Bay Library: your questions answered

Here’s the last in our short series covering the questions you asked in your library induction sessions. If you’re still not sure about something, please remember we welcome your questions all year round! You can go to the Information Desk in the library for help or you can email your subject librarians at buslib@swansea.ac.uk. We also have lots of guides and information available online. If you’d like to arrange to meet a librarian for some one-to-one help, there are a number of ways to do that.

Does the introduction presentation exist online?

Yes! You can find a copy of the Introduction to Bay library presentation and other useful information in the New Students section of our School of Management library guide.

What reference style do I use?

The School of Management uses the APA referencing style. You’ll find guides to using APA in our School of Management library guide. There are paper copies of the guides available in Bay Library.

Is there an EndNote style referencing app that is recommended?

EndNote is a tool which can help you to collect and manage citation information for your research. You can also use it to easily insert references and citations into your Word documents. There are other similar tools available, but EndNote is the one which we support at Swansea University.

You can find more information about managing your references in the Tackling your Assignment section of the School of Management library guide, including a short guide to using the in-built referencing tool in Microsoft Word. This tool is less sophisticated than EndNote, but may meet your needs in the early stages of your degree.

What time does the library close?

Almost never! Bay Library and Singleton Park Library are open 24 hours a day, 362 days a year. We are closed 25^th December, 26^th December and 1^st January. For opening hours of South Wales Miners’ Library (at Hendrefoelan Student Village) and opening hours of Information Desks at Bay and Singleton Park, please check our website.

Can we have food or drink in the library?

You can eat and drink (non-alcoholic!) in the library, but we ask that if you have hot food, please eat it in the self-service café. There is no food allowed in the Group Pod.

Are there any fiction books in the library?

The collection at Bay Library is focused on supporting the School of Management and the College of Engineering, so you won’t find any fiction books on our main shelves. You will find novels and other works of fiction at Singleton Park Library. The fiction stock is there mainly to assist our literature students in their studies, but the books can be borrowed by any Swansea University student. You can either visit Singleton Park Library to browse and borrow books, or look for a book on iFind and Request that it’s sent to Bay for you to borrow.

We have a Book Swap at Bay Library. The rules are simple – just pick a book you’d like to read and donate one in return! These books are not part of library stock, so there is no need to issue them to your card. Browse the selection and help yourself!

For a wider selection of fiction books, you may want to join Swansea public libraries while you’re a student here. It’s free! Swansea Central Library is easily accessible from Bay Campus on the 8X bus and there are many branch libraries throughout the Swansea area. The Swansea council website has information about joining the library as well as contact details and an address for each library.

The Book Swap at Bay Library

Bay Library: more of your questions

In a follow up to our blog on Monday, here are a few questions you’ve been asking about borrowing books.

How long can you borrow books for?

Loan periods vary depending on how popular we think a book will be. A normal loan period is two weeks, but you will also see books which are issued for one week or even one day at a time. Books which are very much in demand may be for reference use only so you won’t be able to borrow them, but you can use them in the library.

Your books will usually be renewed for you automatically. Your books won’t be renewed if someone else has requested them. We will email you to tell you if you need to return a book so that someone else can borrow it. Remember to check your student email regularly as you may be fined if we ask you to return a book and you bring it back late.

There is more information about loan periods and automatic renewals on our website.

Can you check if your book has been renewed online?

Yes you can! You can check how many books you have on loan and look at the latest due dates by signing in to iFind and checking My Account (you’ll find these options at the top right of the iFind screen). You can also renew your books yourself on iFind, as long as no one else has requested them.

Why are some books only one night loan?

When a book is in high demand, we may have some copies which are restricted to a one night loan. This allows more people to borrow the book that they need.

Please note, books which are on a one night loan will not be renewed automatically so you will need to return them to the library the day after you borrow them.

How much are the fines?

Fines vary depending on the loan category of the book – the shorter the loan category, the higher the fine! Book fines range from 20p per day to £1.50 per day. You’ll find full details about fines and overdue loans on our website.

Can you request a specific book to be ordered in? / What do I do if the library doesn’t have the book I want?

Please let us know if you can’t find the book you need. Ask at the Information Desk, email us at buslib@swansea.ac.uk or you’ll find a link to Suggest a Book on our School of Management library guide.

