Books and Journals

As an RGU student, you can access our vast collection of materials, both physical and online. This is curated and maintained by the Library and your lecturers. It covers all subjects taught at RGU, so you're sure to find materials relevant to your course!

The Library should always be the starting point in your academic research.

Not just paper copies!

We are always looking at ways of increasing the accessibility to our materials and a lot of our resources are available online through our subscriptions.

In fact, whenever we acquire a new resource, we aim to prioritise purchasing the electronic version over paper.

Finding Stuff

Searching the Library Collections

The first place to go is LibrarySearch!

Remember to sign in to your Library Account, as it will allow a more complete list of results.

Using the friendly interface, you can look specifically for electronic resources. It's easy to access them instantly by following the links and signing in with your RGU username and password.

You can still borrow items even if we only have it on paper! We can send them to you by post. More information can be found at books by post.

Using Databases

Your lecturers may refer you to databases to conduct research and find suitable sources for assignments. Databases are just online tools which allow you to search and access academic journals on a variety of topics.

We subscribe to over 200 databases covering all of our courses. Here are a few of them, you will find a full list of suitable databases on our subject databases pages.

Related Links

Books by Post

Whilst many items in the library collections are available online, there may be times when you need to borrow an actual book from the library. Your Reading List should indicate whether the item is online or a print version and the link within the Readign List will take you directly to the item page within Library Search. As an online learner, you can easily request these hardcopy books to be sent to you by recorded delivery! You can borrow up to 15 books at a time and hanks to automatic renewals, you don't normally have to worry about due dates. All library stock is loaned subject to recall though, even postal loans, so do keep an eye on your RGU email just in case a book is recalled. The recall email will tell you the date that the book must be returned by. may keep the

The process is very easy, full details can be found at our books by post help page.

The time in which the books will reach you depends on where you are, and whether the book is on our shelves ready to go, or we need to recall it from someone else.

The postal loan service sometimes experiences high demand and whilst we will deal with all requests as quickly as possible we can't guarantee a timescale.

Article & Chapter Requests

Are you interested in a book chapter or a particular article which is only available on paper? You don't need to wait for the book to be posted to you, we can scan it and send it via email!

You can quickly submit a request through LibrarySearch. Just fill in the quick form and read the terms and conditions carefully. Once your request is processed, it will be scanned and sent to you.

The Article & Chapter request service is in high demand so please submit your requests in plenty of time. Whilst we will deal with requests as quickly as possible, we can't guarantee a timescale.

SCONUL Access

If you don't live in Aberdeen but would like to study in the quiet environment of a University Library, then most online learners can join the SCONUL scheme. SCONUL Access is a reciprocal scheme which allows many university library users to access study space and borrow or use books and journals at other libraries which belong to the scheme. The scheme covers most of the university libraries in the UK and Ireland.

For full information, see our SCONUL Scheme page.

Inter-Library Loans

The Inter-Library Loan (ILL) service can try to source items for you if they are not available from our own print or electronic collections.

For more information on this service see the inter-library loans page.

We cannot guarantee a timescale for fulfilment of inter-libary loan requests as we are dependent on other libraries supplying these items. Some requests will be completed very quickly whereas others may take some time. There may also be occasions when we are unable to supply an item due to availability or copyright issues. If this happens then we'll get in touch to let you know.

Referencing at RGU

Referencing is a critical aspect of writing any assignment and you will be asked to correctly reference all the sources and materials used in your work.

RGU Library provides support and guidance for Harvard, Vancouver, APA and Oscola styles. The style you will use depends on your course requirements, but Harvard is the most used style at RGU.

We know it can be scary at first, especially if you haven't done it before, but don't worry! We are here to help with referencing and have developed detailed guides which include lots of guidance and templates for some of the most common media types. Full information can be found on the Referencing and RefWorks pages.

How The Library Can Help You

Online Support

The main method of getting in touch with us is via email but we can also offer support via telephone or an out-of hours chat service. See below for our contact details.

Library Opening Hours