Using The Library

Students

Students enrolled on a course at Edge Hill University will receive:

• A Unicard that acts as your student identification and can be used to borrow material at any of our sites, including media loans from the LINC building
• A Username and password to access the Edge Hill University computer network
• An email account that can be accessed on and off campus

Students must produce their confirmation letter with their student ID number to obtain a Unicard. Cards will not be produced without this letter.

Staff

A new member of staff should either:

• Be introduced by their line manager in person to a Learning Services help desk at any site OR
• Bring a letter of introduction from their line manager, or a copy of their contract to a Learning Services help desk at any site
• Ask their Line manager to email the Lending Services Manager confirming that you are employed by Edge Hill University. You and your line manager will receive a reply asking you to come into the Library to arrange your account.
• Learning Services staff will then set up your library account.
• To get access to the Edge Hill University computer network staff need to contact I.T. Services

Printing

Students can top up their print account by visiting a Learning Services helpdesk or by using one of the print credit machines, currently on the ground floor in the University Library and in the Foyer of the LINC building.

Please note:Money cannot be refunded from print accounts. We advise you to only top up by the amounts you will be using.

Photocopying

Students can purchase photocopying cards at the Ground Floor Help desk. These are sold as disposable cards and cost either £2 for 38 copies or £5 for 100 copies.

These cards are easily damaged, so we ask that you do not bend them or break the black strip on the back as this makes the card invalid.

The cards use the following:

• 1 credit for Black and White A4
• 2 credit for Black and White A3
• 6 credits for Colour A4
• 10 credits for Colour A3

Laminating

There is a laminating machine in the Photocopying room. You can buy laminating pouches from either the LINC building or Blackwell in the University Library. There are instructions on how to use this machine available in the room.

Binding

There are several binding machines in the photocopying room for use.
Spiral combs and card can be purchased from the Blackwell shop in the University Library.
There are instructions on how to use this machine available in the room.

Learning Services welcomes staff and students from other institutions, and members of the public to use our services and facilities for study and reference purposes, and in some cases for borrowing. We participate in a number of reciprocal schemes, locally and nationally, that allows others to access the University’s facilities.

Students and staff wishing to access Edge Hill University Libraries will need to provide the relevant documentation depending on the scheme that they wish to join:

• E.g. SCONUL Access - an endorsed SCONUL Access card and library card from your home institution
• ALLIS - an endorsed application form from your library service provider.

Under the arrangements for reciprocal borrowing you can:

• Borrow 5 items from the 3 week loan stock only
• Access all stock for reference purposes
• Use self-service photocopying facilities from 5p a copy
• Seek staff assistance from any of our help desks
• Access user guides and support documentation

The service excludes:

• Items from our Education Resource Collection, one week and overnight loans, inter-library loans and CD-Roms
• Network access and use of Edge Hills e-resources (e-books and e-journals)

• Graduates of Edge Hill University are eligible to apply for membership.
• You need to be a member of the Edge Hill Alumni society.
• Once you register with the Edge Hill Alumni society - you then need to come into the University Library where we will set up your account for you.
• On registration applicants will receive a Unicard and access to the Edge Hill University network only when on campus via a guest log-in. This excludes access to electronic resources from home.
• Able to borrow up to 3 items from our 3 week loan stock.
• The cost for Alumni membership is now free

This category is available to:

• Open University students
• A student on a course with no alternative library support
• NHS Trust staff who are not based at Aintree campus but live local to Edge Hill University Libraries
• Someone who has a justifiable need and no alternative library support

The fee for external membership is £100 per annum (£50 if unwaged) or £30 per quarter.

Any company or organisation may join Learning Services on an annual subscription. Those wishing to join the scheme should contact:

This is the maximum number of items that you are allowed to borrow from the Library, but does not include media equipment (allocation of a further 10 items).

Each item in Learning Services collections has an allocated loan period, generally indicated by a coloured sticker that reflects the anticipated demand on that item. These are as follows

• Overnight Loan (blue sticker)
• 1 week loan (red sticker)
• 3 week loan (no sticker)
• 12 week loan (green sticker)
• No Loan / Reference Material (yellow sticker).
• If items have a Reservation List - all items revert to a 1 week loan to ensure that stock circulates amongst all students.
• If 12 week loans have a hold placed on them whilst they are out on loan - you will be sent an e-mail informing you that the loan length is being reduced to 3 weeks.

