Borrowing, returning and reservations

You can borrow most print and audio-visual items held in our libraries. The only exceptions are journals and items marked as Reference. We also have some Special Collections, including theses, which are not available on our open shelves.

You can borrow a total of:

Sustainability Collection items are included in your 4-week loan allocation.

Some items such as Theses must be borrowed before consulting within the library. These are shown on LibrarySearch as 24-hour loans, only two can be borrowed at once and these items cannot leave the library.   

Students eligible for extended loans (by arrangement with the Student Disability Service) will have 7-day loan items issued for 14 days.

Libby App

The Libby App holds a selection of e-books, audiobooks, magazines and graphic novels that are perfect for when you want to relax and take a break.

Libby resources are different from most other digital library resources. You borrow Libby items, much like physical books from the library. Students and staff can borrow up to ten Libby items at one time for seven days.

Your Libby account is separate from your main library account. Borrowing from one doesn't affect borrowing from the other.

Enjoy Libby on almost any device. Download the Libby app on a phone or tablet or access in a web browser. The Libby app is available on Apple, Android, Amazon, Microsoft and other platforms.

All loans, will be renewed automatically on a rolling basis (in accordance with the loan period of the item), unless the item is reserved by another user.

If your loan has been requested then it will not be renewed; you will be notified by email that the loan will need returning.

If you encounter any problems then please contact us as soon as possible for assistance.

If you require somebody to borrow library items on your behalf, please email library.canterbury@canterbury.ac.uk with the name of your nominated proxy borrower. You will receive an acknowledgement email with guidelines on how items can be collected.

You can cancel your proxy borrowing arrangement at any time by emailing library.canterbury@canterbury.ac.uk

Students and staff can review the items they have on loan by logging into LibrarySearch and clicking on My Account. All library members can also check their account using the self-service machines. You will also receive an email with your monthly statement which includes details of the items you have on loan. It’s important you check your library account or monthly statement regularly, so you know when your items are due for return. If you no longer need the items, you have on loan, please return them for other users.

Yes. If an item you have is requested by another user, you’ll receive an email asking you to return the item. At that point, the item will stop being renewed and you must return it by the due date.

If the request is satisfied before you bring your copy back, your loan will automatically renew.

You can return your items at any of our libraries through the self-service machines or at the staffed desks.

If you have a disability that requires a drop off point for library items on North Holmes Road campus, please contact us and we will make the necessary arrangements for you.

Returning items by post

If you would like to return items by post, we recommend that you request a free 'proof of posting' at the Post Office when you hand over the parcel. We will also accept the proof of posting date as your return date and will reduce or remove any fine that might accrue during the time that your books are in transit to us.

For Augustine House library please send to:

Library and Learning Resources,
Augustine House & Hall,
Rhodaus Town,
Canterbury
Kent
CT1 2YA

For Salomons Institute for Applied Psychology Library please send to:

Library and Learning Resources
Lucy Fildes House,
1 Meadow Rd,
Tunbridge Wells
Kent
TN1 2YG

We do not charge fines on overdue items, except for document delivery items. Instead, if you have an overdue item, your account will be suspended. This means you will not be able to take out any other items until you have returned the overdue item. We do not want to disadvantage anyone, but we hope this acts as an incentive for borrowers to return items on time so that they are accessible to all.

Find out more - overdue and lost items

Students and staff can place reservations using LibrarySearch. Reservations can be placed on items if

• all the copies of the item are out on loan at your home library. 
• the copy is only held at another campus library and not at your home library. It can then be reserved and sent to your chosen pick up library. 

You will be able to: 

• Place reservations on 4-week and 7-day items. 
• Request a maximum of 10 items at a time. 
• Check your reservations by logging into your LibrarySearch account. To cancel any reservations that are no longer required go in to the “holds” tab, check the relevant item and press the “Cancel Hold(s)” button. 

