Our Learning and Teaching Librarian can help you to get the best out of your studies. This could include:
Using search tools effectively to find relevant academic sources for your assignments
Support with referencing and plagiarism
The Academic Achievement Team can assist with:
Have a look at our How To... page for our three part tutorial on getting started with your research. The Starting Your Research tutorial is tailored to your School/Department.
You will also find guidance on searching Library databases, provided by some of our database providers.
For the period from the 17th century to the 21st, the Library has numerous resources. The most wide ranging of these is Gale Primary Sources, but other more specific archives such as the New York Times and UK Parliamentary Papers are also available.
A cross-searchable platform of eight databases containing digital reproductions of newspapers, periodicals, books and ephemera from the 17th to 20th centuries, including archives of the Illustrated London News, the Listener, Times & Times Literary Supplement (TLS).
The following databases are included in the Gale Primary Source platform.
The British Library’s archives of searchable facsimiles of regional and national newspapers from the 19th century.
Full text searching of millions of pages of history, literature, religion, law, fine arts, science and more.
Primary sources covering British politics, society, and culture, including theatre, music and literature.
A unique collection of searchable facsimiles of English newspapers, pamphlets, acts of Parliament, and other early news publications from the 1600s and 1700s. Place of publication varies from London and the English provinces, to Scotland, Ireland, Europe, America and India.
A digital archive of the world's first weekly illustrated newspaper from 1842 to 2003, providing contemporary accounts and images of significant British and world events.
Complete, searchable digital archive of The Listener, the journal published by the BBC from 1929-1991.
The Times newspaper in facsimile from 1785 - 2019.
Full text of the Times Literary Supplement from 1902-2013.
Periodicals from the late seventeenth to the early twentieth century.
Local, regional and national UK news archive from 1791 - 2003. Note: to access current issues, see Pressreader.
Archive of printed ephemera covering everyday life in Britain in the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Content from the New York Times (1851-2015) with index (1851-1993).
UK Census Data from 1971, this site provides links to the relevant datasets (registration required).
Sessional papers from 1715 to the present, with supplementary material back to 1688.
Hundreds of historical journals are available in the following digitized collections.
A multi-disciplinary database, offering information in most areas of academic study.
Provides bibliographic data on historical writing dealing with the British Isles, and with the British Empire and Commonwealth, during all periods for which written documentation is available - from 55BC to the present.
Ebooks and journals in a range of disciplines including science, medicine, humanities, social sciences, economics, history, law, politics and international relations.
Hundreds of full text journals and eBooks in the arts, humanities, social sciences and life sciences.
Covers: classics, modern languages and cultures, philosophy, theology and history, to political theory, sociology, anthropology, film and new media studies, and digital humanities.
Contents of 142 Oxford University Press Journals from their first issue to 1995.
An archive of hundreds of digitized journals in the arts, humanities and social sciences.
Provides access to journal articles, eBooks and reviews in the humanities and social sciences. Spotlight on Project Muse blog post.
Database comprising Science, Social Science and Arts & Humanities citation indexes.
A collection of arts and humanities eBooks, with a strong focus on Philosophy.
Includes the Companions in: Philosophy, Religion and Culture, Literature and the Classics and Music.
Ebooks and journals in a range of disciplines including science, medicine, humanities, social sciences, economics, history, law, politics and international relations.
American and British history, economic and scientific history, philosophy, religious studies, theatre studies, warfare and literary studies.
An exhaustive resource for historians, theologians, political scientists, and sociologists studying the religious and social upheavals of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Digital facsimile images of virtually every work printed in English from 1473-1700, searchable by keyword.
Facsimile images of books printed in Europe before 1701, searchable by keyword.
A comprehensive and diverse reference guide to current knowledge of the Islamic World, including details of Islamic history, religion and the global Muslim diaspora.
Overview of Jewish life and knowledge from the Second Temple period to the contemporary State of Israel.
50,000 biographies of people who shaped the history of the British Isles and beyond, from the earliest times to the year 2000.
The Oxford Handbooks series brings together the world’s leading scholars to write articles that survey the current state of scholarship in their field. The articles review the key issues, reveal original arguments and concepts, and set the agenda for new research.
This collection of reference works allows cross searching of over 100 dictionaries and encyclopedias published by Oxford University Press.
The leading source of up to date information about over 90,000 influential people from all walks of life, worldwide, who have left their mark on British public life.Who Was Who is an archive of people included in previous editions of Who's Who.
Access to digitised books, music, and artworks from Europe's museums, libraries, and archives.
Streams thousands of films, documentaries and training videos across a wide range of subjects. Note: Click 'Log in to Roehampton' on the left side of the screen to gain access. Please note: BBC programmes may be available via Roehampton Online Broadcasts (ROB).
