Library - FAQ

Go to the library catalogue (Library Search)

Search under the Bangor University Library Collections scope and type the module title or module code (make sure you include the hyphen)

Click on the Online Access link and from the next screen, Click on the Official URL.  You will be prompted to enter your Bangor University username and password before you can download the paper

Our standard loan periods are:

You can search for past Bangor University Masters and PhD dissertations using Library Search. Search under the Bangor University Library Collections scope, type in a keyword (e.g. Psychology, Banking or Biochemistry etc.) and then limit your search by ticking the Theses box under Resource Type from the Refine my Results menu on the right, and then clicking Apply Filters.

Make a note of the number and take it along with the author and title details to the customer services desk.  Our staff will then retrieve the thesis for you from a locked room.  Please note all theses are for use in the library only.

A number of Bangor University PhD Theses that have been uploaded to the University's Digital Repository are available to access electronically through Library Search, the library catalogue.

If you want to consult a UK doctoral research thesis from another University, you can search the British Library’s Ethos (Electronic Thesis Online Service) webpage which gives you access to abstracts of over 300,000 UK doctoral theses including full text access to almost 100,000.

If a book is available in the Library, you cannot make a request for it, you will have to retrieve the item yourself from the Library shelf.

If a book is out on loan, you can recall a copy by following the procedure in this link. 

Book Collection Service for students requiring additional support

If a need for the Book Collection Service is listed on your PLSP (Personal Learning Support Plan), you may request that desk staff collect your books from the shelves and bring them to a library customer services desk. You will need to email the library at library@bangor.ac.uk with the book details before 4p.m., and they will be ready for collection by 10a.m. the following day.

Yes, you can copy extracts from most books, journals, conference proceedings and law reports as long as there is only a single copy for your own private individual use, and it is within the defined extent limits.

• Up to 10% or ONE chapter of a book
• Up to 10% or ONE article from a single issue of a journal
• Up to 10% or ONE report/case from judicial proceedings
• Up to 10% or ONE paper from a set of conference proceedings
• Up to 10% of an anthology or ONE short story/poem of no more than 10 pages

Please consult our Copyright FAQs for further information.

If the Library does not have the item you require, and it is deemed essential to your research or study (note the service is subsidised by the Library and Archives Service) we will try to obtain it as an inter-library loan for you. You can make your request through the following process:

From the library catalogue Library Search click on the Sign In link in the top right hand corner of the page.

            Process 1. To request Journal and Newspaper Articles and Conference Proceedings

First ensure that you are searching under the Everything scope and type your article title in to the search box. Click the tick box for Also show results without Full Text access under the Refine my Results limiter on the right hand of the screen as highlighted below

If the Library does not have access to your item, you will find a No Full Text link beneath the title, click on that link and it will reveal another link to request a copy through Inter-library Loan

Clicking this link will open up an auto-filled request form. Please ensure that the article details are correct.  Select which library you would like to collect the article from (most articles are supplied electronically but we occasionally receive physical copies)

Finally, at the bottom of the form you will find a copyright declaration statement that you will need to have read and agreed to by ticking the box. Submit your request by clicking the Request button

         Process 2.  To request Books and Theses

Ensure that you are searching under the Bangor University Library Collections scope and type in your book title in full. Please make sure that all the words are spelt correctly.  It also helps to place Inverted Commas "" around the title.  If you are searching for a generic title (e.g. "Financial accounting"), it would also help to add the author's name.

If the library does not hold a copy of your book, you will see an option to Request Via Inter-library Loan / More Books.  This will open a request form for you to input your book details. Please select the Book tab and type in all the information you have about the book including Title, Author, Year of Publication and ISBN and the click Submit

You can check to see that your request has been succesful by clicking on My Library Account and selecting the Requests tab.

        Process 3.  If you are unable to locate your requested material in the library catalogue

If you fail to locate and request your item through the methods above, you can contact us to submit your request at ill@bangor.ac.uk

Once you have found your item listed on Library Search, you need to note which library stocks the item (Main, Deiniol, Normal, Welsh, Maelor etc.).  The location should tell you which library stocks the item and in which section within that library it will be located (pamphlet, large book, journal etc.).

The books are kept in Library of Congress classification order. The call numbers begin with a letter and run alphabetically with each broad subject grouping allocated its own letter.  The letter and number that follow the first letter narrow down the subject. 

Please see this video that explains how to find items in the library.

Please click here for details

You can have your dissertation bound at the University Bindery which is located on the Normal Site on Holyhead Road.  Click here for further details. 

You can:

• Search the Catalogue (Live Search)
• Use ‘Library Chat’ to ask a reference question online

These are commands which allow you to combine search terms to broaden or limit your search. The terms supported in this catalogue include AND, OR, NOT and NEAR.

• AND combines two or more keywords, limiting your search, for example:
  Peacocks AND Paradise will produce results containing both these search terms, e.g. Peacocks in Paradise.
• OR will produce results with either search term in the title, broadening your search, for example:
  Peacocks OR Paradise will produce results including Peacocks in Paradise and Paradise Lost.
• NOT will exclude a term from your search, making your search more specific, for example:
  Milton, John NOT Paradise Lost will produce a list of works by Milton not including Paradise Lost.
• NEAR will produce results where your search terms are within five words of each other, for example:
  History NEAR Britain will produce a list of results including Geoffrey of Monmouth, The History of the Kings of Britain

Your Academic Support Librarian would be able to help you with any aspect of your search strategy.  Please email or telephone us to ask for assistance

The Research Reserve is the Library’s offsite storage facility where lesser used resources are housed. If you find an item on the library catalogue (Library Search) that is located in the Research Reserve, it is possible for you to request that item and it should be delivered to the branch library of your choice within three days. There are separate methods for requesting Books and Journals.  