If you have have public library membership or you are unable to place a reservation on an item please contact us for assistance with your reservation.

Collecting your Reservation

• We will let you know by e-mail when an item is ready to collect
• The item will be held for one week for you to collect. 
• Items are collectable from your campus library reservations pick-up point.  
• Your items will be indicated by a paper slip with your surname.  They are held in alphabetical order. 
• Please borrow your collected item as normal using a self-issue machine or at the Library Point.

Students, staff and alumni can borrow items across our entire network of libraries and if the item you want is on the shelf at another Library, we’ll bring the item to your home library for you to collect.

Students and staff can place a reservation on the item using LibrarySearch and you’ll be notified by email when it’s ready for collection. Alumni can email their campus library to place a reservation.

Other library users can borrow items from Augustine House and Salomons libraries and if the item you want is on shelf at another library, we’ll bring the item to your home library for you to collect.  If you are a SCONUL Access member or live locally to the Drill Hall Library consider becoming a member directly. We can reserve items on your behalf. Please email your campus library.

You can’t reserve a copy of an item from another library if there is a copy available on the shelf at your home library or if it is a 24-hour loan (e.g. a Thesis or copyright cleared article) or Reference.

We offer a fetching service for books and other items on our open shelves. The service is available at both Augustine House and Salomons Institute Library and is available for anyone who may have difficulty accessing the material themselves. 

• You can only have a maximum of 10 items reserved on your account at any time. 
• Book fetching requests are processed Monday - Friday. We will endeavour to make the material available as soon as possible, but please allow up to five days for your request to be fulfilled.
• You will receive an email to advise you that an item is ready to collect from the reservations pick-up point.  
• You will need to collect the item from the reservation pick up point and issue the item on the self-issue machine. 
• If all copies of an item are on loan or only available at another campus library, you can place a reservation for the item yourself through LibrarySearch. 

Please fill in this form to make a book fetching request. 

The Scan and Deliver service is available to University students and staff only. 

Through the Scan and Deliver service you can get journal articles or 10% of a work sent straight to your email. The service is available at both Augustine House and Salomons Institute Library and is available for anyone who may have difficulty accessing the material themselves. 

Staff should be aware that the service is available for your own research only. If the article or book chapter is required for teaching then you should make a Library Scanning Service for academic staff request.

Through the service you can access

• One article from any one issue of a journal of which we only hold a print subscription
• One book chapter or 10% of a work which we only hold in printed form

Due to copyright restrictions, we can only scan one chapter from a book. If you need to read more than one chapter, you'll need to borrow it as normal. If you have trouble accessing the shelves you can use the book fetching service and we'll collect the item for you to collect from the ground floor reservation pick up zone. If you can't come in to the library nominate a proxy borrower to pick it up for you.

How do I place a request?

Use LibrarySearch to locate the item you need and, if it is showing as available, submit your request for scanning using this form.

On the form, you will need to input your details, add the relevant course and module code and the link to the item you need. Make sure you have read and understood the copyright declaration before submitting your request.

Once the requested item has been digitised, you will receive an email with a copy of the scan.

As long as the item is on the shelves, we will aim to make items available for collection within 5 working days of your request being made. If you place a request on a Friday or at the weekend, there may be a short delay if we have a backlog of requests to deal with.

Should there be any issues with your request (e.g. the item is not available or is in too poor conditions to scan or your request contravenes the copyright legislation), we will contact you to let you know.

Please be aware

• Scanned material can only be used for your personal and private study and research only.
• We are unable to scan theses or dissertations as part of the Scan and Deliver service. Over 500,000 theses are available digitally through British Library EThOS (e-theses online service).
  Please note, EThOS is currently unavailable as a result of a cyber attack. You can check the current status of the British Library services here.
• If what you need isn't available on LibrarySearch, you will need to request the material via the Document Delivery service.

An alternative formats service is available for students with print disabilities. Visit alternative formats service for more information.