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PolyU Library

Library Guide for PolyU Students

Top things every PolyU student should know about your “Learning Hub” throughout your studies in PolyU and beyond

Course Resources

Course readings are readings / study materials recommended by your instructors for the course you are enrolled in. You should try to get your hands on these readings at the beginning of the semester as they are very popular among students. These readings could be from different types of materials like books, journal articles and/or audio-visual materials.

 

How to find course readings?

You can access the reading materials on Learn@PolyU or from the Library homepage. Watch this 1-minute video to learn how, or refer to the quick guide for students.

 

How to access course readings

1) Access from your course Learn@PolyU

 

2) Access rom Library Website

Access PolyU Course Programmes Database to retrieve detailed information on academic programs dating back to 1981, including program aims, structure, curriculum outlines, and subject syllabuses.

                   

 

Download the past exam papers from PolyU Examination Paper Database to prepare for exams of your subjects. You can do a search or browse by subject title and code.

OneSearch

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The library collects print (physical) and electronic resources related to all programmes and courses offered at PolyU. This includes books, journals, audio-visual materials and many more.


How to find an item in the Library Collection?

OneSearch is a one-stop discovery platform to help you find anything in the Library, whether it is in print or electronic format. Watch this short video or visit this guide to learn more about OneSearch.

The quickest way to find books is through a direct search in OneSearch. You may search by Keywords, Title of the Book, Call Number, or an ISBN number.

Watch the short tutorial below to learn how to find and access e-books and print books in OneSearch.

(If you cannot view this video, try another access point here)

You may also refer to the steps below:

1. Visit Library homepage. Type in your keywords or title of the book and hit the search button. (You may also switch to "Books & Media+" tab which will limit your search to books and physical AV materials only)

2. Limit results to "Books" under Resource Type on the right panel of the page. You may further refine results to "Physical items" (which means print books only), or "Full Text Online" (which means e-books only). 

3. Click on the book title to see more information about the book.

4. For print books, the location is described by its Call Number. Check the book location by clicking on LOCATION

    You can then pick up the book from the shelves with the call number.

5. For e-books, click on Online access or Full text available or Download PDF.  Access the full-text online via the link provided.

6. Sign in with your NetID and NetPassword to get access to the full-text of the e-book.

For details, please refer to this guide.

Watch this video to learn:

  • how to search articles and refine results on OneSearch
  • how to access full text of the articles

To find journal articles from OneSearch, you may follow the steps below:

  1. Select Articles from the top.
  2. Keywords search is the default setting in OneSearch. You can change it to title search, author search, ISSN search etc.
  3. By default, only articles with full-text online will be shown in the result list. You can uncheck this box to show articles without full-text if you wish.
  4. Input search terms here and press on the SEARCH button.
  5. Access the full-text online via the links provided. Login with your NetID and NetPassword if you are accessing articles off-campus.
  6. Click on Peer-reviewed Journals filter to limit the result to articles from peer-reviewed journals only if you wish.

 For details, please refer to this guide.

There are chances that the item you need is not available in the library. It could be because our library does not have the title, or another user has checked out our copy. The following are some possible ways to place a request. 

  • Print Book Request
    • Option 1: HKALL RequestUtilizing HKALL to request books from other UGC-funded university libraries in Hong Kong by placing a hold. This allows you to access books available within the library system. 

 

           

What is HKALL Borrowing Services?

A shared platform for UGC-funded university libraries in Hong Kong, HKALL Borrowing Services allows you to request physical books that are not available in the PolyU library. The book will be delivered to our Library within 2 - 3 days for pick up. 

Find loan quotas and other details here.

  • Option 2: Place a hold on the PolyU copy - recalling and queueing up for the check-out book from our Library. After you place a hold, the previous user will be asked to return the book in about 28 days.

  • Article Request
    • You can try to request the full text of an article using Interlibrary Loans (ILL) services. The Library will source the resources from both local and overseas libraries.

 

   

What is Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery Services (ILL&DDS)?

To get full text for articles and book chapters that are not available in PolyU Library, you can submit a request via ILL&DDS services. For postgraduate students, you can even request a print book if the resource is not found in our Library and HKALL collection.

Get to know steps for requests and other information from the homepage of ILL&DDS services.

  • Remote Store Item Request

    • If the book you need is located at the Remote Store, you can request it through this service. The book will be retrieved and made available for you to pick up.

