Services and Facilities
ICRGU Students and RGU Library
Information on the range of resources and services that ICRGU students can access at RGU Library
Students at the International College at RGU (ICRGU) can access RGU Library facilities and support services, including:
- Borrowing print books
- Study desks in the Library
- Accessing a PC and using RGU WiFi
- Attend workshops on referencing, or access the referencing templates
- Book appointments with our librarians and seek help
- In-library access to a range of databases and e-journal articles through the Walk-in User Service
Due to licensing terms, most online resources (e-books, online journals and databases) are only available to fully matriculated RGU students and staff. We understand that this restriction may cause difficulties for ICRGU students. To help, we provide access to a Walk-In User service where you can access e-journals and papers from a range of RGU subscribed databases. We have also collated information on alternative free sources of online information. More information is available in the relevant sections of this guide.
Whilst these free resources will not provide you with access to every online item in our RGU Library collections, they should give you a good range of academic quality information sources.
RGU Library Walk-in User Service
A selection of RGU Library's online resources are available on a dedicated PC on Level 5 of the Library. Full details are available on the Walk-in User Service page.
Can I access this PC?
Yes! ICRGU students don't have access to the full range of online resources but you can use some of them via this dedicated PC.
You will have to make a booking to use this PC, to avoid disappointment or long waiting times. Full details, including a link to the booking system, can be found on the Walk-in User Service page.
What can I do on this PC?
You can access databases containing e-journals and other online papers. Access is restricted to certain databases only and the Library website on this PC. You won't be able to browse the web, use your student drive (H), Office 365 or print. We recommend that you bring a USB drive if you want to save material and take it away with you
Can I access these resources from home?
No. The license covering these materials restricts usage to the Library only so we are unable to make these resources available remotely.
Resources Available
The resources are listed by school to show what's available in specific subject areas. There is also a Multidisciplinary collection listed at the top of the table. These resources contain journal articles and ebooks on a wide variety of subject areas and can be searched for almost any topic. For more information about each resource and the subject areas it covers take a look at the list on the Walk-in User Service page.
| Resource | Information |
|---|---|
| Multidisciplinary | These database cover a wide variety of subjects Brill Journals Collection; CAB Abstracts; Cambridge University Press Journals; EBSCO Host Ebook Collection; Emerald Journals; Oxford University Press Journals; SAGE Journals; Science Direct; Scopus; SpringerLink Journals; Springer Ebooks; Taylor & Francis Journals; Wiley Online Library |
| Aberdeen Business School | Business Source Complete Plus most of the Multidisciplinary collection |
| Gray's School of Art | A-N; Art & Architecture Source; Berg Fashion Library Plus others from Architecture and the Multidisciplinary collection |
| School of Computing, Engineering & Technology | ACM Digital Library Plus others from the Multidisciplinary collection |
| School of Health | Age Line; CINAHL Complete; Food Science Source; Health Professionals; Medline Plus others from Pharmacy and the Multidisciplinary collection |
| School of Law and Social Sciences | Age Line; Criminal Justice Abstracts; Edinburgh University Press Journals; ERIC; Family Studies Abstracts; HeinOnline; Library Literature & Information Science; Peace Research Abstracts; PsychArticles; Race Relations Abstracts; SOCIndex; Urban Studies Abstracts; Violence & Abuse Abstracts Plus others from Pharmacy, Health and the Multidisciplinary collection |
| School of Pharmacy, Applied Sciences & Public Health | American Chemical Society; CINAHL Complete; Food Science Source; Health Professionals; International Pharmaceutical Abstracts; Karger Journals Collection; Medline; Royal Society of Chemistry Journals; Springer Protocols; Web of Science Plus others from Health,and the Multidisciplinary collection |
| Scott Sutherland School of Architecture & Built Environment | Art & Architecture Source; Avery Index to Architecture Periodicals Plus others from Gray's School of Art and the Multidisciplinary collection |
Open Access E-resources
A large amount of academic publishing is available on the internet for free. While generally there are no restrictions, we recommend checking the individual websites for terms and conditions of usage. Remember, you must cite and reference any materials if you want to use them in your work.
Here are some free online resources to get you started. These resources are all multi-disciplinary, which means that they cover many different subject areas.
| Resource | Information |
|---|---|
| CORE | Core contains the world's largest collection of open access research papers with more than 207 million papers from around the world. |
| DOAJ | Directory of Open Access Journals. Holds over 7million articles in over 18,000 journals. There are more than 130 countries represented and over 80 languages. |
| DOAB | Directory of Open Access Books. Contains almost 60,000 freely available scholarly, peer reviewed open access books. |
| Google Scholar | Google Scholar searches across many scholarly disciplines and sources. Some of the search results are freely available to anyone. Look for [DOC], [PDF] or [HTML] on the list of results and select it. You can also look for 'All Versions' as there may be a free full-text version there. Some articles on Google Scholar are only available with usernames and passwords. |
Additionally, many publishers offer free access to materials via their databases. To find out whether this is the case, either check their website, or search for the database name followed by “open access” using your search engine of choice.