Is there any way to get books sent to HSV (Hendrefoelan Student Village) library?

Yes. There’s a van service that operates Monday-Friday between Bay Library, Singleton Park Library and South Wales Miners’ Library (which is the library at Hendrefoelan Student Village). Sign in to iFind and click the Library link under the details for the book you want. This will show you a Request option which lets you reserve books which are out on loan and ask for books to be sent to a different library for collection. As Swansea University students, you can borrow from any of the three libraries, though most of the material you need will be here at Bay Library.

When you’re ready to return your books, you can return them to Bay Library, Singleton Park Library or South Wales Miners’ Library. We’ll make sure they get back to the right place!

The Request option appears under the book details when you sign in to iFind

 

Bay Library: the questions you asked

You’ve survived your first week of lectures and we hope you are settling into life at Swansea University. There may be a few things you are still unsure about, though. Those of you who came to a library induction during Welcome Week had a chance to ask us questions online using an app called Sli.do. We asked you a few questions about the library too. Thank you to all those who took part. Here are our answers to your most common questions about the library:-

What time do other Library services such as the café close?

The café in the library is self-service, so it’s open when the library is – 24 hours a day, 362 days a year (we close on the 25^th December, 26^th December and 1^st January). There are vending machines selling Starbucks coffee and snacks in the café. You can also bring your own food to eat there.

Can you play music through headphones in the silent study rooms at a reasonable volume?

Yes that’s fine, but make sure no one else can hear your music! If you do notice someone making a noise in one of the silent study rooms, let a member of staff know so that we can ask them to be quiet (we won’t say that you told us!).

Are there any restrictions on what websites you can access on the library computers? Using YouTube for example.

You are responsible adults, so we don’t generally restrict access to websites on library computers. You can access YouTube and similar sites.

If you only have the book for one night, are you allowed to photocopy important pages to keep?

Yes, that’s a very good idea. Remember though, copyright regulations mean that you are only allowed to photocopy up to one chapter or 5% of a book (whichever is greater).

Can you guys help with getting emails to come through to your phone?

If you have any questions about your email, connecting to Wi-Fi or other IT queries, please ask our staff at the Information Desk in the library, if they can’t help, they’ll try to find someone who can!

Those were some of the most popular questions from the induction sessions, but there were lots of others too. We’ll look at those later this week, so watch this space!

Click the picture to see poll results from the library inductions. How did you do?

Getting help: How to arrange a meeting with a librarian

The library has a range of resources to help you find the best academic and business information for your studies. Your librarians can help you to find the information that you need. If you have questions about referencing or would like to know how to find and use the best resources for your subject, please email us or arrange an appointment. We have a number of options if you would like to meet with a librarian:-

Come to our drop in on Thursday afternoons

From today, we will are trialling an ‘Ask a librarian’ service every Thursday this term. No need to book in advance, just come to Bay Library between 12.00 and 17.00 and a librarian will be available to help you. You’ll find us in the Central Area of the library.

Book an appointment through our calendar

If you prefer, you can book a one-to-one appointment through the Book a Librarian calendar on the School of Management library guide. There are a number of appointments available Monday to Friday. Please note, bookings close two hours before the scheduled appointment time.

Email us

If there are no suitable appointments showing in our calendar, you can email us at buslib@swansea.ac.uk to arrange to meet a librarian at a more suitable time. Our inbox is monitored Monday to Friday during office hours. You can also email us with any questions that you have.

Ask at the Information Desk in the library

If you need help while you are in the library, you can ask staff at the Information Desk to find out if there is a librarian available to see you. We can’t promise to see you straight away as we may already have other appointments scheduled, but one of us will meet you if we can.

Database of the month – Business Source Complete

This month we are highlighting Business Source Complete. It is one of the main databases for School of Management students, providing access to

• academic journal articles
• trade publications
• news
• market research reports
• company information
• industry profiles
• country profiles

Journal articles from Business Source Complete may be retrieved when you search the ‘Articles and more’ section of iFind. If you want to access any of the other types of information you will need to go into the database and search there. You can access Business Source Complete via iFind or the Management library guide. The library guide also provides advice on finding different types of informiton and guides to using our databases including Business Source Complete.