Personer som letar böcker i bibliotekets hyllor

Library collections

The library collections mainly consists of books, databases and journals. In the book collection there are course literature, study resources, government publications and reference books. Some of the books are printed and available in the library. As a student at Södertörn University (SH) or the Swedish Red Cross University College (RKH) you also have access to e-books. There are some printed journals in the library, but most of the journal selection consists of e-journals.

Search in SöderScholar

To find the library's collection, you can search the library's search tool SöderScholar External link, opens in new window..

E-books

Books available in electronic form are called e-books. In the library’s search tool, SöderScholar, you can find thousands of e-books. Some of them require that you first log in with a user account for students and staff at SH and RKH.

E-books are available 24/7, both on campus and outside campus.

In SöderScholar you will access the e-book you searched by clicking the link under the heading View online. Then you can read the book online or download it. In some cases, the book may be borrowed, it is then possible to queue or try later. A few e-books can only be read online.

E-books can be read directly on the screen or downloaded on a computer, tablet or smartphone. In the latter case, a specific software or application is needed. The advantages with e-books are that you can mark text, print out certain number of pages, write notes and save them and export quotes to a reference tool, such as Endnote. There are also applications for the various browsers that make it possible to listen to e-books. Most features, such as making notes and marks are only available if you read the e-book directly on the screen instead of downloading it.

You often need to create a user account with Adobe to be able to read an e-book that you download. With your Adobe ID, you can then download programs or applications that are required to download the e-book. You only need to do this the first time you download an e-book. Examples of programs or applications for reading an e-book are Adobe Digital Editions and Bluefire reader.

Downloading an e-book means that you borrow the book and can also read it when you are not online. When the loan period expires and you still need the book, you can download it again to get a new loan period.

On some e-book platforms, you have the opportunity to create a personal account, for example to save notes and create a library of titles that are interesting to you.

Printed books

In the search tool SöderScholar you will find all the books in the library. You can see where the book is located by clicking on "in the library".

How do I know if the library has the book I'm looking for?
By searching for the title of the book in SöderScholar, you can see if the library has a copy of the book and if it's in the library. Click on “In the library” to find out how long you can borrow the book and where it is located. You can access SöderScholar from any computer, even from home or from your mobile. You can also ask at the information desk and we will help you. If the library doesn't have the book, you are welcome to request it from another library. Read more on the Order interlibrary loans page and submit purchase suggestions

Find the shelf
When you click on "In the library", information about where the book is located is available. Using this example: Floor 6, Shelf Ohj But. Since the entrance floor of the library is on Floor 5, Floor 6 means that the book is on the upper level of the library, shelf Ohj. On the shelf Ohj, you are looking in alphabetical order for But. In each post there is also a link to a map, which will help you to find the shelf.

If the book is not on the shelf
If you are lucky and the book has just been returned it may still be on one of the return trolleys and they are located just to the right of the return machine. It could also be that someone is using the book but has not yet borrow it. The book may have been misplaced, or it may even have disappeared. Please ask at the information desk and we will help you to find it.

Course literature

The library has a wide range of up-to-date course literature. There are two kinds of loan periods for course literature, one week loan and one day loan. The books that you can borrow for a week are on the shelves out in the library, there are often several copies. The one day loan books are single copies of all the course literature. These are in the special one day loan room and can't be reserved, you borrow these on a “first come first served” basis.

The amount of copies we buy of the obligatory course literature depends on how many students there are on the course. We buy one copy for every ten students, one of these is always a one day loan. Below is an example of how many course literature books we buy:

20 students : 1 one day loan + 1 one week loan. (minimum limit)
50 students : 1 one day loan + 4 one week loans.
100 students : 1 one day loan + 9 one week loans. (maximum limit)

If a book is available as an electronic version with unlimited amount of simultaneous readers, we buy 1 copy of the electronic book and no printed books.