Detailed steps can be referred to in this guide.

Databases & e-Resources

To support your teaching and research needs, the Library has subscribed different types of databases, including databases for articles, statistics, standards, images, newspapers and more. Explore related databases by type of resources or by subject discipline.

To access the databases, go to Library's homepage. Select Databases from the top. 

 

Find a Database by Name

If you know the name of the database, simply type it directly into the search bar to locate the resources you need efficiently. You can explore the databases in alphabetical order according to their names by selecting the "A to Z list". 

 

Browse Databases by Subject

Expanding the list of "Browse databases by subject" to explore databases relevant to specific academic disciplines or fields or interest. 

 

Browser Databases by Type

Expanding the list of "Browse databases by type" allow you to get access to databases accordingly to types of content, such as Images & Maps, Newspapers, Statistics & Data, Dissertation & Theses, Standards & Patents, etc. 

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The Electronic Collection of PolyU Library contains a multitude of electronic resources including e-books, full-text electronic journal titles, theses, newspapers, etc. 99% of our journals and 72% of our books are electronic versions and can be available anytime and anywhere. You can access most e-resources both on and off-campus access:


e-Books

The easiest way to find a book is via Library's OneSearch. You can also access books directly from an e-book database, e.g.:

EBSCOhost eBook Collection

covers an extensive collection of e-books in all disciplines. You can read online or download up to 100 pages per day.

ProQuest Ebook Central

covers a large number of e-books in all disciplines. You can read online or download up to 134 pages per day.

VitalSource

covers a selected number of e-textbooks in Business, Finance & Accounting, Engineering & Computer Science, Hospitality & Culinary, Social Sciences & Psychology. You can read online or check out the books for offline reading.

To explore e-books in Chinese, you may try these databases: 華藝電子書 iRead eBook, HyRead eBook, Apabi e-book.


Journals

Library has subscribed to over 170k scholarly journals and 99.5% of them are in e-format. Visit Journal Search to find and access the journals available through the Library. You may also use BrowZine which allows easy browsing, reading and following journals on both desktop and mobile devices.


Audios & Videos

Library provides over 240k audio & video materials in different disciplines to support teaching and learning. A few featured platforms include:

JoVE Science Education

covers videos to help you improve lab techniques and experimental skills. You can explore videos in the following themes:

JoVE also offers videos to support research in different disciplines, e.g. biology, chemistry, environment, and more.

Alexander Street

provides streaming videos for a variety of subjects:

Kanopy

collects over 17,800 streaming movies and documentaries in all subjects. A good resource for both learning and entertainment.

EBSCOhost Audiobooks

collects over 360 audiobooks. You can download the app and listen to the audiobooks on your iOS or Android devices.

Check the full list of Audio & Video resources to explore more or get some tips from our Online Audio & Video Resources guide.


PolyU Electronic Theses

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Digital Collections

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PolyU Institutional Research Archive

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Remote Access to E-Resources

Bookmarklet Plug-in

when you are off-campus, you can install the library's bookmarklet plug-in in your browser. Follow the steps to learn how to install.To quickly get the full text of the library subscribed e-resources

Install Bookmarklet


Google Scholar@PolyU

Google Scholar is an easy-to-use discovery tool for academic papers. You will see PolyU eLinks for the article we subscribed if you access Google Scholar in the campus, which allows you to access full-text of the articles from the library.

However, there will not be PolyU eLinks in Google Scholar while you are off-campus. In this case, you can still access the articles we subscribed via Google Scholar@PolyU from the library homepage, or via library links setting in Google Scholar:

myRecord

myRecord refers to a personal account that allows individuals to view all your loans and requested items, including books borrowed via HKALL borrowing services or with your JULAC Library Card. It also allows you to conveniently renew borrowed item(s)

You can explore "My Privileges" to discover details about your account privileges, such as loan quota, loan period, entitled services/facilities, and more. 

 

 

 

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JULAC Card

You can also apply for a Joint University Librarians Advisory Committee (JULAC) Library Card at the Loan & Return Counter, which allows you to visit other UGC-funded university libraries in person. This can be another way to access resources from other libraries. Furthermore, loan records from the other institutes you have registered with will also be displayed in "myRecord," providing a comprehensive overview of your borrowing activities.

View detailed arrangements for the JULAC card here and register online here.