Major collections & resources
The Library has been collecting books, journals and other materials over the course of its existence for almost 100 years. In total these amount to around 1,300,000 volumes. The large majority of our resources are listed in the Star catalogue. We are in the process of adding older material, to the Star database, that was recorded on cards and then converted to microfilm. If you cannot find an older book you may wish to check the microfilm catalogue which lists material by author.
Much of our material is provided in electronic form; outline details of this are provided below. There are also substantial holdings in microform.
You should note that any books published before 1850 are in Special Collections.
Collections policy
The scope of the Library's collections is broadly similar to the range of academic interests within the University, both today and in the past. Library funds are allocated to each department and departments work with Library staff to acquire material appropriate to their teaching and research interests. These funds are used to acquire printed resources, and to licence access to electronic resources. Users of the Library may request material that is not held locally through the InterLibrary Request Service. All members of the University are welcome to make recommendations for purchase by the Library.
The University Library is a system of 5 libraries of varying sizes which are distributed across the Campus. All newly purchased material is located in the designated Library for the department whose Library funds paid for the material. You should note that because most Libraries have limited space, their older material may be moved to a store within the Western Bank Library. All material purchased from Library funds is available to any member of the University irrespective of where it is located.
In addition to material purchased for specific departmental teaching and research needs, there are general collections. Examples are:
- Parliamentary papers dating from the nineteenth century
- Newspapers in paper, microfilm, and electronic formats
- Early English books on microfilm
- Reference books
- Dictionaries
Electronic resources
An increasing proportion of the Librarys budget is devoted to the purchase of electronic resources: bibliographic databases, ejournals, reference works, and ebooks.
Special Collections
Books held by the Library which were published before 1850 are held in Special Collections. The collection includes a wide range of material published over the past 500 or so years. In addition there are numerous manuscript collections. Most of this material is available to staff and students, by arrangement with the section.