PAL Central: Useful resources

Both our campus libraries are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and offer an excellent mix of individual and collaborative study spaces.

We have private study rooms, booths for group work, cafés and comfy spaces where you can relax and unwind. There's a large number of desktop PCs available, plus docking stations or powered desk spaces for your laptop.

The print books in our library are just a small proportion of the total we have available. Including e-books we have over 750,000 books currently available for students to use, plus several million peer reviewed journal articles accessible online. Our easy-to-use discovery system, mySearch, means you can access the books or journals you need instantly online, anytime and anywhere.

Need help? We have a helpdesk in each library which is staffed Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and offers basic support in accessing and using our resources. More specialist help is available from your Faculty library team who offer 1:1 appointments and workshops - bookable through the Academic Skills Hub

We are here to help you!

Online resources and Face-to-face / virtual support

The Academic Skills hub offers bookable workshops and 1:1 specialist help. Along with a wide range of self-access guides and resources that offer support for a whole range of skills. 

The Glossary of key vocabulary is perfect to help you decode those difficult-to-understand assignment briefs.

All the guides are designed to help you with your course assignments, including:

• Academic Writing,
• Critical thinking 
• Presentation and Seminar skills 
• reading 
• referencing
• and much more

Top tips for being sustainable at BU.

• Join our returnable cup scheme.
• Bring your own water bottle and use the refill points.
• Use the food carbon labelling system to make more sustainable food choices while on campus.
• Purchase Fairtrade products we have available on campus. Our coffee is Fairtrade, and Tony’s Chocolonelys chocolate is delicious!
• Choose sustainable travel options, preferably active travel (walking or cycling).
• Reduce your waste and recycle. On campus we have general waste, mixed recycling, and food waste across both campuses. We also have crisp packet and stationary bins, which you can find in Poole House, Dorset House, and the library. You can also recycle batteries in Poole House, and even stamps on the first floor of SUBU!