New Students' Library Guide

The Library website has two main options for searching our print collections: Discovery and the Library Catalogue.

Do a search using Discovery

• Go to the Library website
• Enter your search terms in the Discovery search box (this tab should be pre-selected)
• You may be prompted to login using your University username and password

Refine your results to Books

• At the top of the results page you will see a number of boxes containing options to refine your results 
• In the Source Type section, tick the checkboxes: 'Books'  and then Apply
• Any books that the library holds that match your search query will be listed in the search results

• Choose the Catalogue tab on the top of the Library search box, or go directly to the Catalogue page
• Enter your search terms and use the dropdown filters to either Search Entire Collection or limit your search to specific library locations

• In your results, click on the title of the book to open the full details
• Look at the Location, Call Number, and Status to check which library the book is available and where it is located on the shelf
• If you see High Use in the location field, check the return date and time carefully. High use books have shorter borrowing limits and can be found in a separate location near the service desk.

You don't need to walk up and down the shelves to browse our collections. By using catalogue tools to browse you won't miss out on discovering books that are currently out on loan, or held in offsite storage.

Quickly discover related material by:

1. Clicking on the call number to find books that would sit near to this one on the shelf. It will include results from other branches (limit results to one specific location by using the dropdown menu).
2. Clicking on the subject heading to find other materials on the same topic. This will also include electronic results.
3. Scrolling to the bottom of the book's information to find the Browse Shelf section. This will show you a visual gallery of the books that would sit near this one on the shelf.

Found a book you want but it's in offsite storage or out on loan? Use the Request button to have the book sent to a library of your choice for collection. If the book is on loan it will be reserved for you after it is returned.