Martin O'Connor
The latest newsletter from UCC Library is now available. Please click through for information about Library opening hours, new services and staff, Special Collections, Workshops, as well as some tips for getting the best out of UCC library.
UCC Library continues to operate the longest opening hours of any academic library in the country, with the Boole Library open from 7:30am – 1:30am seven days a week. As part of UCC Library’s on-going commitment to UCC’s Green Campus initiative and our responsible use of energy consumption within library buildings, we have made a small change to Reading Room access over the weekends. This change is introduced as a pilot project to explore the impact on energy costs.
As of Friday 15th October, the New Reading Rooms on Q+1, Q+2 and Q+3 of the Boole Library Building close from 8pm on Friday evenings until 7:30am on Monday mornings. The areas impacted are indicated in blue on the following maps: Q+1, Q+2 and Q+3.
Over 1200 bookable study spaces will still be available for Library users. All other Library spaces such as the Creative Zone and Group Study rooms also remain available for student use.
Access to the library’s collections is unaffected. The Library will continue to review patterns of usage of the library building and will reinstate weekend access to the new reading rooms prior to examinations period.
Brookfield Health Sciences Library is unaffected.
1. Check UCC Library's OneSearch. We have thousands of eJournals and eBooks available for use 24/7. Many publishers have allowed free or improved access to eBooks at this time. A full listing is available on the eBooks listing and is being updated as new resources are added.
2. Search the Internet Archive for digitised , largely 19th century publications. Hathi Trust or Gutenberg Project can also help.
3. Search the National Emergency Library to borrow any of the 1.5 million digitised 20th century books. Sign up for an account and 'borrow' up to 10 books for 14 days.
4. Try Google Books and Google Scholar . Make sure you are logged in with your UCC credentials as , if the book is there , you will have greater access to the resources.
5. If the book is based on someone's PhD thesis, it's worth checking that institution's institutional repository to find an uploaded version. There may also be copies forwarded to RIAN - Ireland's research repository.
6. If the book is based on someone's PhD thesis and they did their PhD in the UK , check EThOS where there might be full text or not.
7. Depending on how old the item is an online version may be available on Europeana, DPLA (US), Gallica (France), DDB(Germany), e-rara (Switzerland). These all hold digitised versions of books , but usually not 20th / 21st century.
8. It can be worth adding the book title and researchgate / academia into a Google Search box as sometimes the author has uploaded part of a book to their academic profile. If this is the case then you can contact the author themselves once the URL has been identified.
9. Sometimes database versions of books exist e.g. Loeb series.
10. If the item is in any way general rather than academic it can be worth checking BorrowBox with the public libraries. BorrowBox can be used on a smartphone / tablet / computer. If you don't have a public library account one can be set up immediately online.