You should return all items on or before the due date stamped on the date label, or printed on your receipt from the self-issue machines, University Library Ormskirk.

• Items can be returned to any University Library.
• A book returns box is available at each site so that items can be returned outside of our normal open hours.
• Fines are charged on items that are not returned or renewed before the due date.

Items that you have on loan can be renewed provided that: 

• Someone else has not requested them
• That they have not had the maximum number of renewals
• They are not overdue

There are 3 ways to renew:

• Using the Library Catalogue - click on My Account and sign in
• By telephone on 01695 584333
• At any Library Helpdesk

Learning Services will send you a courtesy reminder by email, 2 days before an item is due back as a prompt for you to renew or return the item. If you owe over £10 you are unable to renew your items using the Library catalogue. To renew please come to any Library Help Desk or phone the Help Line on 01695 584286.

Renewal Limits

There is a limit to the number of times an item can be renewed using a combination of telephone renewals and the Library Catalogue.
After renewal limits have been met, the item must be taken to a help desk, at any site, for return or renewal. The current renewal limits are:

To encourage the prompt return of items fines are imposed for late return. Our current rates:

Fines can now be paid online via the Finance Department.

Please be aware that it can take up to 24 hours for monies to be removed from your Library account (if you pay after 5pm on a Friday, the monies will not be removed until the following Monday morning).

• The maximum fine is currently £5 per item.
• Learning Services will send you 2 reminders when an item becomes overdue.
• You will not be allowed to borrow if you have a fine of £10 or more.
• You will not be able to renew books online if you have fines of £10 or more - please see Renewals
• If an item is not returned it will progress to the Invoice stage.

When books become overdue, they follow the process shown below.

• When the 2nd overdue is sent, access to "My Account" on the Library catalogue and use of the self-issue and return machines is blocked.
• Overdue items that remain outstanding will result in an Invoice being sent. These are sent electronically to your University e-mail address (invoices for Media items will be hand-written and sent to your home address). If you have to replace the book you can either pay the full replacement charge of the item or supply us with an exact new copy of the item.
• Once an item has become invoiced, the full replacement charge will be added onto your Library account. When you return the item/s this charge will be removed and you will be charged the fines only.
• If books are not returned within 1 month of the Invoice being issued, your details will be passed onto the University Finance Department. This could result in this debt, being passed onto an external debt collection agency.

Edge Hill University sends Library Messages by University E-Mail so please remember to check your University email account.

A basic search option is available on the first screen of the Edge Hill Library Catalogue. You can search for a Keyword, Author, Title, or Module code.

• Select the format you wish to search in, e.g. Title, Author, by clicking on the drop-down option, and enter your search term, e.g. study skills, in the text box
• You can search the whole Catalogue, or limit your search to a specific location, e.g. Aintree, by clicking on the last drop-down option
• Click Go
• A results list will be displayed. Searching by title will find items of that title, or that contain your search term
• Click on a title for further details – it will show you the location and availability
• To find an item on the shelves, make a note of the location and class number
• You can also search for your reading list. Choose to search by module code and type in your code eg PUP1154. TIP: there is no gap between letters and numbers
• To find a journal article, first search for the title of the journal.

Logging into My Account will allow you to review your library record and access all the Library Catalogue’s resources.

From www.edgehill.ac.uk, login to the GO Portal.

• Select Library from the tabs at the top of the screen
• Click on My Account and enter your Student ID number and password
• Edge Hill staff should enter their Library number and PIN

From here you can:

• Check and renew books you have on loan, and when they are due
• View details of overdue books and fines
• Check if your requested books are ready for collection
• View My Reading History – this function details your borrowing record
• To renew your books, click on the link below My Record
• From here you can renew all or selected books
• If the message *Renew not allowed appears- contact Learning Services for more details

*You cannot renew a book if it has been requested by another student or if you have renewed the book the maximum number of times. You must return the book to the library.

Items can be requested if they are currently unavailable, or from other sites, through the Library Catalogue. Select the item, then Request and Log in. Select Pickup Location and from the drop down menu the site to collect the item from.
An Edge Hill notification email will be sent to your account regarding collecting the item
If the item is no longer required, enter the date in the Cancel if not filled by, and Submit.
You can cancel your requests if you no-longer need them
Use My Library to view the items that you have requested and want to cancel:

• Click My Account and Log in
• My Record displays the number of items you have on Hold
• Click on the link to view the list and scroll down the screen
• Click the box next to the title that you want to cancel
• Click Cancel Selected, the Hold will be cancelled

To cancel all your holds click Cancel All.

