Open Days are your chance to explore the place that will become your second home, so what better way to give you a preview of our library than a whistle-stop virtual tour, where you can get to know us from the comfort and safety of your own home.
Located in the heart of our campus, the East 15 Loughton Library is on the first floor of our SU café building. It is a modern and airy space which houses both the library collection and our IT centre.
At a glance
- Long opening hours.
- Access to around 10,000 items, including books, articles and DVDs.
- Access to hundreds of online databases with countless articles, e-books, movies, theatre productions, and more.
- Individual study spaces, as well as group study areas.
- PCs in our IT Centre.
- 24 borrowable laptops.
- Free printing.
- Live chat support.
- Personal support from subject experts to help you get the best out of your studies.
- Specialist academic and research support services.
- Request a resource and Interlibrary Loan Services.
Entrance
When you enter our Library, the first thing you’ll see is the help desk to your right and, opposite, the self-service kiosk. This is where you can check out and return your books, get assistance from our friendly staff or just stop by for a chat with our librarians.
You will also see a PC dedicated to catalogue searches here, installed on a height-adjustable desk. This will allow you to search our catalogue and vast collection quickly and without the need to log yourself on.
To the left, you will see two printers which you can use to print out your materials, make photocopies and scan items directly to your Essex email.
OUR COLLECTION
As you walk into the Library, you will find our collection of around 10,000 items on the left-hand side of the library space. Our collection is specifically designed to meet the needs of drama students and is made up of books, journals, DVDs, drama publications and more. Our friendly library staff are always on hand to help you find specific books or suggest resources if needed.
Thanks to our ‘request a resource and Interlibrary Loan Services’ you can also access the resources that are housed at the main library in Colchester and at our partner institutions in the UK and around the world.
Your library card will allow you to borrow any of the resources available to you. When you borrow books from us, you’ll get them for 7 days and you will be able to renew them, free of charge, online, at the main help desk or at the self-service kiosk.
OUR IT CENTRE
Our IT centre is located on the right-hand side of the library space as you walk in.
In our IT centre we provide access to desktops, as well as 24 borrowable laptops. The laptops can be borrowed for free and can be used anywhere on campus, so you can take them to the studios as well as to the café and the seating areas just outside the SU café. Our friendly librarians are at hand to provide you with any assistance you may need. They can show you how to search the library databases, how to find books in our collection or how to reference. They can also provide IT assistance with Wi-Fi, emails and software or, for more complex IT needs, they can put you in touch with our IT experts.
OUR STUDY SPACE AND THE SNUG
With all its power-socket-equipped desk spaces, our Library is the ideal place for quiet studying and research. Come in with your books, notepads and laptop – or borrow one of ours – make yourself comfortable at one of our desks and crack on with your work!
If you turn immediately left as you walk into our Library, you will find yourself in our ‘snug’. This is a cosy area furnished with two sofas, a couple of tables and some comfy chairs. The sofas are right opposite a large screen which can be used to watch DVDs. So, when you have some time to spare, or whenever you fancy watching a film, just come in, borrow a DVD from our collection, get yourself a set of wireless headphones from our help desk, and spend a couple of hours relaxing. We have four sets of wireless headphones in the library, so you can ask some of your friends to join you! Please note that our snug is currently closed off but we hope to have it back in use very soon!
WE CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU!
The University of Essex is a great place to study and here at the Loughton Library we have excellent facilities, as well as kind and helpful staff. In fact, in 2018 Essex was named ‘University of the Year’ by Times Higher Education and the library team was shortlisted for the ‘Outstanding Library Team’ award the following year too!
As our founding Vice Chancellor once said: ‘the library is the university’s heart’, so if you choose to study at Essex we’ll make sure you won’t regret it.
Why not check out our Instagram page for loads more great pictures of our library? Or follow us on Twitter and Facebook to see what we’re up to?
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