Here is the first in what we will become a regular series on the blog – research tips from the MERL library and archive team.

Trying to find out about collections can be a difficult and frustrating business. Our online catalogues and finding aids are now very large and while it’s great to have so much information available at your fingertips, it can also be quite confusing. There is some really good guidance available on our website at http://www.reading.ac.uk/merl/collections/merl-accesscollections.aspx but sometimes you may find that the catalogue doesn’t give you the answer you expected. So our first research tip is this: if in doubt, ask! Our reading room team is there to help, and while we can’t promise to do your research for you, we are always willing to provide help in searching the catalogues. Contact us on 0118 378 8660 or merl@reading.ac.uk