Sconul Access
British Library
Other Library Catalogues
 

 SCONUL Access

SCONUL Access is a reciprocal borrowing/access scheme at participating higher education libraries in the UK and Ireland for staff and students (undergraduate and postgraduate).

The scheme gives access to a wide range of academic libraries and there is no limit to the number of libraries that can be visited under the scheme for any category of authorised user.

SCONUL Access offers borrowing facilities for the following categories of staff and students

• Academic staff on fixed or open contracts
• Other university staff registered on approved courses of academic study or professional training
• Postgraduate research students registered for a PhD, DBA, PsychD, MPhil or similar qualification
• Part-time and distance learning students at undergraduate and postgraduate level
• Full-time taught postgraduates
• Students on placement of more than 6 weeks
  

For full-time undergraduates: reference access only is available through the scheme

Application forms can be downloaded from the SCONUL Access website. Completed forms may be brought to the Ask Me Desk in the Library (normally open 9-7.30pm weekdays, 2.30-5pm on Saturdays and Sundays in semester) or can be posted, with a postal address included, to the Library User Services, University Library.

Once your form is validated you will be issued with a SCONUL Access card, indicating your Band of Access, to take to the other libraries in the scheme. If you are eligible for borrowing rights you may join any other participating library which offers the same Band of Access.

Details of the participating libraries and their catalogues can be found on the SCONUL Access website

 The British Library

The British Library at St. Pancras is a research library, not a public reference library. Please check the British Library catalogue first, to find out whether the information you require is held there.

If you need to visit the British Library in order to carry out research, you should take with you proof of your identity and home address - a bank or credit card, passport or driver's licence, together with a utility bill or bank statement.

For further information on access to the British Library, including opening hours, please consult the British Library website.

 Other catalogues

You may also wish to search other Library Catalogues as part of your research or studies.

Search25 - Library catalogues
Resource discovery tool for London and the South East Consortium of Higher Education Libraries representing about 160 libraries in the area belonging to 57 colleges and universities.  This Union List of Serials allows you to search for periodicals.  Click on User Options on the right hand side of the page and select this option from the Resource type to search option.

Surrey County Library Catalogue
Access to locally available collections.

British Library Public Catalogue
Search for documents from the British Library's extensive collections

English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC)
This union catalogue lists over 460,000 items published between the years 1472 and 1800. The items were printed mainly in Britain and North America and are mostly in the English language. The catalogue lists items in the British Library collection, as well as 2,000 other libraries worldwide.

COPAC
A national Online Public Access Catalogue, providing unified access to the online catalogues of some of the largest university research libraries in the UK and Ireland.

SUNCAT
SUNCAT is the pilot Serials UNion CATalogue for the UK. The pilot service includes records from 22 of the largest UK research libraries. It can be used to locate serials held in the contributing libraries.

Library catalogues worldwide
Links to Library catalogues around the world.

Library of Congress (USA)
Search the Catalogues of the American Library of Congress. The Experimental Search System (ESS) is worth a look, offering such features as sorting and e-mailing search results, analysing results by subject heading and direct links to digitized materials.

The European Library
The European Library portal offers a search service which spans the 43 national libraries of Europe, enabling users to search for resources both digital and non-digital.