RGU also subscribes to databases that have open access search options. Here are two examples.
| Resource | Information |
|---|---|
| SpringerLink | Full-text journals in the sciences and social sciences. Use the search box to produce a list of results. Go to the list of filters and ensure that 'Include Preview-Only Content' is de-selected. |
| Wiley Online Library | Full-text journals and e-books covering life, health, physical and social sciences. Use the search box to produce a list of results. Go to the list of filters and find the 'Access Status' section. Ensure the results are filtered to show only 'Open Access' content. |
Public Libraries and National Library of Scotland
By registering with your Local Public Library or with the National Library of Scotland, you will gain access to their online resources!
National Library of Scotland
Anyone who lives in Scotland can register to join the National Library of Scotland. When registering you must declare that you are a student in Higher Education.
These are just a few of the online resources available through the NLS. Some are the same as RGU's walk-in service but you can't use those remotely. Using them through NLS means you could access these resources anywhere. Check the NLS website for full details.
| Resource | Information |
|---|---|
| American Chemical Society Journals | More than 40 research journals on chemicals and related sciences |
| Black Newspaper Collection | Material from nine USA newspapers chronicling African American culture, history, civil rights and everyday life. |
| Brill Journals Collection | Hundreds of journals covering the arts and humanities, health and life sciences, engineering and technology, science and the social sciences. |
| British Standards Online | Over 90,000 British, adopted European and international standards. |
| Cambridge Books Online | Over 2000 ebooks from Cambridge University Press. |
| Ebook Collections | A full-text ebook collection providing access to around 3500 titles. |
| JSTOR | A digital library or more than 6500 ebooks and 2600 scholarly journals covering many topics including humanities, social sciences and sciences. |
| SAGE Journals | Access to over 1000 journal titles across a range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, science, technology and medicine. |
| SAGE Research Methods | Resources to support students, academics and teachers and guide researchers through every step of the research process. |
| Science Direct Ebooks | A peer-reviewed scientific and technical database with titles covering life, health and physical sciences. |
| SpringerLink Journal and ebook collection | Thousands of journal titles and ebooks covering humanities, science, business, medicine, law, social science and engineering. |
| University Press Scholarship Online | Thousands of ebooks from Oxford University Press and many other university presses offering titles in the humanities, social science and business. |
| Web of Science | Online portal providing acess to the abstract and indexing databases of Web of Science Core Collection and Journal Citation Reports |
Aberdeen City Libraries
Anyone can register with Aberdeen City Libraries to access their online resources, including:
| Resource | Information |
|---|---|
| British Newspaper Archive | Millions of historical news content, including the Aberdeen Press & Journal and Evening Express. Accessible only from within Aberdeen City Libraries. |
| FT.com | Provides access to the latest & archive UK and international business, finance, economic and political news. Accessible only from within Aberdeen City Libraries. |
| Go Citizen for the UK Test | A study resource for candidates preparing for the Life in the UK or UK Citizenship tests. |
| Governance, Politics and Law | Information about governments and parliaments in the UK and across the world, laws, elections, voting and political parties. |
| Issues Online | Articles, infographics, videos and ebooks on social topics such as human rights, domestic violence, drugs and alcohol. |
| Kompass Easy Business | Contains information on over 6.5 million companies across 73 countries worldwide. |
| Oxford Art Online | Articles on a wide range of art subjects including history, styles and biographies |
| Oxford Research Encyclopedias | A large collection of regularly updated peer-reviewed essays on a wide range of topics relating to the arts, science and social sciences. |
| Press Reader | More than 7,000 publications from over 120 countries. Browse digital editions of newspapers and magazines in over 60 languages. |
| Road to IELTS | Includes study materials, videos, test questions and mock papers for those preparing for IELTS. |
| SCRAN | Over 500,000 images videos and sounds from museums, galleries and archives covering topics such as local history, architecture, fashion and more. |
| Statistical Information Online | Provides official local, Scottish, UK, EU and UN statistics as well as census information and NHS statistics. |
Referencing at RGU
RGU has a range of guides available to help students reference information sources. This includes:
RefWorks
Due to licensing terms and conditions we are unable to provide RefWorks access to ICRGU students. Once your ICRGU course is complete and you are a matriculated RGU student, you will have full access to RefWorks.
RefWorks is a bibliographic tool which helps students store and organise references. With RefWorks you can also create reference lists or bibliographies in formats such as RGU Harvard and RGU Vancouver, as well as formatting essays or dissertations to include in-text citations and reference lists. RefWorks is particularly useful for Masters students who may have a large amount of information sources in their research.
Free alternatives to RefWorks include Mendeley and Zotero. Anyone can sign up for a basic free account and use the software to manage references. Please note that RGU Library does not support students to use reference software other than RefWorks.
Contact us
If you have any questions then please get in touch. We can help with questions about any aspect of using RGU Library services.
- Email us at library@rgu.ac.uk
- Call us on 01224 263450
You can also pop in and see us on campus. You'll find our Welcome Desk at the Library entrance on Level 5 of the Sir Ian Wood Building.