Statistics and Arrangement

• The University Library has about 1.2 million printed volumes and 13 kilometres of archives in its main building and Modern Records Centre. There are also small research-only collections in the Biological Sciences and Mathematics Departments.
• The Library has over 25,000 registered users and employs around 150 (c.90 full time equivalent) staff, including 20 academic-related librarians.
• Over 22,500 items are accessioned each year, adding 1.1 km of stock (700 metres of printed materials, 400 of archives). Over 30,000 electronic journals are currently received and more than 56,000 electronic books.
• There are 5 floors.
  Floor 1, has general services. Each of the upper floors contains specific subject areas:
  Floor 2 Sciences, Floor 3 Arts, Floor 4 Education, Law, Statistics and Official Publications, and Floor 5 Social Sciences. The Short Loan Collection, a collection of heavy-use material, is on Floor 1.
• Special areas in the Library are two Silent Study Rooms, informal Group Study areas with open access PCs, Smart Boards and other interactive learning resources, the Wolfson Research Exchange, and the Wolfson postgraduate-only PC cluster. All floors have study seating.
• A controlled entry policy operates, with turnstiles triggered by the University/Library Card, in order to give priority for use of facilities to members of the University.
• In excess of 1 million people enter the Library each year, with around 6,000-8,000 coming through the turnstile during a typical term weekday.

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Organisational Structure

Structure chart  (Library contact list also available)

Customer support

The primary structure comprises: Academic Services, providing subject support, development and responsibility for the Grids and the Wolfson Research Exchange; Client Services providing, customer support, procurement of library materials and resources, circulation, collection development, resource delivery service; Digital Services, which includes digital infrastructure and learning technology support, data services and digital production, the Warwick Research Archive Project and the Modern Records Centre.

Extended Management Team

The Extended Management Team comprises the heads of each division and other senior managers from key Library services. The team advises the Librarian on matters relating to the strategic development, planning and management of the Library and its services.

In addition, working groups involving all levels of staff are formed as required to carry out projects.

Services and Facilities

For most of the year the Library is open 7 days a week (Monday to Sunday 8.30am-midnight), for 108.5 hours per week. This is increased to 24 hour opening during the exam period. To help Library users there are guides, plans and signs covering the whole building. Detailed guides are produced for Subject Floors, for specific subject areas and for specific groups of users such as part-time and international students. There are also guides to the Library Catalogue and individual databases. There is a Floor 1 Help Desk, which supports basic enquiries, Library Advisers are available throughout the Library dealing with and directing more advanced enquiries to a team of subject specialists.
There are photocopiers available at various points thoughout the Library.

The Wolfson Research Exchange A dedicated space for postgraduate researchers located on the 3rd floor extension of the main library, the Research Exchange offers a variety of space to enable researchers to work collaboratively, innovatively and individually. There are 3 bookable seminar rooms available for workshops, presentations, skills training, departmental inductions or other activities related to your research community.

The Learning Grid The Learning Grid is a development occupying a space of about 1350 square metres on 2 floors in University House, with capacity for approximately 300 students. It is managed by the Library and is open 24x7 only closing on Christmas Day.
The facility provides an exciting, innovative, integrated, flexible space that supports students by facilitating independent learning in new and changing ways. It, for instance, supports individual study, group problem-solving activities, team working and presentation work, including an emphasis on facilitating the development and delivery of student presentations and supporting students in the use of digital multi-media for their assignments.

The Learning Grid Leamington The Learning Grid Leamington is located in the Town Hall in Laemington Spa and is smaller alternative study space for students living in Leamington. There is a range of spaces for independent study, including some with computers and others for laptop use. There is also a bookable group study room. A proportion of the individual spaces can be booked online by Undergraduates and Taught Postgraduate students.

The Biomed Grid The Biomed Grid is a based on the Gibbet Hill Campus of the University of Warwick. It is a smaller facility than the central Learning Grid specifically tailored to the needs of Biological Sciences and Medical Students.

The Teaching Grid Opened in March 2008, the Teaching Grid service provides accessible, collaborative support for all staff involved in teaching or training practice at the University of Warwick. Working in collaboration with key university partners - the Learning Development Centre, e-lab, the Reinvention Centre, CAPITAL Centre, Teaching Quality Unit, skills services and Library subject specialists - the Teaching Grid furthers the University strategy to develop outstanding and innovative teaching at Warwick.

The Postgraduate Hub Opened in March 2011, the Postgraduate Hub provides a multipurpose dedicated area for all postgraduate students at Warwick. It is located outside of the Library in Senate House and there are a number of collaborative working areas (all bookable), meeting and social spaces, as well as a computer suite with its own printing facility. The space was created and developed as part of Warwick's continued investment in the postgraduate student experience.

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The Library’s web site provides information about collections, services and staff, as well as links to Webcat (the Library’s online catalogue), databases, full-text electronic journals and other information sources relevant to teaching and research at the University.

Webcat and other electronic resources can be accessed on all floors of the Library.

Our Internet-based databases and electronic journals are available to Warwick staff and students from off-campus through the Library Proxy Server and Athens authentication services.

We encourage enquiries by email to specific services and to individual Library staff.

Notifications of overdue books, reservations awaiting collection, etc., are sent by email - as well as in hard copy - to users with central email addresses.

The Library has a dedicated Training Room designed for user education classes. It is a fully networked high-specification IT training facility containing 16 student PCs directly linked to a tutor PC using Coursemaster equipment.

