When enquiring about our Library Services or seeking IT advice, you can use our web-based enquiry management system called Freshservice.
To access Freshservice, please click on myit.abdn.ac.uk. You will be asked to sign in, using your University of Aberdeen (UoA) username and password. When you land on the homepage, please select the first option to Report an issue and a new window will open where you can submit details of your enquiry.
Once you have submitted your enquiry, it will be given a unique reference number (ticket number) in Freshservice, which will be emailed to your UoA email account. You will then be able to interact with staff members, ask further questions and receive support.
As soon as all actions and conversations have been concluded, staff will resolve the ticket, and you will receive an email to that effect. A subsequent email will follow with a short satisfaction survey, to offer you the opportunity to provide feedback on the process and on the outcome of your enquiry.
Did you know the quickest and easiest way to return library books is at the Returns Room through the self-return machines? You will find the Returns Room on the Ground Floor of the Sir Duncan Rice Library, to the right of the main entrance.
Photo by Library staff
It’s as simple as placing the books through the slot one by one. They are removed from your borrowing record as soon as they have passed through. You don’t even need to use your ID card to return books this way.
You will also find an external slot on the right-hand side of the entrance to the Library. This is only available when the library is closed so you don’t need to wait for us to open to return your books! You will need your ID card to be able to use this.
Don’t forget to take your receipt as proof of your returned items.
Heavy Demand books can be returned in the Heavy Demand Area on Floor 1 (using the self-issue/returns machine), or at the Returns Room.
If you have any problems with book returns, please speak to any member of staff, or email library@abdn.ac.uk.
Any printing on campus is via networked multi-function devices (MFDs). You can send files for printing from a classroom PC or your personal laptop. There are printers in or near all PC classrooms and at least one printer on each floor of The Sir Duncan Rice Library.
Print from a networked (classroom) PC
To print from a network PC, you need to send your files to a holding queue, e.g. Pull-print-mono on PrintD.uoa.abdn.ac.uk. You can retrieve your files from any MFD on campus by logging in to it using your ID card or your username & password.
Steps:
For Word documents: select the File tab, then Print. For PDFs: select the printer icon in the toolbar
Select the name of the printer, e.g. Pull-print-mono on PrintD.uoa.abdn.ac.uk By default, the printers will print double-sided. You can edit the default settings by clicking on ‘Printer Properties’/’More settings’
When ready, click on the large ‘Print’ icon
Log in to any MFD to print your document
Print from your laptop
To send a job from your laptop to a networked printer, your laptop must be connected to eduroam. In order to do this, please see the following guides on Toolkit:
With PaperCut you can upload files directly to our network from your own devices, whether you are on the move or working off campus. Once you’re back on campus, you can use our MFDs to print your documents. All you need to do this are your University log in details and a device connected to the internet.
On the PaperCut page, log in with your username and password
Click on Web Print, and then select Submit a Job. Select either a Greyscale or Colour Printer and the number of copies, and then Upload your Document.
If the upload is successful, you will see your document(s) listed in the Print Queue (you may notice that details will change from ‘Submitted’ to ‘Rendering Job‘ as it is processed. You will also see details of your file, including date and time, file name, pages, status
When processed, the file status will change from Rendering Job to Held in Queue. You will see two options: Colour-Pull and Mono-Pull. For Black & White, select Mono
When you are ready to send the file to print, click on the button containing the name of the required printer – this will change the file status to Printed. Retrieve the job from the MFD
Log out from the top right corner of the screen
Please note that with Web Print, there is no option to print A3 sized documents.
Top-up your print budget New students start with an initial print budget of £1. Each time you use your ID card to print or copy, the relevant cost is deducted from your print budget.
You will need to log in to the system using your username (e.g. u01abc01) and password. All payments are made in exact multiples of £1 and minimum payment is £5 with maximum payment being £20.
To check your balance:
Swipe your card on the MFD and tap the Pull Print icon. At the top left of the window you will see your name, the number of documents in your printing queue and the amount of credit remaining in your account.
Note: Remember to not top-up more than you need; remaining amounts are not refunded.
The IT service desks are located on Floor 1 of The Sir Duncan Rice Library& Room 1:122, Polwarth Building on the Foresterhill campus. They are open Monday to Friday 09:00-17:00. (Wednesdays: 10:45-17:00; Polwarth desk closes daily 13.00-14.00)
Here’s an outline of what help is available from the Library and IT Services for those of you working on your thesis.
Searching for theses in your subject area
You can access three large databases of theses through Primo:
Sign in to Primo
Click on the Find Databases tab
From the left-hand menu, click on the arrow next to All General Resources
Select Theses from the options shown
Then click on each database for more information and to link out and search for relevant theses.
For further information and more theses databases, please see this guidance document created by Library staff.