1. The procedure for requesting a book:

First of all, to enable all features of Library Search (the library catalogue) you will need to sign in by clicking on the Sign in link in the top right hand corner of the page and entering your University assigned username and password.

When you find a book listed as being available at the Research Reserve, to request the book, you will need to click on the Available at..... link.

This should reveal a Request Options button. Click on the button and a request form will appear.

You must specify which Library you would like the item delivered to, then simply click Request.

   2. The procedure for requesting a journal:

First of all, to enable all features of Library Search (the library catalogue) you will need to sign in by clicking on the Sign in link in the top right hand corner of the page and entering your University assigned username and password.

When you find a journal listed as being available at the Research Reserve, you will find a Request button alongside the list of available volumes.  In the example below, to request Volume 183, you need to Click the adjacent Request button.

The following request form will appear confirming which volume you are requesting.  You will need to specify which Library you would like the item delivered to, then simply click Request.

The item will then be collected for you and delivered to your selected library within 3 days.

Students can register with the Sconul Access scheme which can give you access to participating University Libraries throughout the UK.  Staff and Postgraduates are generally offered borrowing privileges at participating libraries whilst undergraduates are largely restricted to reference use only. 

Bangor University also participates in the Linc-y-Gogledd scheme which is a reciprocal borrowing scheme between Public Libraries and Further and Higher Education Institution Libraries across the whole of North Wales where you can request items to be delivered to your own Library from participating Libraries.

Bangor University students can also make use of Glyndwr University Library in Wrexham to borrow and return items in person.  To borrow in person at Glyndwr, you will need to print out a Linc-y-Gogledd application form, have it filled in, stamped and verified by your home library.  You then need to present the form at Glyndwr Library, along with your Bangor University student card, where you will be issued with a borrower card that will allow you to borrow 2 items for 2 weeks at a time.

Click here for further details 

To cope with the heavy demand for particularly popular books, a Short Loan Collection is available in each of the University branch libraries. 

The Short Loan collection consists of books that are set as essential reading by teaching staff for their modules. As these items are in heavy demand they have a shorter loan period than ordinary items. 

All short loan items are listed on the library catalogue as having “1 Day or 3 Day Short Loan" as their location and can be found on the regular library shelves in all branch libraries other than Deiniol, where they are held in the Short Loan room. Please ask for assistance if you are unable to find these.

Please note: Short Loan items do not automatically renew and incur heavy fees for late return.

Periods and penalties

Short Loan Period               Penalty
24 hour loan                         £2.00 per hour for first two hrs and then 50p for a part of any hour thereafter
3 day loan                            50p per day

If you have lost an item from the Library, we will expect you to pay a fee to cover the cost of purchasing a new copy plus a fee to cover the processing cost.  It is not acceptable for you to provide your own replacement copy.  Please report any lost books to the customer services desk and the staff will process a bill for you which will be added to your library account.

Bangor University Library operates an open door policy and welcomes members of public to use the library during regular opening times (9am – 9pm Monday to Friday and 12pm – 5pm at weekends).

Should members of the public wish to borrow from our collections, they can do this free of charge by joining through the Linc-y-Gogledd scheme.

Graduates of Bangor University can request library access by emailing the Alumni Office.

If you are a registered student or member of staff at another participating University, including the Open University, you may also join through the Sconul Access scheme.

Nurses, midwives and radiographers employed by the NHS in North Wales can also apply for membership by producing a pay slip or contract to confirm their employment at a Customer Service Desk.

Anyone not included in the above categories can join as an external borrower upon payment of a security deposit and annual subscription. Contact the Customer Services Manager for further details.

All of the External Borrower categories above are entitled to borrow up to 6 items for 2 weeks and can make use of our self-service photocopying facilities.  Access to our computers and most electronic resources however, is restricted.

External Borrowers are also entitled to access some of our Electronic Resources through our Walk-in Access service, although certain restrictions do apply.  Please click here for further information about Walk-in Access.

Your search can be carefully tailored, using Boolean commands.

Wildcards stand in for missing characters. They are useful if you want to search for variant spellings.

• Use ? when you want to specify the number of missing characters; use as many ?s as there are missing characters, for example: colo?r will find colour and color but not collector.
• Use * to represent an unspecified number of missing characters, for example: colo*r will find colour, color, collector etc.
• You can use truncation at the beginning and end of words, for example: librar* will find library, librarian etc. librar? will only find library. *arm will find farm, harm, charm etc.

Your Academic Support Librarian would be able to help you with any aspect of your search strategy.  Please email or telephone us to ask for assistance.

Go to the Library Catalogue Library Search and click on the 'Sign In' button in the top right hand corner

Click on your name in the top right hand corner and then click on 'My Library Account'

You will then see an overview of your current loans, requests and fees.  If you have outstanding charges to pay, you can pay online by clicking the 'Pay your fines online' link. You can see in the example below that there is an outstanding charge of £9.55 to pay

The Payment Summary window gives you the opportunity to confirm the amount you are about to pay

The final step is to fill out the payment form