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.
Reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, companions, etc. are a great place to start learn about a new topic, e.g. by providing helpful summaries and useful bibliographies.
A collection of arts and humanities eBooks, with a strong focus on Philosophy.
A recognised standard reference work for students and scholars of the ancient world.
Includes the Companions in: Philosophy, Religion and Culture, Literature and the Classics and Music.
American and British history, economic and scientific history, philosophy, religious studies, theatre studies, warfare and literary studies.
Comprises the complete eight volume edition of The Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce.
Contains Charles Sanders Peirce: Contributions to the Nation, as well as A Comprehensive Bibliography of the Published Works of Charles Sanders Peirce, 2nd edition.
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.
Overview of Jewish life and knowledge from the Second Temple period to the contemporary State of Israel.
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 digital Loeb Classical Library covers Greek and Latin literature. Contents covered include epic and lyric poetry, tragedy and comedy, history, travel, philosophy, oratory and the great medical writers and mathematicians. There are more than 520 volumes of Latin, Greek, and English texts.
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.
InteLex's Past Masters provides full-text electronic editions in philosophy and humanities with additional works in political thought, religious studies, sociology, the history of science, economics, and classics. It includes published and unpublished works, articles and essays, reviews and correspondence.
Covers writing from the eighteenth century to the present and includes key works by Durkheim, Weber, Habermas, Gilman, Foucault and Baudrillard.
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.
Databases are large, searchable collections of academic materials (journal articles, ebooks, newspapers, videos, etc). Some journal databases provide access to full-text articles, whilst others provide abstract or citation information about journal articles that we may or may not have full-text access to. The content of most databases are linked to 'Search Everything' on UR Library Search, or for more precise and relevant search you can choose to search the individual databases.
A comprehensive social sciences database which provides an index to books, journals, newspapers and dissertations dating back to 1951.
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.
Provides access to curated high quality images from reliable sources that have been rights-cleared for use in education and research. It contains 300 collections composed of over 2 million images.
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.
In addition to the archives listed below, 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.
Library Subject Resources Guides for
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.