Welcome back! Whether you are a fledgling or an old hand at academia, understanding how to navigate the world of information is essential to your research. Let us break it down with a handy guide of the library tools you have at your disposal.
1. Know your privileges
Oh goody!
Depending on the membership that you have with NIE Library, your borrowing privileges will differ in terms of loan limit and the materials that you can borrow. To find out about the privileges for each membership type, simply access Information For on the NIE library homepage and choose the relevant membership type.
To sign up as a member with NIE Library, our Service Point staff will be happy to assist you on which membership type is applicable to you. Apart from NIE staff and students, other types of membership have charges that can vary from an annual fee to a one-time payment upon registration.
2. Renew in time, save a fine
May I request an extension please?
If you are holding on to books that you cannot afford to return just yet, whether for research or teaching reasons, fret not! Renewing your loans is as simple as a click away. Login to your library account and choose “renew my materials” to select the titles that you would like to renew. Just remember to renew before the due date to avoid accumulating fines at a rate of thirty cents per day – that adds up!
3. This book is chope-ed
Take a number and get in the back, friend.
When all copies of a book have been loaned out, the option to "place hold" will appear in the item information. You will be notified when there is an available copy, after which you can pick it up from the library's Service Point located on level two. Please check out the item within a period of seven days from the date of notification or the reservation will lapse.
You can also check the book titles that you have placed a hold for by logging into your library account.
4. Not available? We’ll pick it up for you
We've got you covered.
Tried searching in both in our library search engine (LibDiscover) and in the library catalogue (WebOPAC) for a specific journal article but to no avail? If the journal article is not available in our library, we can get it from other libraries for you. If you are a NIE staff or student, simply fill up the corresponding form for Document Delivery service and give us as as complete a citation as possible. Please also indicate if you would like to proceed with the document delivery if a charge is incurred – NIE staff may opt to use their Teaching Material Vote or Research Vote in this scenario.
If the desired item in question is a book, NIE staff and higher degree students can also request for an Interlibrary Loan. Two titles can be requested per user at any one time. We’ll even absorb the fees for you! Now that’s service.
5. Recommend books to your library
Help us help you!
If you love recommending recent good reads to people, how about recommending them to your library? The NIE Library is always working with our library coordinators and faculty members to develop our collections. All recommendations will be reviewed in conjunction with meeting the Institute’s curricular needs and available library funds. If you discover that a title is not available in our library (as a quick search in the library catalogue WebOPAC will tell you), let us hear from you!