- Collections
About Collections
The Library provides access to all sorts of information resources to support your learning and research. You can search all of our collections through the Library Catalogue, or learn more about different types of information resources below.
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Find out about what Library services you can avail of, take our 360 Library tour and navigate your way around the Library. Each section includes a description of services available and allows you to become familiar with the Library before you visit us.
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Library staff provide support, help, and training to enable you to get to grips with the literature of your subject and the Library's resources.
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- Digital Scholarship
Digital Scholarship
The Library welcomes opportunities to advance our Digital Scholarship. Our areas of contribution include content, technology, infrastructure, partnership and the practice-based expertise in our team.
- Open Scholarship
Open Scholarship
The Library supports the practice of research, education and knowledge exchange to enable open collaboration and learning.
- Search
Search
A single search interface to all collections and content, both physical and digital. It's quick, user-friendly, and a personalised discovery experience.
- About
Collections Strategy
QA802 Collections Strategy
Download a copy of QA802 NUI Galway Collections Strategy.
The Library seeks to proactively support and enhance the learning, teaching and research activities of the University by providing seamless access for all its users to excellent and relevant collections.
Our collections comprise many formats and media including print books, e-books, print and e-journals, databases, special collections, archives, AV material, microform, newspapers etc. In managing and delivering seamless access to these collections, the library faces many challenges:
- There are competing demands for the limited space available within the Library and on campus.
- The publishing world is in a period of transition between traditional print publishing and the maturing world of e-books and e-journals.
- Our users’ preferences continue to vary greatly with some preferring e-books and others print books.
- Our users increasingly expect instant access to the information they need and there can be extremely high, but short term, demand for course textbooks and prescribed readings.
Key Principles
This strategy aims to set out some key principles which will inform the future acquisition, storage, management and delivery of access to collections. It strives to address the challenges outlined above.
- We value and will continue to develop, preserve and promote our unique heritage print collection as an asset of the University.
- We will acquire and retain a single copy of all print books that are of on-going relevance to the needs of our University community.
- We will retain and preserve our print journal archive in specific areas as per the Long Term Print Journal Archive Policy.
- We will continue to prefer e-only subscriptions to current journals, where that subscription provides perpetual access to the years subscribed.
- We will continue to maximise e-collections for ease of access from anywhere anytime.
- We will regularly undertake collection reviews with a view to applying these principles to our existing collections.
- We will ensure our collections (regardless of format) are accessible, easy to find and attractively presented to support browsing and discovery.
Related Policies:
- Library Collections Policy - Books
- Library Collections Policy - Teaching and Learning Resources
- Long Term Print Journal Archive Policy
- Print Journal Archive Title List
- Information Resources Budget Allocation Policy