discover that the Library doesn’t have it. But don’t despair! We’ve got lots of ways for you to get your hands on the information you need…

All the copies are on loan

You’ll see the ‘Place Hold’ button on the top right-hand side of the catalogue record.

• Place a hold. When you’re on the catalogue page with details of the item, click the Place Hold button in the top right-hand side. Log in with your University details and click Place Hold again. That’s all you need to do! Whoever’s had the book out the longest will be asked to return it, and we’ll send you an email when the book is ready for you to collect on the Hold Shelf of the URS Building. We’ll automatically buy more copies of books with lots of holds. Note: you’ll only be able to place a hold when there are no copies on the shelf.
• Check for an e-book version. Where possible we buy both print and digital copies of titles to make sure everyone can access them. Anything that’s available online will have a link saying Click here for online access – click that and sign in with your University details to start reading. E-books are particularly useful because you can access them anywhere: on campus, at home, on holiday – the choice is yours!
• Check our Course Collection. This is a collection of high-demand items available for short loan – you can borrow any item in this section until 11am the following day. This can be really useful if you’re needing to read a particular chapter of a book before a tutorial, for example. Course Collection Books are listed as OVERNIGHT books on the catalogue, and their Status will be ‘Course Collection Ground Floor@URS’.
• Check other books in the same section. Our books are arranged by Call Number, and books with the same Call Number will cover the same topic (for example, all books shelved at 658.8 are about marketing). If you can’t find the exact title you need, it’s worth browsing the area to see if you can find a similar book. Check the Books tab of your subject guide to find out where to find particular topics. You might also be able to find an earlier edition of your title – they will be shelved at the same place.

We don’t stock the book in the Library

• Fill in a book suggestion form; we’ll get in touch to let you know if we’ve purchased the item. We also have specific funds for collections, such as our Diversity fund.
• Alternatively, you can get in touch with your Liaison Librarian directly to discuss items to purchase.

I need a specific article or book for an assignment and the Library doesn’t have access

• Place a free inter-library loan (ILL) request. We’ll then ask other libraries if they can give us a copy of the article or book. For articles, you can often have the PDF sent straight to your University email address. Undergraduate and taught postgraduate students can have up to 5 free requests per year; this number is higher for research students and staff – check out our ILL pages for more information. If you’d like to place a request, log in and fill in a short online form with details of the item you need.

This is one of a series of tips designed to help you save time and effort finding or using information

This tip was written by Caitlin McCulloch, Trainee Liaison Librarian for Architecture, Chemistry, Construction Management & Engineering and Pharmacy.