The Chatfeild-Roberts Library is an oasis of calm and quiet, kitted-out with wireless technology as well as newspapers, magazines and ranks of books. Recently refurbished it is an area for silent working which preserves the traditional with new modern decor. With ample sockets and data cabling, mobile bookcases and iPads to access the library catalogue it is a flexible space that is truly future-proof. Open daily, it provides a variety of different resources including classic and contemporary fiction, textbooks and background reading for subject work, reference books including dictionaries and encyclopaedia, seven daily newspapers and 50 magazines. Biographical information, newspapers, science, history and literary magazine articles are also available via online databases. Four qualified library staff members are available for advice and help with finding information and teaching information literacy. 

Accessed from the Chatfeild-Roberts Library are the Anne Cadbury Resource Room, with spaces for 30 students, a large TV for presentations and a Visualiser; the Cadbury Room for collaborative working and the Symondson University and Careers Library.

The Library catalogue can be accessed internally and externally here. Type keywords into the search box to get information on Library resources including websites and specialist websites. Also on this page find links to the databases we subscribe to. Users can access their own library account and can search their loans and loan history, find reading lists and set up alerts.

Leaflets are provided to help with a variety of library-related topics including alternative search engines, referencing, citation and using the catalogues and databases as well as recommending books for leisure reading or extended reading for curriculum subjects. Activities include quizzes and competitions.

Library opening hours are:
Monday to Friday: 8am to 9pm
Saturday: 8.15am to 1pm
Sunday: Autumn and Spring terms 1pm to 4.30pm, Summer term 10 am to 4.30 pm

Ginette Doyle, College Librarian

BOOK OF THE MONTH

January 2012: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

A girl and a wolf or a girl and a boy? Or a bit of both?? Thankfully not a decision most of us are likely to have to make anytime soon. Unlike Grace, who, although appalled by the recent wolf attacks near her home, finds herself strangely attracted to the pack - and one yellow-eyed wolf in particular.

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Useful reading websites

1) www.whatshouldireadnext.com
In the search field, type in a book and recommendations from other members will be listed.

2) www.bookseer.com
This is a little hit and miss, but uses recommendations from Amazon and Library Thing.

3) www.whichbook.net
A slightly different approach here. Choose the kind of book you would like. With 12 pairs of opposites, slide one way or the other to describe the kind of book you like. For example: happy or sad, expected or unpredictable, conventional or unusual. The site will come up with suggestions and can also link to public libraries for you to borrow the book from.