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Library Services during the Coronavirus: FAQs

  • The Charles Seale-Hayne Library and PAHC Library will be temporarily closed from Friday 20th March until further notice.

  • The 24/7 Learning Space (Room 003) and Student Break Room, on Level 0, will also be closed during this time.

  • Please check this page and our Tweets for further updates.

We are working hard behind the scenes planning the safest way to return normal library services. This will happen in several phases starting with a ‘Reserve and Collect’ launching week commencing 20th July. Please check back for more details.

Library Services and Resources

Please see our comprehensive guidance below on how we will continue to provide services to students and staff:

Please do not try to return any books. Instead, retain and renew any library books due for return until further notice.  Please be assured that you will not incur any overdue charges during this period.

Existing recalls of books on loan will be cancelled.

Final Year Students: If you are a student finishing this year and need to return your books you can do so via a red returns bin located in the entrance of Drake’s café between 10:00-13:00 Monday-Friday. Please only use this facility if you are a student in your final year as the returns bin has limited capacity. Ensure you social distance when returning books.

See our advice below (Primo & e-resources) regarding digital alternatives to print books.

Academic staff: Please let your Information Specialist know of any key texts that are currently provided in print format. Information Specialists can look to identify alternative resources in digital format, including digital extract scans where available.

The Library has a vast digital collection of ejournals, ebooks and specialist online resources which can be accessed remotely:
Search Primo: Primo defaults to online full text access for journal articles. To limit your search to online books as well, choose ‘books’ and ‘full text online’ from the left hand refine menu. NB: Many Primo links to ebooks provided by Proquest Ebook Central now allow unlimited concurrent access during the Coronavirus period.
For support with Primo, please see the Primo Support LibGuide
Library Subject Guides collate the most useful digital resources for each subject including tailored collections of ebooks that allow for deeper searching within the text; legal resources; e-newspapers; e-archives; data resources; and online journal collections.
Do you have a module e-reading list? Many items on module reading lists are available electronically. Search Leganto for your module code.
 
As a temporary measure, the library is suspending the ability to request physical material (books or print articles) via Inter Library Loan (ILL). The British Library are currently only able to fulfil digital ILL requests from their existing electronic stores. The scan and email of printed content is currently suspended. This means that not all ILL journal article requests may be fulfilled. Please see the advice given at the bottom of the page regarding Temporary Resource Availability - many publishers are unlocking content we would not normally have access to on a temporary basis.
If you have any ILL books on loan please keep hold of them until the Library has resumed normal service. Items will be renewed on your behalf, or any overdue ILL fines incurred will be waived.
Digitisation requests for chapters and articles from Leganto Reading List citations can still be made in the usual way, but may not be able to be fulfilled if they need to be created from a print original. If you have a .pdf of the content you require, please email it to: collectionservices@plymouth.ac.uk stating the relevant reading list and course details, as we may be able to use it if the British Library cannot supply a copy.
The Library’s online guidance for researchers has lots of advice and support that can be accessed online and remotely including guidance on Elements, Pearl, metrics, Research Data Management etc. plus thesis deposit for PGRs. Please contact openresearch@plymouth.ac.uk with any queries.
EThOS (UK PhD theses) is an index of UK HE institution theses, many of which are digitised and are available for immediate download. Please note though that EThOS have temporarily switched off the function to request digitisation of print theses held in member libraries due to many libraries being unable to fulfil orders at present due to closure or reduced staffing. In addition to EThOS’s many digital theses, see also our online collation of links to other digital theses providers
SciVal Access: Single Sign On access to SciVal is now available for remote access. If you experience any issues please try via the VPN in the first instance or contact openresearch@plymouth.ac.uk. See also our user guides: Library guidance on Scival
University of Plymouth staff and students can download some software for use on home computers. See the University’s Work at Home site for more details.

Temporary Resources Available

A number of resource platforms and publishers are temporarily removing restrictions to their content and converting licenses to unlimited access during this time. We've added these to a Leganto reading list to make it easy for you to add these links to reading lists and promote these to your students. We'll keep this list updated as more providers step forward.

If you have any questions about these or resourcing in general, please contact your Information Specialist at your earliest convenience.

Leganto Reading List: Temporary Resources

Free Access COVID-19 Resources

COVID-19 Searches: Search strategies related to COVID-19 which have been undertaken by NHS funded librarians and knowledge specialists

Help & Support

Please contact us with any queries:

 

By Live Chat and Email: LibraryandITenquiries@plymouth.ac.uk

Mon-Fri: 09:00 - 17:00

By phone: 01752 588588

Mon-Fri: 09:00 -17:00

You can also see our latest updates via Facebook and Twitter.

 

Information Specialist Support

Your Information Specialists will be available for online meetings via Zoom or email. Contact them via:

Additional Support

Student Learning Services

Online Learning for Students