King's College London - Homepage

Customer Services take pride in ensuring that users of the libraries enjoy a first rate experience. The department develops and provides a range of services for a diverse user base and aims to help them get the most out of services and resources. Customer Services encourage and monitor a range of feedback and communication on the service in order that it develops in line with customer needs.

Customer Services provide a range of circulation services via self service means, such as state of the art self service machines that issue, return, renew, take fine payment and display account information. They also provide laptop loans, photocopying and printing services via self service facilities. Help is always available from library staff in using these functions.

Customer Services offer a modern and professional enquiry service. Enquiries are answered on enquiry desks at each library as well as by telephone, email and online chat. Library users ask a range of questions from directional queries and basic IT advice, to more in depth support with identifying and using the library resources and collections. Customer Services aim to answer as many questions as possible at the point of need. Referral to specialists in other teams is available for in-depth support.

The department also looks after the library spaces, providing a safe and clean study environment and developing spaces in line with changing user requirements for different types of study zone and equipment. In order to look after these spaces effectively, Customer Services work closely with their colleagues in Estates and maintain tasks such as shelving, signage, stock repair and stock moves.

Research and Learning Liaison provides the link between Library Services and the academic schools and our NHS partners. Our team of Information Specialists and Library Liaison Managers provide a range of services and support including:

• Liaison and engagement with the academic community.
• Development and management of our printed and online Library collections.
• Training and support in finding, appraising and citing information.
• Web pages with detailed support for each school.
• Welcome sessions for new staff and students organised by your Information Specialist.
• Support with using assistive software.
• Access to training in Microsoft Office and a range of specialist software
• Expertise and training in bibliographic software, especially EndNote & RefWorks.
• Support and liaison with our NHS partners.
• Support for research including citation analysis, bibliometrics and open access.
• Integrating Library resources with e-learning systems such as Keats.
• Advice on avoiding plagiarism and support for Turnitin.

There is a named Information Specialist for each School. The Information Specialists have subject resource expertise to support the needs of staff and students in their Schools. They are often the first point of contact regarding Library Services. The list of information Specialists is available here.

We hold a unique, internationally significant and continually expanding range of archival and printed sources. These resources are available for use by the staff and students of King’s, the wider academic community and any member of the public who has an interest in our holdings.

Archives acquire, preserve and make accessible the archives of the College, as well as organisations which it has founded, such as King's College Hospital, and with which it has merged. Also included are the research papers of former staff and students including Maurice Wilkins, Eric Mottram and Sir Charles Wheatstone. The Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives is a leading repository for research into modern defence policy in Britain. The core of this collection is the private papers of over 700 senior defence personnel who held office from 1900 onwards. The Archives total some 5 million documents.

The Foyle Special Collections Library houses some 170,000 printed works, as well as maps, slides, sound recordings and manuscript material. Its collections, built up over centuries by purchase, gift and bequest, contain many unique items and cover all subject areas, but they are particularly strong in medicine, science, voyages and travels, the history of Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean, European military and diplomatic history, the history of the British Empire, 20th century Germany and Jewish and Christian theology.

The Information Management team support the efficient management of College records and data (including research) in any format or media type from creation or acquisition to disposal or transfer to Archives in accord with business and legal requirements. Core services cover electronic and paper records management, records storage, retrieval and destructions, support for digital archiving, policy and process guidance notably with regards to IT business systems, copyright, and training.

Information Resources works closely with other areas of Library Services to provide the content and technology underpinning the main Library collection. The division also provides a number of specialist platforms and services to support learning, teaching and research.

Information Resources:

• Orders, processes and catalogues materials for the Library collection, including gifts and donations.
• Manages access to subscription resources including print and electronic journals, standing orders, databases, and ebook collections.
• Provides the Interlending and Document Delivery service, which obtains material not available in the Library collection on behalf of individual customers.
• Delivers the Digital Course Pack service, which provides digital extracts of course readings to students via Keats.
• Manages the Reading List service and Patron Driven ebook purchase.
• Supports the research information system Pure, incorporating the College’s institutional repository of publications and e-theses.
• Administers Open Access deposit and Article Processing Charges (APCs).
• Supports the ongoing assessment of print journals holdings, and identifies online journal backfiles for purchase so that space can be repurposed in the campus libraries and stores.
• Develops technology services to support the acquisition and discovery of information resources, such as the new Library Search service, the library catalogue (OPAC), authentication to eresources, and full cycle EDI (electronic data interchange) for monograph and journal ordering and invoicing.
• Provides information and statistics for decision-making, financial planning, budget management and benchmarking within Library Services.