A selection of University of Aberdeen theses are also available in the Digital Collections section of Primo. There are both Research and Taught Course theses covering a range of programmes, but it doesn’t contain all theses and dissertations submitted at the University of Aberdeen. For Research Theses:
Our Toolkit also provides a wealth of information on IT and Academic Skills to assist in organising and managing your time and information. The IT Services Team have also created the Working with Long Documents section, which has plenty of handy videos and guides to help you with creating and manipulating long documents in MS Word.
Remember, we are here to support you through your studies, so if you require further help and advice, please do contact us via informationconsultants@abdn.ac.uk.
Best of luck to all those of you working on your thesis!
It’s not too early to start thinking about your referencing. Once you have researched and begun writing your dissertation or project you must remember to correctly acknowledge the sources of any information which you refer to. This allows readers to trace the original material while also ensuring that you avoid potentially committing plagiarism.
To help you with your referencing, Library staff have prepared several online guides with useful examples. We have a generic guide on Referencing and Citing as well as others focused on specific referencing systems or subject areas:
Please be sure to read any specific referencing guidance which you may have been provided by your department. You can also see advice on avoiding plagiarism on the Student Learning Service’s website and PGT students can check in MyAberdeen for materials on academic writing and avoiding plagiarism.
We also have access to a really useful book by Colin Neville called Complete guide to referencing and avoiding plagiarismwhich goes over topics from why you need to reference, where, the different referencing styles, plagiarism and how to express your own ideas in an assignment.
If you need any help with referencing your dissertation or project please feel free to contact Library staff with any questions you may have.
Once you have researched and started writing your dissertation or project you must remember to correctly acknowledge the sources of any information which you refer to. This allows readers to trace the original material while also ensuring that you avoid potentially committing plagiarism.
To help you with your referencing, Library staff have prepared several online guides with useful examples. We have a generic guide on Referencing and Citing as well as others focused on specific referencing systems or subject areas:
Please be sure, though, to also refer to any specific referencing guidance which you may have been provided by your department. You can also see advice on avoiding plagiarism on the Student Learning Service’s website and PGT students can also check in MyAberdeen for materials on academic writing and avoiding plagiarism.
We also have access to a really useful book by Colin Neville called Complete guide to referencing and avoiding plagiarismwhich goes over topics from why you need to reference, where, the different referencing styles, plagiarism and how to express your own ideas in an assignment.
If you need any help with referencing your dissertation or project please feel free to contact Library staff with any questions you may have.
The EBSCO platform contains databases across many subject areas. Each database contains information on research published in selected journals and conferences. Some of the databases contain information related to books. Here are the databases currently available from EBSCO:
Anthropology Plus, Art & Architecture Complete, ATLA Religion Database, British Education Index, Child Development & Adolescent Studies, CINAHL, Education Abstracts, Educational Administration Abstracts, ERIC, European Views of the Americas: 1493 to 1750, GreenFILE, LISTA, MLA International Bibliography with Full Text, RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, SPORTDiscus, Teacher Reference Center.
Sign in to Primo and search for a title. If the book is available from EBSCO, the following steps will apply:
Click on the title of the book to be taken to the book details page and navigate to the full text using your University username and password.
Once you are in EBSCO, the book will be displayed like so:
You have the options of Reading the book online (PDF Full Text) or Download the item. If you choose reading online, it will display like this:
If you choose to download, the following messages will be displayed on your screen. Please note that different books may have different downloading options, depending on the Digital Rights Management (DRM) agreements. For a non-DRM book, the steps to download are as follows:
For a book requiring a DRM licence, please note that you will need to set up an EBSCO Personal Account. Advice on how to do so can be found in this section of the support site: How to create and manage an EBSCO Account.
To download, select your preferred ‘Download Format’ like so:
Once the item is downloaded, the site recommends you open it with Adobe Reader. More information can be found at:
Once you have found the book(s) you need in EBSCO, there are a range of options as to how you can use them. This Tools section can be found on the right hand side of the item’s display page as shown:
If you are reading online, similar icons are displayed across the top of the screen:
Adding/Saving Items to Folder: EBSCO offers this feature to act as a virtual bookshelf, where you also have options to save, print or email the details, and export them to RefWorks or similar programmes.
Exporting Bibliographic Details to Ref Works-Option to Export on right hand side of screen. Opens links to Ref Works and other providers, and can directly export. For further help, please see our detailed Library Guides.
Accessibility-The Help section includes an Accessibility Guide covering navigation of the site, the readers (PDF and EPUB), read aloud software and EBSCO’s commitments.
Help and Support-Extensive Help section on website (top right-hand side of screen). Includes user guides, accessibility pages and tutorials.
