The Library isn’t just somewhere you can get books. It’s somewhere you can do your work on your own or with others, escape sensory overload and get some help with studying. This section of the toolkit will introduce our library and the services it can offer you.

Our libraries on both the Chichester and Bognor campuses are within the building called the Support and Information Zone (SIZ for short). We have specialist library staff who want to help you make the most out of your time at uni. They can help you with finding, choosing and using library resources, amongst many other things. Within the SIZ building you will also find our Careers support, the Printing Service and a cafe area.

The SIZ reception desk is a great place to go if you have a question, particularly in the early days at university.

The Learning Resource Centres hold more than 200,000 books and students also have access to over 500,000 ebooks.

There are around 380 print subscriptions to journals, as well as electronic access to a further 12,000 journals containing over 20 million articles.

In addition, the multimedia databases have over 100,000 streamed media clips.

With so many options, it can be hard to know where to start. We suggest booking a meeting with your subject librarian to get help with sources texts on your reading lists and becoming more familiar with resource options.

Many students in the Autism&Uni surveys mentioned the library as somewhere they really enjoyed being, whether they needed some quiet space to get away from it all or find some help or just to get some work done.

Ask staff at the reception desk in the SIZ building about how to book a PC or space to work in within the LRC. They will also be able to recommend quieter times of day and quieter areas to work in.

For new students to the university, you will probably find the name of your subject librarian as part of your induction week timetable.

For current students with a university log on, you can find out who your subject librarian is here: help.chi.ac.uk/libraryteam

See also Penny and the library