Introduction to Library Services
Royal Holloway Library Services is on two sites within easy walking distance of each other. The Founder’s Library (Languages, Literatures, Cinema, Theatre, Fine Arts and Music) is located within the magnificent Founder’s Building, modelled on the Chateau de Chambord and opened by Queen Victoria in 1886. The Archives service and collections are also in this building and provide access to unique papers and materials relating to the history and development of the College.
The Bedford Library, opened in 1993, houses resources for science, social sciences and history as well as tlc@bedford|, an IT-rich social learning space launched in 2008.
The Library’s book collections extend to some 600,000 volumes. There are subscriptions to more than 17,000 e-journals; more than 800,000 items are loaned each year and there is an annual footfall of about 700,000. There is increasing provision of electronic resources: e-journals, databases, datasets, e-books, all of which are accessible remotely 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Library continues to improve the service it offers. It is open 7 days a week, supporting a library service from 8.30am to 1.00am on Monday - Thursday and to 8pm on Friday in term-time as well as opening across the weekend. In the pre-exam period after Easter, the Bedford Library is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Royal Holloway students and staff are also significant users of the Senate House Library in central London.
Systems and Innovation
The core Library management and information system is Aleph500 from Ex Libris running on a virtual server farm.
Access to electronic resources is managed through our LibrarySearch interface powered by Summon from Serials Solutions which uses Ex Libris SFX link-resolving technology to provide context sensitive links to users and enabling easy access to full-text resources online, and other relevant services. The Library has been in the vanguard of academic libraries using open source interfaces to improve the e-Library user experience.
Contactless (RFID) self service technology has been implemented in both the Bedford and Founder’s Libraries.
The Library plays a significant role in the development of the College’s open access repository of Royal Holloway Research (Royal Holloway Research Online) and has worked on academic mandates for depositing open access versions of College research and e-theses.
The College is committed to ‘e-learning’, combining the best of traditional teaching methods with high quality electronic resources and services. The Library works closely with the Academic Development Services to deliver content through Moodle.