You can compile a list of items you are interested in, then email the list to yourself.

• Click in the white box next to the title, then click Save Marked Records. Or click, Save to Book Cart
• To view the list click View Saved
• To Email the list to your account click Export Saved, and enter your email address
• Click Submitt

If you need an item which is not in stock in any of our libraries, and is not available via our electronic resources, you may request an Inter Library Loan.

We will do our best to obtain it for you either from the British Library or from another location through either the national or international inter-library loan network. All requests are currently charged at £2 and this charge is non-refundable.
This payment needs to be made when you request the item/s you want. If you request an item via the library catalogue the £2 charge will be added onto your Library account. You will need to ensure that your Library charges do not go over the £10 limit or this will prevent you from placing any more requests or borrowing books.

• All members of staff, researchers and postgraduates and Undergraduates can currently access the service.
• Inter Library Loan requests are only available for materials to support the teaching and learning needs of Edge Hill University Students and Staff.

Each individual is allocated a fixed number of Inter Library Loan requests for each academic year. The quotas are:

If your work is such that you need requests above and beyond your allocated quota, please contact a member of the ILL team.

You can ask for almost any sort of printed materials:

• Books
• Journal articles
• Conference proceedings
• Theses
• Reports
• Book chapters
• Whole issues of journals etc

Please check the library catalogue before you make an ILL request to ensure that the item you require is not available.

• If we do not have the item you need, please check the Copac website. If the item is not listed on this web-site, it is unlikely we will be able to obtain the item through the Inter- Library Loan Service.
• Please don’t request items already in stock at Edge Hill University, as this slows down genuine requests.

If the book you require is part of the Library Catalogue, but is already out on loan to another reader, please request the book using 'My Account'.

• Edge Hill University charges £2 for each request.
• If you are a member of staff or a Researcher – you can re-charge this amount back to your Department. Each Department sets their own limits for their staff for each year. This information is available on request.
• Each ILL costs the library an average of £10+, so please think carefully before you make a request.
• Please ensure you have checked the Library Catalogue to ensure we do not stock the item, and that you have checked Copac to see if it is obtainable from the British Library.

The supply of Theses from the British Library has changed.

• EThOS: Electronic Theses Online Service is a new service giving you access to UK doctoral theses. You now request all UK doctoral theses directly from the EThOS Service.
• The British Library in association with Higher Education institutions in the UK will provide online access to the full text of UK doctoral theses through EThOS.
• You can search for all the 250,000 UK theses currently listed in the British Library Catalogue and you can download any of the 12,000 full text theses that are already held in EThOS. More theses will be added in digital format to the EThOS database as they are received.

EThOS will replace the current British Theses Service; microfilms will no longer be available from the British Library.

EThOS is online at http://ethos.bl.uk
To read or download theses you must register with EThOS:

• You need to  register with EThOS yourself
• You need to search the database yourself
• If you need help, please contact the Inter Library Loan team (mailto:ills@edgehill.ac.uk)
• Before you can download a thesis you must accept the terms and conditions of use. They protect the rights of the author or other rights owners

If the doctoral thesis you want is held by EThOS you can download it immediately free of charge.

• If EThOS doesn't hold the thesis ready for immediate download, you can request it through the EThOS website. Whenever a thesis is requested EThOS will contact the higher education institution where the thesis is held to try to arrange for a free digital copy of the thesis to be made available for download through EThOS; it will keep you informed of the status of your request. When the thesis is made available EThOS will advise you by email.
• If a digitised version of a thesis can't be made available, EThOS will tell you. In that case you can then submit an inter-library loan request to us in the usual way and we will try to obtain the original copy of the thesis direct from the institution that holds it.
• As an optional service from EThOS, you can choose to order a printed copy of the thesis you want or a copy on CD/DVD. EThOS makes a charge for this service which you have to pay yourself.Payment can be made by credit card on the EThOS website.

If you have any further questions about this new service - please email the ILL Team, who will be happy to answer your questions.

We recommend that you search for your titles/ articles before placing them via the Library Catalogue

How do I make an ILL request?

