Placement students
Contacting Us
The Library Help Desk acts as the first point of contact for many enquiries, or you can ask a question online (you will need to login to the intranet using your Brunel network username and password first).
Subject Liaison Librarians are available to give you help and advice remotely by e-mail, as well as face-to-face.
Before You Go On Placement
We can give you help and advice by phone or by e-mail once you have started your placement, but save yourself time and make sure that you have assessed your library and information needs before you go on placement. You can access our e-resources while you are away, just use your Brunel Network username and password and remember to use the Library website's links to access our subscriptions, eg: databases, e-books (search for these on the catalogue), e-journals, and Summon.
If you intend to visit another university with your laptop while you are away you may wish to register for the EduRoam service. See the Connect portal for more details. We recommend that you should always use the links to e-resources from these Library web pages. Should you have any difficulty connecting to any of the subscribed e-resources, however, you may find the Computer Centre's AnyConnect VPN Universal application useful. See the Connect portal and select the relevant service package for more details.
Book fetching service
You may submit requests for books to be collected from the shelves for you. Requests received before 12.00 (midday) will be available from 12.00 the following day, excluding weekends. We can fetch and hold up to six items at one time, but please ensure that you are able to collect all requested items in one visit. Satisfying these requests depends on the availability of the book(s) in the Library at that time.
Requested books can only be collected from the Help Desk during core hours.
Request this service online (you will need to login using your Brunel network username and password)
Telephone +44 (0) 1895 266141
Visit the Help Desk in person
SCONUL Access
If you are a student on thin sandwich, thick sandwich, teaching practice or any other type of work placement which lasts ten weeks or more, you are eligible to join the SCONUL Access scheme. This means that you will be able to join certain other university libraries and borrow some types of material from them.
This scheme has been established to help students just like you. To take advantage of it, you must apply to the Library at Brunel before going to your chosen library. You will need to take your SCONUL Access card with you every time you visit another library. You will find further details under Using other libraries.
Electronic resources
You can access many of the Library's services without coming into the University, such as the Summon search engine, the Library catalogue, databases and electronic journal collections, which offer the full text of some journals on the screen. Most of these services are accessible via the Library website.
You may need to use these for literature searches and research. If you are unfamiliar with these resources, it would be a good idea to visit the Library before you go on placement.
Accessing electronic databases
All our databases can be accessed from the Library subject pages. Most but not all e-resources can be accessed from outside the Brunel network, using Brunel's institutional login to validate your connection when you log in to the e-Library via the Library website. For further information on this check using the e-Library.
Some e-resources may need a separate username and password. These are also indicated where necessary on various Library website pages and the e-journals gateway. See also: Before you go on placement, above, about the EduRoam and VPN, offered via the Computer Centre's Connect portal.
Web Resources
Resources found online can be ideal for those not able to come onto campus. There are many guides and gateways available, depending on your topic of study. Some main sites are:
- Brunel Library's own pages
- Intute [formerly: The Resource Discovery Network]
- Virtual Training Suites
- BUBL
- Pinakes Subject Launchpad
Using the Library remotely
You do not have to come into the Library or be on campus to use all our services:
- Use the Library catalogue to check what's in stock and to place holds on items you require.
- Avoid building up fines and keep track of your own Library record by using the catalogue to renew items that you have on loan.
- If you are not able to renew items yourself, then just ring the renewals number, or contact us by e-mail or post, quoting your ID Card number or the barcode number underneath the date label in the book.
- You can return Library books by post (unfortunately we are unable to send items out to you).
- Library fines can be cleared by posting a cheque to us, payable to Brunel University.
- We can supply journal articles not held by the Library through our inter-library loan service. If the article is supplied by the British Library then a photocopy version will be sent directly to you; you will not need to come to the Library to pick it up.
- Material can be returned even when the Library is shut: just use the book drop outside the Library.
Using Other Libraries
See our page for Distance Learners. Also consult the page about finding materials at other Libraries. These cover public, national, and institutional libraries in addition to using other academic libraries that are not included in the SCONUL Access scheme.
Please contact the Enquiry Points for more help or see our Subject gateway and look under Web resources