Record and stream freeview TV and radio programmes for educational use, create clips and playlists, and access the archive of recorded programmes including BBC and Shakespeare Archives. ROB is managed by AVR, for assistance contact: avr@roehampton.ac.uk.
The University's Foyle Special Collections & Archives consist of rare books, original documents and artefacts which support various teaching and research areas of the University of Roehampton. The collections relate to Friedrich Froebel and the kindergarten, Froebel College, Children's Literature and the children’s book author Richmal Crompton, Dance, and to a number of other areas including Religious Studies.
The Library also subscribes to number of large archive collections that are not freely available online. These can be found on the other pages in this guide.
The Inter Library Loan Service gives students and staff the option of requesting books, book chapters and journals articles when we do not have them in the Library collection. The items are borrowed from the British Library and U.K. and Ireland institutions and are supplied for free.
Inter Library Loans are not available for Alumni or our partner institutions.
You can also check the availability for the item in academic libraries near you on Jisc Library Hub Discover; it may be faster to visit another London academic library through the SCONUL scheme.
UR Library Search should be checked as only requests for items not held in our collection will be processed. Before you request a journal article we suggest that you check our A-Z Journal List. If the item is already available in the Library, your request will be cancelled, and you will be notified by email. To comply with copyright requirements, a single article only from any one issue of a journal can be copied for the same user at any time. Similarly, no more than one chapter or 10% of a book can be copied.
Articles will be sent to your Roehampton email with a link and password. Please note once a document has been uploaded, it is available for 30 days or 5 views, whichever comes first.
We aim for a 2 week turn-around time provided the request has all the necessary information, the item is available and your Library account is not currently blocked for any reason.
We cannot guarantee the fulfilment of Inter Library Loans due to restrictions of lending institutions.
Articles will be sent to your Roehampton email with a link and password. Please note once a document has been uploaded, it is available for 30 days or 5 views, whichever comes first.
The Inter Library Loan will be issued to your Library account. It can be collected via the Nest team in the Library Foyer and returned via the Book Returns machine. Inter Library Loans cannot be posted.
Please note that occasionally lending institutions have items that can only be used within our Library premises. These are Reference items that you will be able to borrow for periods of 3 hours. For more information, please see the orange label on the item.
Inter Library Loans requested as books are not renewable. In very exceptional circumstances we will attempt to renew the item once on request. To request a renewal please contact us 3-5 working days before the due date. If you do not return your Inter Library Loan by the due date or request a renewal, your account will be blocked.
Please note that the lending institution may recall the item before the due date, in which case we will contact you with an updated due date.
If an item cannot be supplied, an automated notification will be sent to your Roehampton email account. This could be the case for rare items or items recently published.
We use the British Library service EThOS to provide access to UK theses - you will need to register an account with them to download theses. Contact us on interlib@roehampton.ac.uk if you have a query.
If you are looking for a book which is not currently in our Collection but which you think would be useful to have in our Library, you can recommend it for purchase via the form below.
If it is an item for your own personal research, please use our Inter Library loan service.
SCONUL Access is a scheme which allows many university library users to borrow or use books and journals at other UK academic libraries which belong to the scheme, or just the convenience of studying in a library closer to your home. It's completely free to join, so sign up online today.
The scheme works on a banding system:
Band A access is for academic staff and research students. Almost all member libraries admit band A users.
Band B access is for part-time and distance learning students (undergraduate and postgraduate) and those on placement (eg PGCE in schools). You can borrow books from libraries in this band.
Band C covers full-time taught course postgraduate students, who can borrow books from libraries in this band.
Band R full time undergraduate students can have reference access to some libraries.
Not all member libraries allow access to all bands in the scheme. Always check before you visit a library that they allow access to your band. Each Library in the scheme is listed on the SCONUL Access website. To find out which libraries are part of the scheme check the SCONUL website.
To use the scheme you will need to apply for access through the SCONUL website. The application process is simple and after you submit your application it will be authorised by a member of Library staff. You will receive an email on your University account which you can print off and take with you to visit other libraries. Users must be in ‘good standing’ with the Library i.e. have no large outstanding fines, before they can join the scheme.
When visiting other libraries please note:
The British Library at St Pancras, London is a national research library. It does not lend books nor does it aim to stock multiple copies of basic text books. If your research needs are not fulfilled by other libraries, see the British Library catalogue and Reader Registration. For more information about getting a Reader Pass, please see the British Library website.
There are many specialist libraries in London that may be of use to your studies. General advice for access:
Jisc Library Hub Discover is a national Library catalogue that accesses the catalogues of many of the largest UK and Ireland university libraries.
London Libraries allows searches and provides information on special collections.
ULRLS is the catalogue of the University of London Research Library Services.
eduroam is a free WiFi network that allows students, researchers and staff to securely access the internet when visiting other participating institutions. See here for further details on setting up eduroam access for your visits to other institutions.