If you discover a book that is not available in the Library, and would be useful for your assignment, dissertation or research, ask the Library to purchase it. We rely on our students and staff to help build up diverse and relevant collections across the social sciences, so please put the details of the book on the book suggestion form 

The majority of books are now available in ebook format and can usually be acquired quite quickly. Books can also be purchased in print format if you prefer.

To find books (including Easy Readers and audiobooks), e-books, language learning packs and DVDs/Blu-Rays in the library, you'll need to use Library Search. Library Search enables you to search the library catalogue and also other resources - you can search by keyword (topic), author or title.

The library search does include the contents (i.e. chapter details) of some books, but not all. Google Books or Amazon Book Search can be helpful in finding out the contents details of specific books.

Browsing the library shelves is a really good way of finding relevant material, as books on similar topics are shelved together. Modern languages books are shelved on floor 5, with reading list books on floor 1 (Student Collection), but you may be interested in other subject areas too. A summary of the classification is given below:

Floor  Classmark           Subject

2         B-BX   Philosophy, Psychology, Religion
2-3      D-F      History
                          DC France; DD Germany; DG Italy; DP Spain/Portugal; F Latin America
3-4      H-HV   Social sciences. Sociology (HN – by country)
4         J-JX     Politics
                          JL Latin America; JN European politics
5         L          Education
5         N          Art
5         P-PT    Languages & Literatures
              P          Linguistics
              PC       French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese language
              PF       German language; PT  German literature
              PN       Film studies
              PQ       French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese & L. American literature

Easy Readers are available in German, Italian and Spanish. They come in basic, intermediate and advanced language levels, and some are accompanied by an audio CD. They are shelved on floor 5, and you can borrow them for 12 weeks as long as they are not required by another reader.

To find them in the library catalogue just type in the language and easy reader as keywords, e.g. "german easy reader", or consult the lists below:

German Easy Readers
Italian Easy Readers
Spanish Easy Readers

The library has a collection of self-study language learning packs which you can borrow.

These are kept at the Helpdesk on the ground floor, so you'll need to ask a member of the team there if you want to borrow one. The packs usually contain a book and one or more audio CDs, and you can find them using Library Search - just search for the name of the language you're studying and add the keywords "language pack" (and limit to "held by library"), e.g. spanish "language pack". Lists of language packs for some major languages are provided below:

Arabic Language Packs
Chinese Language Packs
French Language Packs
German Language Packs
Italian Language Packs
Japanese Language Packs
Portuguese Language Packs
Russian Language Packs
Spanish Language Packs