How we can support you
College Library Services - Start of Lent term 2021
Due to the National Lockdown the Library service will be operating as a zero contact service at the start of Lent term. We regret that we cannot currently provide study space in the Library buildings.
Request and Collect will be available for those resident in College from Thursday 20th January 2021. Library staff are available Monday to Friday via library@magd.cam.ac.uk to answer any queries you have regarding online resources and accessing materials in the Library.
Current Loans
All current loans will continue to automatically renew. If you have any concerns about your loans then please contact the Library team.
Book recalls will not be available this term, meaning that if you have a book on loan it cannot be recalled by someone else, nor can you request a recall of any item currently on loan to someone else.
Borrowing books
If you are resident in College you can request books to borrow by submitting a Request and Collect form https://www.magd.cam.ac.uk/college-life/library/request-and-collect . This is available from 21 January 2021. Requested books will usually be issued to your account and made available for you to collect after 48 hours. Books will be collected from the College package room, next door to the Porters Lodge.
If you and your household are in isolation it will not be possible to collect request and collect books yourself. If you are in isolation, and a member of your household is not, then they can be authorised to collect a book on your behalf and deliver it safely to your door (whilst observing all isolation rules). Please let the Library staff know if you are asking another member of your household to do this. If you are in isolation please do not ask anyone to return books on your behalf, please wait until you have come out of isolation and return them to the Plodge dropbox. If the book is a short loan please contact us to let us know you cannot return and we will extend the loan period.
Book returns
As books will auto-renew you will not need to return your loans until you are resident in College again.
If you are currently resident in College and you wish to return a College Library item then please put them in the returns box in the Porters Lodge (next to the printer).
Study Space
The new restrictions and national lockdown are currently stopping us from being able to offer study space in the Library buildings. We will keep this decision under review throughout term, monitoring both local and national restrictions, and in particular assessing the New Library space in order to make that available as soon as it is safe to do so.
Online resources/e-books
We hope that this term most of the books and resources you will need to access will be online. If you are unsure if an item is available online, or are having problems accessing anything then please contact us and we will check the availability and support you in getting access. There are very good summaries of online resources available on the University Library webpage: https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/using-library/cambridge-university-libraries-are-all-open-online
Scanning Service – books and articles
The University Library is also offering a scanning service for books that are not available online, please do use this service if there are chapters of books that you otherwise cannot access. Information on this service is available here: https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/using-library/zero-contact-services/scan-deliver
New Library
Followers of our Instagram will have seen that we have begun moving books into the New Library: https://www.instagram.com/magdlibs/ , as with all things currently we have been delayed in this work by Covid, but it is ongoing and is expected to be completed this week.
Enquiries/Support
Please email library@magd.cam.ac.uk or ring +44 (0) 1223 332125 if you need help finding resources for your studies or would like any other library or reading-related advice.
The College sends out information through College e-mails but we also post updates and information through Social media and our blog (all @magdlibs). Instagram. Facebook. Twitter and our blog.
We would also like to encourage you to make book recommendations, whether for books we currently don’t hold, new editions or second copies of key texts. This can be done by via our book recommendation form.
The University Library has a guide to accessing electronic resources remotely. A guide to the increasing number of non-contact services at the University Library can also be found on this webpage.