For many students, library tours are a useful way to get their bearings during Welcome Week. We also know that starting university, visiting a new building, and meeting new people can feel a little overwhelming when you’re not sure what to expect.
To help with that, we’ve created a new online guide: What to Expect on Your Library Tour.
The guide takes you through the library tour experience before you arrive, including where to go, who you’ll meet, what the tour covers, and what to do if you’re running late. There are also photos of key locations, accessibility information, and details of the support available if you need it.
The guide isn’t intended to replace the tour itself. Instead, it’s there to help you know what to expect, feel more prepared, and decide whether there is anything you might want to ask about in advance.
Whether you are looking forward to exploring the library, prefer to plan ahead, or simply like to know what to expect before trying something new, we hope you’ll find it useful.
Now that the academic year has ended, it’s a great moment to reflect on the impact of our digitisation service—and what a year it has been! Working closely with teaching staff and responding to sustained student demand, the service has delivered consistent access to key readings across departments.
A year in numbers
Our digitisation service has supported teaching and learning at scale:
379 combined reading lists processed—these include shared lists across multiple courses (e.g. Welsh/English or UG/PG equivalents)—representing 503 individual reading lists supported in total
2,210 extracts released to reading lists, comprising both book chapters and journal articles
40,813 pages digitised
12,134 students supported
These figures highlight not just volume, but reach: tens of thousands of pages made accessible to over twelve thousand students, directly embedded within their module reading lists.
It’s equally encouraging to see how actively this content has been used:
26,762 views
2,678 downloads
596 prints
This level of engagement shows that digitised readings are not just available—they’re being used in meaningful ways to support study, revision, and research.
A reliable, responsive service
The digitisation service has remained a reliable way for students to get hold of their core readings, helping make key materials accessible to everyone. Across a wide range of teaching needs, the team has delivered extracts promptly and in line with copyright requirements.
Don’t stop now: Summer access
While the academic year has come to an end, the digitisation service is still on hand to support your summer reading and research. If you’re continuing your research, preparing for next year, or simply following your academic curiosity, you can still request:
Book chapters
Journal articles
Thesis extracts
So, whether you’re getting ahead, catching up, or diving into something new, we’re here to help you keep your brain in motion over the summer months.
Library staff have been preparing to join the new Student Journey department in January 2026 and the Team will be sharing a new profile of subject librarian responsibilities
Find usage stats and further information about library services we deliver including Information Literacy teaching and one-to-one support, Digitisation, AberSkills, Aspire Reading Lists, LibGuides and Digital Skills in the 2024-2025 Library Action plan.
Empty reading lists are being created in Aspire for new and returning modules requiring a list. Once you have added some content to your reading list, it will be linked to the appropriate Blackboard module by Library staff.
When updating your Aspire reading list content for the coming year, be sure to update the 2024-2025 edition of your reading list. If you add books to 2023-2024 reading lists they will not be purchased. FYI 2023-2024 Aspire reading lists will remain visible in 2023-2024 Blackboard modules until the end of August when they will be archived.
