Library doesn’t have a book that you want? Did you know as a student at the University you can request the Library buys books for its collections via the RAB (Request A Book) Service?
Last academic year, 2013/14, the Library purchased 940 books in response to RAB requests. 134 books were ordered directly from requests from students in Social & Political Science, this made approximately 12% of the total requests from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
You can see a full list of all 940 titles bought by the Library through this service on the Request a book purchase for the Library.
So if you come across a book you require for your studies or think there is a book that would be useful for your subject area in general that the Library does not have then do submit a request:
Please note it normally takes more than 3 weeks to purchase and make print books available in the Library collection. Where possible the Library will buy an e-book version instead of print as this can be made available for access much quicker than buying a print book.
Remember that it is also possible to borrow books the Library does not have from other libraries via the Inter-Library Loans (ILL) service. This can be a quicker way of getting hold of a book than submitting a request for the Library to buy it. The ILL service can also try to get hold of other items for you from other libraries, including journal articles, reports, conference proceedings, etc.
Find out more on the ILL webpages.
Check the Library Catalogue or Searcher to see if the Library has the book you require.
Contact your Academic Support Librarian if you require more assistance or advice.
If you are in the School of Social and Political Science (SPS) please do contact Christine and I at SPS.Librarian@ed.ac.uk if you have any queries on these services or just need a little help using the Library.
Caroline Stirling – Academic Support Librarian for Social and Political Science