We love to hear from everyone who makes use of the library to help us find ways to improve. Throughout the year we provide you the opportunity to feedback to us. You may have taken part in some of our feedback activities last year. You may have written us a letter on Valentine’s Day, attended a Shape Our Library event or visited our weeklong “Write our next chapter” stand in April.

Early next year students will get a chance to feedback to the University in the NSS, PTES and PRES student surveys. That feedback is really important to us and it drives real change, so if you get a chance to feedback through one of those surveys, please make sure you do.

You can also provide feedback about the library at any time via our feedback form.

In this first part of a three-part series, we’re looking at the feedback we’ve received about library resources and how easy they are to access. That includes the books, e-books, journal articles and online resources you make daily use of in your studies, research or teaching.

Improving LibrarySearch

“Library search is a bit clunky to use.” – Write Our Next Chapter – April 2024

“Make it easier to find books, the system is confusing” – Shape our library – March 2024

Many of you told us about problems you were having discovering new resources using LibrarySearch. Many felt the layout, with two sets of filter options overly complex. Whilst observing students using LibrarySearch we saw some users using filters that ended up excluding what they were looking for and actively making things harder.

We worked with students to look at how LibrarySearch could function better and launched a new look during the summer. There is now only one list of filters when you search and two tabs for you to move between depending on whether you’re interested in print or digital resources.

Find out more about the changes to LibrarySearch

Increasing your 7-day loan allocation

A few of our Arts course students asked us to increase the number of 7-day loans they could take out, as a lot of media items such as video games, DVDs, CDs etc were all 7-day loans. We have raised the limit of the number of 7-day loans you can borrow from six to ten.

Extending our eBook collections

We purchased a range of new eBook packages to address collection gaps highlighted by the National Student Survey (NSS) particularly in Engineering and Business. All these eBooks are discoverable through LibrarySearch. The purchased packages include:

• IET (Institute of Engineering and Technology) Ultimate eBook collection: Provides access to an additional 937 eBooks on engineering and computing from 1979 to the present day.,
• Packt Publishing eBook collections – We’ve added over 650 programming eBooks from Packt Publishing. Titles in LibrarySearch.  
• IEEE Manning eBook complete – An additional 442 programming and computing eBooks published by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) or their publishing partners.
• Business Expert Press eBook collections – We’ve bought multiple collections from Business Expert Press
  •  2024 Digital Library (85 titles),
  • 2023 Digital Library (85 titles),
  • 2022 Digital Library (85 titles),
  • 2010-2021 Digital Archive (1,090 titles)

A total of 1,345 eBooks on topics covered in MBA courses designed to quickly improve your understanding of business topics. 

Additional eBook access

Two more expanded collections:

• Cambridge University Press EBA extended for another six months including Cambridge Histories Online and Cambridge Companions Online 
• Oxford Very Short Introduction series contains over 800 short introductions to a wide range of subjects, ideas and theories. 

Adding eBooks that you’ve suggested

Last year we added over 200 e-books suggested by CCCU students through the Suggest an e-book button on LibrarySearch. If you think we’re missing an e-book let us know by clicking on the button and filling in the form.

Increased journal coverage

The range of academic journals that we have access to has been extended to include the following major publishers: 

• Springer Read and Publish agreement – read access to 2,363 journal titles 
• Oxford University Press (OUP) Read and Publish agreement: now have access to 502 OUP journals  
• Nature – new subscription to Nature journal includes access back to articles from 2020 
• New subscription to Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery,
• New subscription to Journal of Criminal Psychology  

Enhanced anatomy resources 

Visible Body has been upgraded to a new platform with improved functionality and content.

You can access Visible Body through Find Databases on LibrarySearch.

Newspaper archives expanded

Through Gale Accelerate Historic Newspapers we have purchased in perpetuity archives of: 

• British Library Newspapers: Part VI: Ireland, 1783-1950.  
• The Independent Historical Archive, 1986-2016.  
• The Telegraph Historical Archive, 1855-2016.  

Until June 2025 we will also have access to:  

• The Daily Mail Historical Archive, 1896-2016.  
• The Economist Historical Archive, 1843-2020.  
• The Financial Times Historical Archive, 1888-2021; The Mirror Historical Archive, 1903-2000.  
• Punch Historical Archive, 1841-1992.  
• The International Herald Tribune Historical Archive, 1887-2013.  
• The Mail on Sunday Historical Archive, 1982-2011.  
• Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals Part II: Empire.   

A selection of the most popular archives will be purchased in June 2025 based on your usage and what best benefits teaching and research at the University.

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We hope you’ve enjoyed this look at the new resources and improvements to help you discover them. Academic Development Week is the perfect opportunity to explore more of what the physical and digital library have to offer. Perhaps you’ve found something new to explore? Come back next week when we’ll be taking a look at the improvements made to the support we provide.