Borrow, renew, reserve and return books
As a student at Strathclyde, you automatically become a member of the Library. Your student card also acts as your Library card or you can use the Library barcode on the Strathclyde mobile app.
All members of Strathclyde staff are also members of the Library. You can access online resources using your DS username and password, however you'll need to fill in a membership form to get a Library card and borrow print items.
You have an online Library account so that you can keep an eye on what you’ve borrowed and pay any outstanding fines. You can also request items which are on loan to other students. Log in to your account by following the links on SUPrimo.
Borrowing items
What you can borrow
- Undergraduates can borrow up to 15 items at any one time.
- Postgraduates can borrow up to 20 items at any one time.
- University staff can borrow up to 30 items at any one time.
All University staff and students can borrow a maximum of 3 items from the Short Loan Collection at any one time.
Loan periods
| Items from the Main Collection | Standard Loans (up to 6 weeks) or 1 Week Loans.
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| Items from the Short Loan Collection | Short Loan items are issued for 1 day, and will automatically renew for a maximum of 1 week. |
You borrow books yourself using the self-service kiosks on Level 3 of the Library. We can show you how to use these but don’t worry - it’s easy and you’ll soon get the hang of it.
We may ask you to bring a book back to the Library sooner than you expect. We will do this if another student has requested the book. Please check your Strathclyde email regularly to avoid being fined for not returning a book when we ask you to.
Help collecting and carrying books
Our Fetch and Carry service helps students who are not able to find, collect and/or carry books themselves.
Loans by post
We offer a postal loan service to registered students in priority groups who live in the UK or the Republic of Ireland.
Renewing items
We automatically renew your loans, unless another customer has reserved them or your account has been blocked.
We will continue to automatically renew your loans for a maximum of:
- 24 weeks for Standard Loans
- 6 weeks for 1 Week Loans
- 1 week for Short Loans.
After this time you will need to bring your loans in to the Library if you wish to renew them.
We will email you if your loans are needed by someone else. Fines apply if you do not return items when asked, so you must regularly check your Strathclyde email.
Reserving items
If a book you are looking for is currently on loan to someone else, you may place a reservation on it.
We will email the person who has the book to ask them to bring it back to the Library.
Similarly, if you have borrowed a book and get an email from us telling you a reservation has been placed on it, you must bring the book back to the Library. It is important to check the new return date in the email or you may be subject to a fine.
Returning items
Return items using the returns sorter at the main entrance. Staff can show you how.
We also currently offer a Freepost returns service for people living in the UK.
Responsibility for items on loan
You are responsible for all items borrowed using your card, so don’t let anyone else use it. Tell us immediately if you lose your student card, a book or other Library resource.
Library regulations
You can find out more information about using the Library and borrowing stock in the Library regulations.