Library Information for School Pupils

These short videos will help you navigate around Library Search for the best searching results.

You can search directly from the search box on the front of the Library website.

• Enter some keywords or concepts related to your topic, as you would in a Google search. For example: electricity renewable energy Nigeria
• Think of synonyms and alternatives. For example: offshore installation or offshore platform
• Use quotation marks to search for common terms or phrases. For example: "international energy", then you will avoid results where the words are not together.
• Add an asterisk * at the end of a word to search for different variations of the word. For example: disclos* will give you hits for disclose, discloses, disclosure, disclosures, disclosing
• Go to 'View Online' to read full text online items
• 'Available in the Library' normally means the book is only available as a print copy
• Pin items to save to my favourites.  If you sign-in, pins will be saved.

What is a classmark? As you walk round a Library you will notice that books on the same subject are all in roughly the same area of the Library. This is because every book carries a label on the spine indicating where on the shelves it will be filed. The label usually contains a three-figure number followed by a decimal point, with numbers and letters following this decimal point.  These numbers aren't random - they correspond with specific subjects. The Library uses a list of numbers to create a classmark. 

When you find the item via Library Search, availability is shown, as is the location and the loan period.