Evening and Weekend Guide

Alumni

Key facts:

• Alumni are ex-students who have successfully graduated
• Membership is £15.00 per annum 
• Membership expires after one year, at which point they can renew for another £15.00
• Entitled to 4 standard loans 
• Not permitted to make reservations
• Will not be able to access eResources off campus - they must use a walk-in password when on-site

We welcome previous students to apply to have an account with us if they have successfully completed their course. We, therefore, do not accept previous students under the Alumni scheme who withdrew from their course or failed. These individuals may however be considered as external members of the public (see below).  

Library staff can verify the applicant by using the previous student number provided on the application form to search SITS for the student.  

Once approved, these users are entitled to a borrowing account and up to 4 standard loans.  

External Members of the Public 

Key facts:

• Membership is £30.00 per annum
• Membership expires after one year, at which point they can renew for another £30.00
• Entitled to 4 standard loans 
• Not permitted to make reservations
• Will not be able to access eResources off campus - they must use a walk-in password when on-site
  • This also means that to access IT resources on site they must use a walk-in password each time

Members of the public undergoing personal study and qualifications who require access to academic resources are able to apply to become members of our library and have a library account.  

As the library’s study space is at a premium for its own staff and students, we do not tend to allow applications simply for study space and IT access alone, and in this instance, we would usually refer the individual to the public library. For this reason, these applicants are asked to explain their rationale for joining in a formal document which they must attach to their application. This will then be reviewed by a manager or supervisor and approved or declined.  

Once approved, these users must pay £30.00 for their year of membership.  

These users are entitled to a borrowing account and up to 4 standard loans.  

Former Staff Members

Key facts:

• Membership is £15.00 per annum, or free if staff served 5+ years
• Membership expires after one year, at which point they can renew for another £15.00
• Entitled to 4 standard loans 
• Not permitted to make reservations
• Will not be able to access eResources off campus - they must use a walk-in password when on-site

We welcome former/retired staff members to apply to have an account with us. Those who provided less than 5 years of service must pay an annual membership fee of £15.00. If they were a staff member for 5 years or more, they are entitled to free membership with us however this will still need to be renewed every year.  

Library staff can verify that the applicant was a previous staff member and their years of service by using the previous staff number provided on the application form to search SITS. 

Once approved, these users are entitled to a borrowing account and up to 4 standard loans.  

Corporate Groups and Organisations 

Key Facts:

• Membership is £20 per annum per person
• Membership expires after one year, at which point they can renew for another £25.00
• Entitled to 4 standard loans each 
• Not permitted to make reservations
• Will not be able to access eResources off campus - they must use a walk-in password when on-site

In some instances, members of organisations and groups wish to be part of a shared membership scheme where it is more cost-efficient than all members of the group joining individually. This membership still works much like external public membership and each individual member may borrow up to 4 standard loans.  

Once approved, either the group members or their employer/organiser are responsible for covering the cost of £25.00 for their year of membership plus a one-off £50.00 admin fee when they first register. Each individual member will also have to fill in a separate application form on the LibGuides website.  

Partner Staff

Key facts:

• Membership is £20.00 per annum (or free if teaching on a UoS course)
• Membership expires after one year, at which point they can renew for another £20.00
• Entitled to 4 standard loans each 
• Not permitted to make reservations
• Will not be able to access eResources off campus - they must use a walk-in password when on-site

We welcome staff members teaching further education courses in one of our partner colleges to apply to have an account with us. The 4 partner colleges are Suffolk New College, West Suffolk College, East Coast College Lowestoft and East Coast College Great Yarmouth. Their membership costs £20.00 per annum. 

Once approved these users are entitled to a borrowing account and up to 4 standard loans.  

It is important to note that some of the University’s own higher education courses are taught by staff who are based in one of the partner colleges. These staff members should have a P number and will usually already have a university staff card that allows them access to the Library Building. They are not required to pay for any memberships and should be entitled to borrow up to 6 items.   

Student Union Staff

Key facts:

• Membership is free.
• Membership requires an expiry date.
• Entitled to 4 standard loans each 
• Not permitted to make reservations
• Will not be able to access eResources off campus - they must use a walk-in password when on-site

We have had SU staff enquire if they would be able to have borrowing rights. We can set them up with an account as Partner Staff, which will allow them to borrow up to four items. We will require their full name, P-number (you can get this from scanning their card, and their length of contract (so that we can give their account an expiry date), in order to create the account. LSAs will process this, should they ask outside of weekdays 9-5 please ask them to email the Library Helpdesk with the needed information from their SU staff account.