Licences-There are three categories here: ‘Unlimited User Access’; ‘Limited Access (3 Users)’, and ‘Limited Access (1 User)’. If the book is unavailable, the site will give various messages along the lines of ‘Item unable to download. Please Read Online’ or ‘Item unavailable for download, please try again later.’
If you wish to search a specific database on the EBSCO platform, please follow these steps:
Go to Primo and sign in at the top right of the screen
Select the Find Databases tab
In the new window that appears enter EBSCO in the box called Database Search and click on search
A list will be created containing the different databases which we currently have access to through the EBSCO platform
Click on any one of the databases to link out to the EBSCO platform. Primo will open the database’s details page. In the View Online section click on the name of the database e.g. ERIC (EBSCO). Once on EBSCO you can change the particular database you are actually searching in. If off-campus, you may be asked to sign in via your institution. Select University of Aberdeen and sign in with your username and password.
Library staff will be running live Q&A sessions for PGR studentsnext week on21 & 24 June. Please do come along and our team will be happy to provide guidance and short demonstrations based on your needs. Sign up on the Course Booking site.
Remember we are here to support you throughout your studies, so please do get in touch (library@abdn.ac.uk) if you would like some help.
IT help
The IT Services Team have created the Working with Long Documents section on Toolkit, which has plenty of handy videos and guides to help you with creating and manipulating long documents in MS Word.
The IT Services Training and Documentation team are also running sessions on 16 June:
Part 1: Adding Style to Your Thesis, 11am-12pm
Part 2: The Power of Section Breaks, 2pm-3pm
You can sign up on the Course Booking pages. Even if the session is full, it is worth getting on the waiting list as you may still be able to attend.
Best of luck to all those of you working on your thesis!
It’s not too early to start thinking about your referencing. Once you have researched and begun writing your dissertation or project you must remember to correctly acknowledge the sources of any information which you refer to. This allows readers to trace the original material while also ensuring that you avoid potentially committing plagiarism.
To help you with your referencing, Library staff have prepared several online guides with useful examples. We have a generic guide on Referencing and Citing as well as others focused on specific referencing systems or subject areas:
Please be sure, though, to also refer to any specific referencing guidance which you may have been provided by your department. You can also see advice on avoiding plagiarism on the Student Learning Service’s website and PGT students can also check in MyAberdeen for materials on academic writing and avoiding plagiarism.
We also have access to a really useful book by Colin Neville called Complete guide to referencing and avoiding plagiarismwhich goes over topics from why you need to reference, where, the different referencing styles, plagiarism and how to express your own ideas in an assignment.
If you need any help with referencing your dissertation or project please feel free to contact Library staff with any questions you may have.
Did you know that a small number of e-books are available to us via the VLeBooks platform? These e-books are listed in Primo and require a Shibboleth login. Read on to find out how to access and use books on the VLeBooks platform.
Sign in to Primo and search for a title. If the book is available from VLeBooks, the following steps will apply:
In the book’s record, click on either the title of the book, or the Available Online link. You will be taken to the book’s details page:
In the View Online section click on the blue VLeBooks link. You may be asked to sign in with your University username and password.
Please note: if you didn’t sign in to Primo prior to your search, the following screen may appear:
Do Not Choose the above option. Instead, click on the Shibboleth option and on the next page type “Aberdeen” into the Find your institution box. Select University of Aberdeen. The University’s login screen will appear – log in as normal.
You will then be taken to the book’s details page:
Main options: Read Online & Download (equivalent to borrowing the book.)
If you choose to read online, you will see the below display:
The option for this item is to download for 1-3 days. Other items are avaliable for longer to download depending upon licence agreements.
Once the book has been downloaded, you can either choose to open it with ADE, or simply save the item to your desktop and then move it into your ADE Platform. Once it is displayed within ADE, you will be able to read it like an online book within the set time frame.
Additional Features
Help and Advice – Range of information on the “Help”icon on upper toolbar of VleBooks home screen with advice topics relating to downloading and reading a VLEbooks, and accessibility.
Accessibility Settings – ‘Edit Accessibility Settings’ are given throughout the site, above the link to ‘My Bookshelves.’ There are extensive options here to modify the display to suit your needs.
Also, within the book on the upper toolbar, you can change the background colour and choose the Read Aloud option using the icons at the top right hand of the screen. There is further information available from the ‘VLE Books Quick Reference Guide’, which is accessible through the question mark icon.
Adding Books to your Bookshelf – Add directly from the title page, into named folders if required.
Download Citations – The “Download Citations” function on the book details page will download an RIS File to your device containing the reference details of the item. Please be aware that the RIS File cannot be directly exported to RefWorks or any other reference software from VLE Books. Further information and support in this can be found in our Library guides (https://www.abdn.ac.uk/library/support/library-guides-101.php#R)
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