• Log in to http://library.edgehill.ac.uk/
• Click on My account
• Log in using your student number from your Unicard (this starts with either a 1 or 2)and your network password
• OR Log in using your library number and pin (for staff only)
• Click on the ILL button - on the bottom right hand side of the screen
• Select what type of request you wish to make - book, Journal, non UK thesis
• Enter book details and press submit

Your request will be checked by our ILL team and your request verified and sent off. Please wait for at least 7 days before enquiring into the status of any requests sent.

Trust staff will have to fill in a form as usual and hand into the LIRC help desk.

If you have any issues in relation to filling in the online form, then please contact the Inter Library Loans team on ills@edgehill.ac.uk or call 01695 584519.

How do I make a Journal request?

• Log in to http://library.edgehill.ac.uk/
  
• Check the Library Catalogue first, to see if we have the item in our stock, if we do not then choose 'My account'.
  
• Log in using your student number from your Unicard (this starts with either a 1 or 2) and your network password OR Log in using your library number and pin (for staff only)
  
• Choose ILL request.
• Choose Request a journal article
• Enter the details, choose a delivery method, and press submit.
• Your request will be checked by our ILL team and your request verified and sent off. Please wait for at least 7 days before enquiring into the status of any requests sent.

If you have any issues in relation to filling in the online form, then please contact the Inter Library Loans team on ills@edgehill.ac.uk or call 01695 584519.

How do I make a request if I don't have access to a Home PC?

Hard copies of request forms are available from the ILL team - please contact the ILL team and we can send you a copy via post or email.

• The Secure Electronic Delivery (SED) service is available to all users of the service.
• By choosing the SED option means that, where possible, documents will be delivered to you by email instead of through the post.
• Please note that in order to use this service; you must have Adobe Digital Editions on your computer. You will not be able to access articles sent to you unless you have this installed.
• SED requests will be available to you to view for 14 days following delivery, and may only be printed off once.
• The PDF file can only be opened on 1 computer – so please make sure that you open this on your home or office computer.

Please allow a minimum of two weeks. Most straightforward requests will arrive within this time, but others may take much longer. Unfortunately, we are not able to give any guarantees on arrival time as this is entirely dependent on how easy the item is to locate, and how quickly the lending location is able to respond. It is always best to allow plenty of time.

• Photocopied articles will be yours to keep, and, where possible, will be posted directly to the preferred delivery address you have stated.
• Staff and all students may choose to have documents delivered electronically (SED).
• When a loan item is available for collection, you will be notified straight away via your Edge Hill University e-mail account.
• All loanable items should be collected from the library you placed your request at. Most may be taken out, but a few libraries stipulate that items they lend must be kept inside the library building.
• If you have placed an inter library loan request, please make sure that you collect it. If you no longer require an item, please let us know.
• Sometimes an item will be recalled by the lending library before the original due date. Where this happens, we will inform you of the recall and a new due date. Please note that overdue charges will start to accrue if the item is not returned by this new date.

When you collect your loan, the date it is issued to is attached to the book. This is the day the book must be returned by. However everything is subject to immediate recall during this extension period. However, all photocopies are yours to keep.

We are now able to renew British Library items only for a charge of £4 per item. The item will be renewed for a further fortnight from the original due date only, after this the item must be returned. Please contact the Inter Library Loan team at ills@edgehill.ac.uk if you wish to use this service.

Books on loan from other Institutions are unable to be renewed.

• It is essential that we do not jeopardise future services by losing books which are lent to us, or returning them late.
• The British Library imposes a minimum charge of £135 for lost or seriously overdue items, and other lending locations will charge as they see fit.
• Any such charges will be passed on to you, the borrower.

Because ILL items do not belong to Edge Hill University, it is especially important that they are returned on time. Late returns may jeopardise our future use of any lending location.

All ILL’s should be returned at the help desks and not on the Self Return machines. Any items that are lost will result in you being fined for the replacement cost by the Original Lending Library.

• Overdue publications are charged at a rate of 50p per day on ILLs
• Any additional charges made by the lending libraries for lost or unreturned items will be passed directly to the user
• The British Library charges at least £135 for lost or very late items

Once you have returned an item you are able to place a second hold on that title. However you have to wait a month before you can submit your second request. Due to the nature of this material, you may have to wait longer if there is a heavy demand for these items from other users and other Libraries.