Teaching Support Library Services
Ordering materials for the library and reading lists
Information Specialists are responsible for developing and maintaining the library collections, both physical and electronic in collaboration with academic staff. They manage the budgets allocated for the purchase of new materials, and advise on appropriate content, format, numbers of copies, loan status etc.
Requesting Books
Request books for your subject from your Information Specialist. Please provide sufficient bibliographic information for us to identify the book – ISBNs are not essential but useful. It is also useful to indicate how many students might be expected to use the book - is it a key text or further reading?
The library operates an “e-first” policy, which means that if there is a choice we will prioritise the e-book. Please tell us if it is important that we have paper copies.
If you are aware that you have students who need an alternative format because of a disability you may need to discuss this with your information specialist, especially in the case of key texts.
Our suppliers state a six week turnaround for physical books but this will usually be shorter. E-books are usually activated within the catalogue within 2-3 days.
We conduct regular surveys of book usage to maintain the currency of our stock and identify out of date and unused books. Each book is considered on its own merits before withdrawal. Withdrawn books in good condition are sold on through Better World Books.
Requesting Journals
Subscriptions to journals are reviewed annually taking into consideration cost and usage statistics to ensure relevance and value for money.
Because journals are an ongoing, year on year expense there is no space within the budget to accommodate new titles. However, please discuss your requests with your Information Specialist who may be able to ascertain if any of our existing agreements with publishers enable this title to be swapped in at little cost or to investigate any other potential options for securing the title.
Leganto online reading lists
Leganto is Plymouth's online reading list management system. It provides an efficient and easy way to compile and publish reading lists. Fully integrated with Primo and the DLE (Moodle), it provides students with easy access to all course materials through a single interface.
With Leganto, you can assemble materials of all types; physical and eBooks, online or digitised book chapters, scholarly articles, videos, images, webpages, and many other types of material, to create a flexible and interactive reading list.
Access the support guide to get you started in creating and maintaining your own lists. Contact your Information Specialist for further information and 1 to 1 support.
Inter-Library Loans
Inter-Library Loans for your personal research can be requested via Primo and are delivered to your email from the British Library. Full details of the service can be found here.
Please note that ILLs cannot be shared with cohorts of students. To request such a copy for students, you will need to make a 'digitisation request' through the Leganto online reading list system.