There are public IT workareas in the Library with 200 open access PCs in addition to its own dedicated CD-ROM PCs.

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Stock and Circulation

All members of the University may borrow material from the Library. Circulation services are available for much of the time the Library is open. Nearly 1 million books are issued/renewed each academic year.

To get books and periodicals back on the shelf and available for use as fast as possible the Library’s shelving teams work 7 days a week in shifts (from 7am to 9pm each weekday, with separate weekend timings). Apart from the busiest times material is generally shelved in less than 24 hours. Each year the equivalent of two thirds of the Library stock is reshelved.

Borrowing entitlements and loan periods depend on the status of the borrower and of the item being borrowed. They range from 15 books for 2 weeks for Undergraduates to 50 books for an academic session for Academic Staff.

Book categories: special statuses include Schools and Part-Time Loan (for Part-Time students only) collections. Books and articles - copyright-cleared - in heavy demand, such as those on reading lists, are kept in the Short Loan Collection. Where possible materials are digitised.

A special Short Loan service enables lecturer’s personal material or copyright-free material not in Library stock to be made available to students. Material is on short loan (overnight/weekend) and can be reserved for a particular day. Certain categories of material (e.g. reference works, most periodicals and official publications) cannot be borrowed.

Books on loan can be renewed if not reserved by another user. This can be done online via My Library Account, by email/telephone, using a self-issue machine or in person at the Helpdesk on Floor 1,

Any book on loan can be recalled. Recalls can be made in person via My Library Account or by completing a reservation form for Library staff to process. Books recalled online are recalled automatically and the borrower is given one week to return the item. When recalled books are returned the reserver is sent email notifications of availability. Over 60,000 reservations are made (including more than 7,000 Short Loan reservations) in an academic year.
Books on order for Library stock can also be reserved (order information is included in Webcat). Reserved on-order books are given priority for processing on arrival.

Material not in stock in the Library can be obtained by any member of the University through Document Supply. Students must obtain a tutor's authorisation before an application can be made. The Library makes around 10,000 Document Supply requests a year.

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Special Collections and Resources

The Ethnicity and Migration Collections are the combined collections of the Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations and the Institute of Race Relations. They are major research resources for the study of race and ethnicity, with both a UK and international focus. The Ethnicity and Migration Collections are located on the fifth floor of the Library.
Resources include:

1. UK pamphlets and grey material which includes evidence to government enquiries and community political material
2. a United States collection focusing on black history, civil rights and black power
3. an African collection focusing on colonial history and material from liberation movements
4. material on urban disturbances involving ethnic minority communities in the UK
5. historic journals such as Presence Africaine, Black Panther and Muhammad Speaks

The Official Publications section includes Stationery Office, other UK, and European official publications. The Library is a European Documentation Centre.

German Literature: the Library has the best university collection of post-1945 literature in the country. Over 2,500 authors are represented.

The Modern Records Centre is the country's leading repository for trade union, employers’ associations and political organisation archives. The MRC building also houses the BP/AMOCO company archive.
In addition to the MRC holdings, the Library has a major collection of British, overseas and international trade union and employers' association publications, as well as the publications of British political parties and pressure groups.

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Subject Support and Liaison

Academic Support Librarians and Academic Support Officers support teaching, learning and research throughout the University. Each Academic Support Librarian acts as a Library representative to a number of Departments. They liaise with all members of their Departments. In addition, to ensure consistency of approach most Departments assign a member of academic staff to be their formal Library representative. Each Faculty is represented on the Library Policy Committee, which advises on Library policy and finance.

Academic Support Librarians work closely with Departments and their Library Representatives, and attend Departmental and Faculty liaison groups/Staff-Student Liaison Committees. They disseminate information about the Library and receive news and feedback from Departments, ensuring the Library is aware of and able to responds to user needs.

As well as being responsible for collection development and specialist enquiry services in their areas, Academic Support Librarians provide user education programmes for all user groups, ranging from a general introduction to the Library for all new students to advanced training in the use of online databases and electronic journals. Introductory, follow-up and tailored sessions can be organised by Departments in liaison with individual Subject Librarians as appropriate.

Webcat and database introductory sessions are offered at lunchtimes during the first Term. These are open to all students and cover the basics of bibliographic searching techniques. Transferable skills are emphasised and students have the opportunity to carry out supervised hands-on searching.

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Collaboration

The Library is a member of Research Libraries UK (RLUK). Warwick researchers may use the libraries of all other RLUK institutions.

There are reciprocal borrowing arrangements for research students and staff with all West Midlands higher education institutions (the Access West Midlands scheme) as well as the University of Leicester and De Montfort University. In addition, taught postgraduates may use Coventry University Library for reference all year round.

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Responsiveness

The Library is committed to discovering and responding to the needs of its users through formal and informal avenues.

We are represented at Senate and Faculty Boards and attend Departmental meetings where invited.

Subject staff also attend Departmental Staff Student Liaison Committees. In addition, there is also a general Library/Student Liaison Committee to ensure particular groups (such as part-time students) have a voice.

Named Library staff have responsibility for Part-Time, 2+2, International and Foundation students. They attend inductions, liaison committees and other meetings.

Lastly, we have an electronic "You say, We say" in order to encourage spontaneous comments and queries from our users. Users can also search the You Say We Say database for other users' comment and our responses.

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