Finding Resources

LibrarySearch will find print books and other physical items such as journals, DVDs etc. in one quick easy search.  Simply search for the title of the book you need, or search by keyword and author name.

Finding a print book

You may have a citation from a reading list that looks like this:

Cottrell, S. (2013) The study skills handbook. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

You can find this in LibrarySearch by searching for 'study skills handbook' you could also add 'cottrell' 

Top tip: when you know you're looking for a print book rather than an eBook, you can limit your results using the filters on the right hand side of the screen to only show items available in the Library.  This will remove any online items from your results list.

Sometimes, there will be multiple years or editions of the same title available in LibrarySearch.  When this is the case, you'll see a single item in the results list but it will indicate that there are multiple versions available and you can then click through to view all versions.  By default, LibrarySearch will list these years/editions from newest to oldest so the most recent version will display at the top of the screen.  Check carefully to ensure that you borrow the correct edition of the book you're after.

In the above example, you're looking for the 2013 edition: Cottrell, S. (2013) The study skills handbook. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

It would look like this in LibrarySearch:

You can see at-a-glance from the results list that this title is available to borrow as availability is shown in green, and you can also see the location and call number i.e. Lending Collection and 378.17 COT (Remember: you must be logged in to see accurate item availability!)

You can click on the title of the book or the Availability link to see the full details.  From the Details screen, you can scroll down to the Get It tab to see more information.  From here you'll be able to see how many copies of the book are available and what the loan policy is.  The loan policy tells you how long you can borrow the item for:  

To borrow a book: take a note of the call number and location (all normal lending collection books are on Level 3, Law lending books are on Level 4) and collect the book from the shelves.  You can either borrow the book using the self-service machines or from the SEZ desk - make sure you have your student card with you as it is required for borrowing.

LibrarySearch is searching over 185,000 eBooks and millions of journal articles at once so is the quickest and easiest way for you to find online items.  Whether you're looking for an eBook or a journal article, the process is the same in LibrarySearch.

Finding an eBook

You may have a citation from a Reading List that looks like this:

Blaxter, L., Hughes, C. and Tight, M. (2010) How to research. 4th edn. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill/Open University Press.

Using the simple search box, either pick keywords from the title or use the full title.  In the above example you would be best to add an author surname to your initial search as the title is quite generic.  You would type 'How to research blaxter' into the search box.

If you know you are specifically looking for an eBook, you can apply some additional filters after you've entered your search terms in order to narrow the results further.  From the right-hand list you can select to Limit Results by Full Text Online and also select Books from the Content Type list (you may have to click show more if the content type you want doesn't display at first)  However, it is worth remembering that all content owned or subscribed to by the Library will always appear at the top of the results list.

Once you have found the item that corresponds to your citation in the results list you can click through to the full-text!  Click on the title to open the Details screen and scroll down to the View It tab where the link(s) to the eBook platform(s) are.  Clicking on the link will take you out of LibrarySearch and directly to the eBook on the publisher platform.  Sometimes, you'll be prompted for your network username and password again before getting to the eBook - it depends whether you're on or off-campus, if you're already logged in, and which publisher site you're going to.

Clicking on Check for Online Access will either open a services page if there's more than one source link available i.e. if the eBook is available from more than one publisher platform.  Or, if there is only one link available, you'll go direct to that source when you click 'check for online access'.

Finding a Journal Article

You may have a citation from a Reading List that looks like this:

Loes, C.N., Salisbury, M.H. and Pascarella, E.T. (2015) ‘Student perceptions of effective instruction and the development of critical thinking: a replication and extension’, Higher Education, 69(5), pp. 823-838. doi: 10.1007/s10734-014-9807-0.

Again, you would either pick out keywords from the article title and add in author surname, or search for the article title.  In this example you are looking for ‘Student perceptions of effective instruction and the development of critical thinking: a replication and extension’

As you know that this is journal article, you can add additional filters from the right-hand menu if required.  You can select to only return Full text Online results and only Content Type = Articles. 

The same journal article can often be available from multiple publisher platforms and this will be indicated in the results list as 'Multiple sources exist. see all'

As with the eBook example, you click through to the Details screen by clicking the title and scroll down to the View It tab. From the View It tab you can click on the link to go directly to the full-text article on the publisher platform.  You may be prompted to login again with your network username and password before accessing the article.

Clicking the 'Check for Online Access' link will open the service page listing all available links to the full-text.  If only one source exists, clicking the link will take you straight there.