When fewer pages than a hundred pages are to be read of a book, the library only purchases 1 one day loan.

Sometimes the course literature includes articles from journals that the library does not subscribe to. In these cases, the students are referred to use the inter library loan service.

In case of reference, in-depth and books that are not obligatory in the courses, we buy an electronic copy, if available, otherwise we buy 1 printed one week loan.

Selectable literature shall be acquired as 1 copy of one day loan and 1 copy of one week loan. If an electronic book is available, we buy this instead.

Are you missing a book?

Databases

The library has two types of databases, reference databases and full text databases. A reference database tells you where to find an article but does not contain the whole article itself. Full text databases will however include the whole article. Need help logging in? Go to the page Help accessing the databases.

The content of the databases is often searchable in SöderScholar, but in some cases you need to search in a specific database to find what you’re looking for.

In the list of databases you can also choose a database within a particular subject and type of material, such as articles, dissertations and essays.

In some databases, you can create an account to export references to a reference tool such as Endnote.

Journals

The library also subscribes to a large number of electronic and printed journals. You can access them through SöderScholar and in the library. The selection of journals is based on the research and teaching conducted at the university.

If you want to know which journals the library subscribes to, you can search the Journals A-Z External link, opens in new window.. If we don't have the journal you are looking for, you can make a purchase suggestion.

You can also access e-journals via the service Browzine External link, opens in new window.. It is also available as an app for smartphones and tablets.

You will find the printed journals on floor 5. There is a journal collection of the journals that the library subscribes to and another journal collection that the library has stopped subscribing to. Both these collections are situated on floor 5. Feel free to ask at the information desk if you need help finding the printed journals.

Study material collection

This collection consists of a selection of the study material that is being used in the primary and secondary school levels in Sweden. You will find the study material collection on the outside of the day loan room and it is available for everyone.

Reference books

The library's reference books, such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, statistics and handbooks, are available for one day loan and need to be returned before the library closes the same day.

Student essays

The library does not collect essays as hard copies; instead we participate in DiVA (Digitalt vetenskapligt Arkiv – Academic archive online), together with about twenty other higher education institutes, where student essays and research reports are published. Essays in DiVA and other, similar archives are also automatically collated in the national Uppsök search service.

Theses

You can search for Swedish theses in the national catalogue, LIBRIS External link, opens in new window., and full text copies may be found in digital archives such as DiVA External link, opens in new window.. The library also subscribes to ProQuest Dissertations & Theses External link, opens in new window., an international thesis database. You can find British thesis in the database EThOS External link, opens in new window..

All use of the library’s e-resources depends on the agreements we have with each provider. These agreements can differ from provider to provider. Generally, you have the right to use the library’s e-resources for your own, non-commercial use, whether it is for studies or research.

You are allowed to:

  • Print and copy single documents
  • Download single documents
  • Send single documents to yourself

You are not allowed to:

  • Systematically download or print whole or parts of e-journals and e-books
  • Upload or share copyrighted articles
  • Sell or redistrubute contents

The use of e-journals, e-books and databases is regulated by agreements with each publisher/provider respectively, this means that the terms can vary depending on publisher/provider. You can often find e-journal/e-book specific terms on the webpage where you find the resource. If you are uncertain about any of the user terms, you are welcome to contact the library.

For the library’s printed material, the Swedish copyright laws are in effect, Act (1960:729) on copyright in literary and artistic works. The basic summary of the act is that you are allowed to copy limited parts of books and journals, but never a complete work.

Talking books, Braille and e-text

If you have a visual impairment, we can help you to get your course books as Braille. You can also get them in a format called e-text, developed for people with visual impairment.

Talking books can help you to read and remember your course literature. In order to use talking books you must have a reading impairment, for example dyslexia, ADHD or a vision impairment, but a certificate is not required. If you have the right to use talking books you can freely download the books you need.

Get talking books and other accessible media

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Page updated

23-08-2023