Welcome to Information Services (IS) - Postgraduate Students

Information Services provide IT and library services to registered students at Aberystwyth University, subject to Information Services Regulations and Guidelines.

To make use of our facilities you will need an Aberystwyth University IT account and an Aber Card.

Your IT Account

You will be able activate your University IT account online shortly before your course begins and you will be emailed with instructions for doing this as soon as your account is ready.

Your IT account gives you access to:

Your Aber Card

Once you have activated your IT account you should apply for your Aber Card online so that it is ready for you when you arrive on campus.

Your Aber Card is used:

as your student id
as the door key to your study bedroom - depending which Halls of Residence you are in
to purchase food in University hospitality outlets; if you are in catered residences it will be credited before you arrive
for library borrowing, including the use of self-issue machines
to access 24-hour computer rooms
to access the library out of core hours (to enter and exit)
to access the postgraduate study centre
for printing, photocopying and scanning
as your Student Union card
as your Sports Centre card

Essential Library and IT Guide for new students

To find out more about Library and IT facilities please a look at our essential Library and IT guide for new students

Further Information

If you are teaching during your postgraduate research you may some of the content on our page for new Academic Staff useful

Acquiring library resources

Both taught and research postgraduates can borrow 40 items at a time. Find out more about loan periods and reciprocal borrowing from the library.
Use the Document Supply forms in Primo to request books, articles or dissertations from other libraries. Find out more about Document Supply
Contact your subject librarian to arrange a site trial for an electronic resource
Both Research and Taught postgraduates can request books for AU library stock via the More Books campaign

E-learning services

BlackBoard - Virtual Learning Environment
BlackBoard FAQs
Nexus - sharing Good Practice in Technology-enhanced Learning at Aberystwyth University
Trello - Get the latest information and resources on technology-enhanced learning using our bookmarks
Specialist teaching equipment
Panopto lecture capture: available in all centrally-timetabled teaching rooms
Videoconferencing: book one of the five videoconferencing suites

Primo: search the library catalogue

The default search is of Aberystwyth University's library catalogue:

Search Primo using the Libraries option on the right hand side of the search box to find books, journals, DVDs, newspapers, dissertations and rare books in all Aberystwyth University locations. Find e-books and e-journals too.
Always Sign in first to access more full text resources
Use My Library Account to manage your loans and requests
View your Saved items to view stored records of items you have found and saved searches
Select Search history to view your previous searches
Keep up to date with new acquisitions by browsing New Books

Primo: search for articles

Primo can be used to search for millions of journal articles and database records, with full-text links, harvested from participating publishers; when searching, select Articles from the drop down menu on the right side of the search box.
For information on how to search for articles using Primo, see our FAQ.

Primo: find electronic resources

Click A-Z of E-resources in Primo to browse all our subscribed databases and some high-quality free online resources
Look out for the @Aber buttons in search results in subscribed databases; clicking on the button will check our e-journal holdings for full-text

Access AU e-resources online off-campus

Follow this advice when working off-campus to ensure you can access e-books, e-journals and online databases subscribed to by Aberystwyth University

Open Access

Guidance and forms for depositing your electronic thesis
The University supports the open access provision of all staff research outputs and successful PhD theses through the Aberystwyth Research Portal

Alert services

Set up Primo alerts to receive messages about incoming library stock that matches your regular searches
Many databases and online journal collections offer alert services. In particular, ZETOC allows you to supply a free text search for table of contents alerts from the journals subscribed to by the British Library

Reference management software

Local training and support is available for EndNote desktop (for Windows and Mac) and EndNote online, also Citations & Bibliography (MS Word). Contact your subject librarians.

Skills training

Subject librarians can offer wide range of support and training

There are a small selection of recorded presentations available via the Postgraduate Study Practices Programme delivered in partnership with Student Support Services.

Subject information enquiries and training

Contact your subject librarian directly by phone or email, or email librarians@aber.ac.uk, for subject and information skills enquiries and training requests. You can also book online for a one-to-one appointment with your subject librarian via LibGuides.