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Journals are a really useful source of information, but what are they and why should you use them?
At their most basic, they are academic magazines - full of articles by a range of people covering topics across a particular field of study or professional practice. These articles might report research, review the literature, consider best practice or present expert opinion. Journal articles are often the best place to find the most up-to-date information on a topic.
Most journals are accessed on-line, though we do have a few print journals in the library. You can find the details of journal articles through LibrarySearch (see below) or by using a database - see the databases page for more info on this.
LibrarySearch is a little bit like the University's equivalent to Google: it lets you search through lots of pieces of content at once and shows you anything that matches the key words you put in.
You can use LibrarySearch to:
Check out our LibrarySearch demonstration video to get started!
Great question - we wish they were!
In the library, we will always try to buy an electronic copy of a book if there is one available. However, lots of publishers choose not to make e-versions of their texts.
Unfortunately, they tend to make more money from libraries buying lots and lots of paper copies.
No, unfortunately not.
The download option is only available on some books, and gives you temporary offline access to a book. After a certain amount of time (usually 24 hours), the book will no longer open on your laptop or device, and you will need to go back to the page and download it again.
You can, however, download some chapters of the book without infringing copyright law, so these documents won't disappear from your computer. This is a limited service, so make sure you download the most important chapters!
Sometimes, we have a limited number of licenses for an e-book. This might mean that only 1 person can be looking at it at any point in time.
If this happens, wait 30 minutes and then try to access the book again. If this happens regularly, please contact your librarian and we will look into buying more licenses.
Yes! You'll find this on LibrarySearch.
Greenwich staff/students: Click the 'Publication Finder' link under the search button on the LibrarySearch results page (top right hand corner), then use the subject categories or start typing the name of a journal to see if we have access to it.
Kent staff/students: Click the 'Find e-journals' link under the search button on the LibrarySearch results page (top right hand corner), then use the subject categories, A-Z list or start typing the name of a journal to see if we have access to it.
CCCU staff/students: On the LibrarySearch home page, click the 'Find e-journals by title' link on the left hand navigation menu, then use the subject categories, A-Z list or start typing the name of a journal to see if we have access to it.
We buy packages of access from the publishers, and sometimes they choose to embargo their most recent content (e.g. the last 1, 3 or 5 years).
If you need to access an article outside of the date range available, try using the Document Delivery service.
Now that we have automatic renewals in place, it's really important you reserve any books you need that are out on loan. This will recall them from the person that has them and reserve them for you.
To do this, click the 'Place Reservation' button next to the item in LibrarySearch and select the campus you want to pick it up from.
Yes! You can access any of the items located at your university's other site libraries. Simply find them in LibrarySearch and then click 'Place Reservation' and select the campus you want the book to be delivered to.
Typically, this process will take 24-48 hours and you'll be emailed when the book is ready to collect.
You cannot reserve items that are available 'on the shelf' at your 'home' library. This means that Medway-based students cannot reserve books in the Drill Hall unless all the copies are out on loan.
Remember, LibrarySearch will only show results for items to which we have full text access. You might want to try searching a database specific to your subject area, or you could ask your librarian for advice.
Please email the details of your search and, if possible, a screen shot of the error message to your subject librarian. We will report the error and try to find the article you need via a different source.
Your university credentials will always be sufficient to get you access to the journals and databases that your university has subscribed to.
If you are having trouble opening an article (particularly when you are off campus), please watch the 'Having problems logging into a database?' video on the 'Using Databases' tab.
Yes! Once you are logged into LibrarySearch, click the 'My account' button on the navigation bar (top right hand corner). Click the 'Checkouts' tab to see which books you currently have borrowed from the library. You can also see your 'Checkout History' here.
Yes - go to your 'Checkouts' list and use the check boxes on the left hand side next to each item to select the books you want to renew.
Don't forget to click the 'renew' button at the bottom of the list before you close the page!
That depends which institution you are studying with.
Greenwich staff/students: You can't currently pay your fines online. If paying by card, you can use the self-issue machines in the Drill Hall Library. Otherwise, please visit the Help Desk.
Kent staff/students: You can pay your fines through LibrarySearch. Login to your account, click the 'Fines' tab and then click 'Pay online'. You can also use the library machines and ask at the Help Desk if it suits you better.
CCCU staff/students: You can pay your fines through the online payment system here.