‘Get Ready, Together’ — Accessing Library Resources Room
Everyone has a different level of experience using libraries and accessing resources. Whatever that level is there is always something new you can learn that you can add to your personal library toolbox. This post will discuss a few tools that hopefully you will find useful. Whether studying from home, in halls or in a different country, accessing library resources will be a key part of your academic journey and developing your skills in this area will be valuable throughout your course of study.
Subject Guides
A great starting point for anyone new to the University of Manchester would be our Subject Guides. Here you can find information about resources related to specific subjects. There are sections related to the resources you will want to access and specific sections on E-books & e-journals and Databases. If you’re new to using databases, the Library has created a guide and a dedicated section for you to search databases.
Library Search
If you know which material you want to find then the place to start is Library Search. This search engine will show you the items in our library collection and how to locate or access them.
Anyone who has used Google (or something similar) will already have the basic skills to use this, however there are steps you can take to make your searches more effective.
Make your searches more accurate
To search for a specific phrase put speech marks around the relevant words e.g. “Climate Change”. By using the speech marks you are telling Library Search to look up any instances of those words next to each other and in that order. If you don’t use the speech marks Library Search will bring back results that include the words Climate and Change, but they won’t necessarily be next to each other in the text and therefore the result may not be about climate change at all!
This is an example of what is called a Boolean operator. You can learn more about using Boolean operators in the article Making the most of Boolean operators.
Getting the most from Library Search
It is possible to look up items without logging in and there may be occasions where this is the easiest thing to do, however if you want to access the full range of what the system can do then logging in with your University username and password, will open up a range of useful functionality. Once logged in you will be able to see the items you have on loan, items you have requested to be held for you, favourite items can be pinned so you can find them easily and you can view your previous searches.
You can see how to login into Library Search in this video:
Requesting an item
If you find a physical item that you’d like to use you will need to request it. Once you’ve done this a member of staff will go to the shelf and collect the book for you. You’ll then receive an email which will inform you how to collect the item and how long we can hold it for. If you have any issues requesting an item please contact library staff.
You can see how to request an item in this video:
Saving searches and setting alerts
One of the most useful functions that Library Search can offer is saving searches and setting alerts. At the top of you search results you will be able to see the words “Save query”
When you click on this, Library Search will save the terms you used to search with and the results that were brought back so you can revisit them at any time. It will also give you the opportunity to set an alert for this search. When you set an alert Library Search will automatically perform your search on a regular basis and whenever a new item is added to the collection that relates to your search you will be sent an email to notify you of this. This is a great way of keeping up to date with the resources available to you.
You can see the process of saving a search and setting an alert in this video:
Accessing eBooks
When using eBooks it’s important to remember that access to them is determined by subscription. If you Google a title and discover an eBook you’ll probably have trouble accessing as it won’t recognise that you are covered by the University of Manchester’s subscription. However if you access an eBook through Library Search you will access the material via a link that automatically shows you are covered by a subscription.
Using eBooks
The library provides e-books on a wide variety of different platforms and from a wide variety of suppliers. Although each e-book platform will look slightly different, depending on the supplier, the functionality on offer is largely the same. eBooks contain the same information as a hard copy book, and you can read it in much the same way, but using an eBook has a number of advantages. For example:
- You can access eBooks 24/7, on or off campus
- Access for multiple users at the same time (on most e-books)
- You can download or print sections of the book (in compliance with copyright guidelines)
- You can use keyword search (within books or across collections)
- You can highlight and make notes within the text that you can download or print etc.
Take a look at the information on accessing and using eBooks where you will find lots of further help and support available to you.
Researcher Services
The Researcher Services team offer support and guidance to anyone conducting research at any stage. They can help you with:
- Using our collections (Datasets, primary and secondary sources, copyright advice)
- Open Research (Open Access, sharing data)
- Managing research data (from initial plans to long-term archiving
- Open Access+ (Helping authors maximize the reach of their outputs)
- Research metrics (Understand your research impact and environment)
My Research Essentials is the Library’s researcher development programme which includes information sessions, workshops and online resources designed to support development for researchers at all career stages.
A great place for all researchers to start is with our researcher pathways. Each pathway is designed to give you guidance on the resources and training that will be most helpful to you whatever stage you are at.
Specialist Library Support
If you have a specialist enquiry you may want to contact our Specialist Library Support service. There are experts on hand who can offer advice on:
Finding further help
Although there is a wealth of material online designed to help you using the library there will be times when you will need to contact library staff for further help. If you have a general enquiry (or just don’t know who to ask) contact staff using our Library Chat service. This service is available 24/7.
Between 9am and 5pm we have more teams available to help and you can speak to staff from Digital Support Services, Teaching and Learning, E-resources support and Special Collections. All the chats go through to the Customer Service team initially who can help with any questions and can direct you to the team best placed to help with your enquiry.
Contact Us
The Library and the My Learning Essentials Team are here for you, so get in touch with us using any of the following methods.
- Email us uml.teachingandlearning@manchester.ac.uk
- Use the ‘Ask a question’ tab at the right side of the page on any Subject Guide.
- Use Library Chat by going to the Library Website or MyManchester (log in required).
- Email us uml.teachingandlearning@manchester.ac.uk
- Use the ‘Ask a question’ tab at the right side of the page on any Subject Guide.
- Use Library Chat by going to the Library Website or MyManchester (log in required).
