Library resources

The University Of Manchester Library

The University of Manchester Library, a designated National Research Library, offers a range of services that directly underpin research at Manchester. This includes the provision of research support facilities across campus, access to an unparalleled range of electronic resources including over 40,000 e-journals and a comprehensive range of research datasets.

Facilities

The University of Manchester Library operates across a number of sites. The Main Library offers group study rooms, individual study spaces and computer clusters. WiFi is available throughout the building and a cafe lounge is located on the ground floor.

The Alan Gilbert Learning Commons provides a state of the art 24/7 learning environment, offering flexible open learning spaces, multimedia facilities, computer clusters and bookable group study rooms as well as running a wide range of study skills workshops throughout the academic year.

In addition to the main sites, there are a number of specialist libraries located throughout the campus. For further information, see:

Get started: quick guide

You will need your student card to access all library sites around campus, and your central university username and password to access the electronic resources. Our Get Started guide provides helpful videos on how to use the Library plus information on how to navigate and find support:

Finding your resources

The principal collections for SoSS can be found in the Main Library and the Precinct Library. Use the ‘Library Search’ to find books, ebooks, online journals and articles. Use the subject guides to find appropriate resources and databases for your subject area.

Training

Training for academic skills and finding/searching our resources is available all year round, either online or via face-to-face workshops. Full details can be found via our My Learning Essentials training site:

My Research Essentials (MRE) is our programme of workshops, information sessions, and online resources designed to support development for researchers at all career stages.  Topics covered include resources to use during the research process, dissemination of research and raising your research profile.  To help researchers navigate the programme we have created a pathway for Postgraduate Research students.

Library research support

The Library has a dedicated Research Services team offering support and guidance on research (PURE) profile, open access, citation analysis and research data management. The research data management page provides detailed information about information security, data protection policies and regulations, how to organise data, where to store research data and what to do if you need to increase storage capacity. Please find out more on:

Register with ORCID 

All postgraduate researchers at The University of Manchester are required to create an ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID). Your ORCID provides a unique research identifier that distinguishes you from every other researcher and links your professional activities. Registration for ORCID is free and will mean that research outputs can be tagged and tracked more easily throughout your career.

Pure researcher profile

Creating a research profile is important for postgraduate researchers.

The online profile will showcase your research outputs or achievements such as publication, awards, internship, membership of professional bodies, prizes, and help you engage with potential employers or collaborators.

To start creating your Pure profile, please go to Pure and log in using your University username and password.

For additional support with Pure, please see Pure guides for postgraduate research students.

Enquiries

For general enquiries, support with finding, accessing or using the electronic resources, or to make recommendations for your research area, please contact the library in person, via phone or online:

Library news and updates

Keep up to date with the latest Library developments via Facebook or Twitter:

 

Research data management

Research Data Management is part of good research practice, improving the efficiency of the research process and making your research more reproducible. There is support available across the University to assist you with this:

  • Planning: Data Management Plans help you plan how you will collect and handle data and are also a requirement of the University for every new research project. You can find the data management planning tool, guidance on writing data management plans and a data management plan review service on the Research Data Management website.
  • Storing: Research Data Storage is available from Research IT services, providing 8TB of replicated storage per project, free at the point of use for funded projects (excluding commercial funders). NB: currently only staff can apply for storage space so ask your supervisor to apply on your behalf.
  • ‌Where possible we recommend using the University’s supported institutional research data repository, Figshare, an easy to use cloud-based platform that can securely store and organise your research data and publish selected datasets that support your research, making these discoverable and citable. Figshare allows you to store your outputs in any file format, provides a citable DOI for public outputs and adheres to funder compliance; many funders mandate that projects they fund must publish supporting data. It can also help to make your data outputs Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) and reflects the University’s support of Open Research. Contact the RDM Team for more information on accessing and using Figshare. If you would prefer a discipline-specific data repository, you can find one for your subject via Re3data.org. Some funders expect data to be deposited in specific data centres e.g. ESRC and NERC support dedicated data centres. Also consider whether any agreements with your collaborators include requirements for data deposit.
  • Training: There are courses on Research Data Management targeted for each faculty available via My Research Essentials.
  • Support: If you have any questions about Research Data Management you can send them to researchdata@manchester.ac.uk