Self-guided tour of the Library: 4. Level 3 and finding a book

Bookable study spaces

Welcome to Level 3 of the Library, where you'll find the majority of our individual bookable study spaces, including our PC Room in West Wing (to the right of the Main Stairs).

Bookable study spaces are also available in the following areas:

• our silent zone on Level 1 (West Wing)
• our individual and group study rooms (available throughout the building)
• our Disability Support Study Rooms, also in West Wing on Level 1.

Specific bookable spaces are also available to Postgraduate Research students on Level 4. 
 

Study Zones in the Library

On each floor, you’ll find signs to show the study zone that you’re in – either silent, quiet or collaborative – and what is expected of you in that area.

Levels 2, 3 and 4 are all quiet study zones, while Level 1 has all three different types of study zone available in different areas.

You can find out more about our study zones on our Study Spaces guide.
 

Finding a book  

Using the shelfmark of the book is the easiest way to find it. An example of a shelfmark is 420.9 CRY

• the number before the decimal point is the topic 
• the number after the decimal point is the subject 
• the three letters at the end refer to the author 

Once you have the shelfmark of the book and its location information from Discover:

• use the signs on the shelf ends to find the correct aisle
• the books are in numerical order, so find the whole number (before the decimal point) first, and then the number after the decimal point
• once you’ve found the number you need, look through these books to find the author reference (they will be in alphabetical order). 

Our video at the bottom of this page shows you how to use shelfmarks to find books on our shelves. 

Top tip: Books on the same topic will have similar shelfmark numbers, so take a look around at other books in the area for more useful subject resources. 
 

Reserve or request additional items 

If the book you need isn’t on the shelves, you have options! Through Discover, you can: 

• Reserve an item, which means we’ll ask for it to be returned and let you know once it’s ready for you to collect 
• Request additional copies to be bought, so we can increase the number of copies we have in the Library. (You can also use this service to ask us to buy copies of books we don’t already have) 
   

Next: Point 5: Borrow and Print 

Go back down to Level 2 and go past the Help and Information Desk and The Snug to the Borrow and Print area.