Quick Guide to Placing Holds

 

 

 

 

It’s now easier than ever to reserve a book that’s out on loan using the Library’s search tool, Hunter.

First check the Locations tab to find out whether the book you want is available. If all copies are out on loan, you’ll be able to reserve a copy. Just follow the three steps below:

If you haven’t already, sign in to Hunter.

• SGUL staff and students can sign in with their SGUL username and password
• NHS staff can find out their Hunter login (which is different from the Library username and password) by asking at the Library Helpdesk or emailing library@sgul.ac.uk

After you sign in, a Place hold option appears. Click here…

…and select Request.

 

Hunter confirms that your hold is placed.

When a copy of the book becomes available you’ll receive an email, and will then have one week to collect it from the Library Helpdesk.

Sign-in to Hunter for more features

Hunter – the library’s search tool – does more than allow you to search across the Library’s print and electronic resources. You can use Hunter to save useful resources, manage your library account and request items that the library doesn’t hold. All of these features can be activated by signing in to Hunter before you start your search.

Remember: SGUL students and staff should use their SGUL username and password. NHS staff can obtain their login by emailing library@sgul.ac.uk or calling the Library Helpdesk on 020 8725 5466 (between 8am – 6pm Monday to Friday).

Sign-in to:

Check item details
Place holds
Manage your account
Add items to your e-Shelf
Save your searches
Request an inter-library loan

 

Check item details

If you are searching Hunter for a print book, the Locations tab will give you more details about the item’s availability:

If you want to identify the loan period for each copy (i.e. find out if they are 1 or 3 week loans), click the ‘Sign-in for more options’ link and you’ll be prompted to login:

Once signed in, you’ll be able to see the loan period for each copy of the book.

 

Place holds

If all copies of the book that you want are out on loan, you can place a hold on that book. When a copy becomes available, you will be notified by e-mail to come and collect it from the Library Helpdesk.

The ‘Locations’ tab will tell you if there are any copies available. If all the copies have the status ‘On Loan‘, you’ll need to sign-in to Hunter in order to place a hold on the book. Click the ‘Sign-in for more options‘ link:

Enter your login details when prompted. Then click the ‘Place Hold‘ link which has now become active:

Click on the ‘Request’ button to confirm the hold. You’ll then be notified of your place in the Holds queue:

You can view or cancel your hold requests by using the ‘My Account‘ link in the top right-hand corner of Hunter and clicking on the ‘Requests‘ tab:

 

Manage your account

As well as viewing and managing your hold requests (see above) you can use the My Account feature to:

• View your current loans and check their due dates.
• Check your account for any outstanding overdue fines.
• Change the display settings to view more results per page.
• View your previous loan history.

You’ll see in the top left two other tabs. These will allow you to save individual search results by adding them to your e-Shelf, and to save useful searches for later.

 

Add items to your e-Shelf

If you find a useful resource when searching Hunter that you want to save for later, click the star next to the title:

This will turn the star orange and add the item to your e-Shelf.

You can retrieve it, and any other records you have saved, by clicking the e-Shelf link in the top right-hand corner of the page…

…or by clicking the e-Shelf tab when logged in to your account.

Anything you ‘star’ will be added to this folder. You can manage and organise them (perhaps by topic, or by assignment) into separate folders if you find this useful.

 

Save your searches

You can also save a whole page of search results to your e-Shelf in one go. Click the ‘Add page to e-Shelf’ link inn the bottom left hand corner of the page.

Above that is an option to ‘Save search’. Click on this to save your search terms in your account, so that you can run the search again at a later date. You’ll be prompted to give the search a name:

You can also save the search as an ‘alert’. When new papers that match your search terms are added to Hunter, you’ll be emailed a list of them to your registered email address.

You can view and manage these searches in the ‘Searches’ tab of your account.

 

Request an inter-library loan

If you are unable to find a book or journal article in our collections, we may be able to obtain a copy for you from a different library*. More details on the inter-library process can be found here: http://library.sgul.ac.uk/resources/interlibrary-loans

You’ll find the online form to request an inter-library loan in the top right-hand corner of Hunter. The link will remain greyed out until you sign-in:

*charges may apply.
For more help with any of these features, or using Hunter to find resources, please email the Liaison Team on liaison@sgul.ac.uk or visit the Research Enquiries Desk between 11am and 4pm, Monday to Friday.

Hot off the press: My Name is Leon by Kit De Waal

Pick up your own free copy of My Name is Leon today!

This special edition is published as part of the KU Big Read and includes comments about last year’s Big Read and discussion prompts to help you join in the conversation.

New students starting at Kingston University London this year will receive a copy over the summer, including FHSCE students studying at the joint faculty of Kingston and St George’s, to welcome them to University life. Current students and staff can grab the book for themselves from the library helpdesk at St George’s.

You can read our staff and student reviews of all of the shortlisted Big Read titles, including Senior Lecturer Joanne Powell’s review of My Name is Leon, by clicking on The Big Read tag.

Author visit to St George’s

Kit De Waal’s first novel has become an award winning best seller and was shortlisted for the 2016 Costa First Novel Award. Lenny Henry, after narrating an audiobook version, has optioned the book for TV, so we’re sure there will be big and exciting things still to come for this wonderful book.

Speaking of exciting news soon to come – Kit De Waal will be visiting St George’s in October. It will be a great opportunity to hear her speak about her book and maybe even get your own copy signed!

Further details will be annouced on the KU Big Read website, or watch this space…

Lunchtime book club

There will be a one-off lunchtime book club in August for staff to discuss the themes in My Name is Leon. Please contact St George’s Library if you’re interested in joining.

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Join the discussion. Tell us what you thought of My Name is Leon, or what your favourite Big Read shortlisted book is. Come by the library to borrow a copy.

26 June – Book swap and new book display

Book Swap

From Monday 26th June – Friday 7th July, we’re putting out a book swap trolley in the Library Foyer. All St George’s staff and student are welcome to pick a book to read for free (initial collection kindly donated by Library staff) and to drop off a book on the trolley for sharing with others.

Our Summer  2016 book swap trolley.  Pick up a book, drop off a book!

Summer Remix – best of the book displays  2016-2017

Watch out for our new book display in the Library that will go out on Monday 26th June. We’re putting out the most popular books from the displays that we’ve run for this academic year, which includes a selection of fiction and non-fictional titles.

Book Review: The Brilliant & Forever by Kevin MacNeil

A review of The Brilliant and Forever, written by Catriona Robertson, FHSCE Liaison Support Librarian

MacNeil is a wordsmith and the novel delights with beautifully written passages and moments of unexpected humour which bring to light the human condition.

After having read and loved another one of Kevin MacNeil’s books, The Stornoway Way, I was really excited to see that his new book, The Brilliant and Forever, was shortlisted for the KU Big Read and jumped at the chance to read it. I certainly wasn’t disappointed!

The Brilliant and Forever is set on a nameless island where humans and alpacas live unharmoniously side by side. There are lots of parallels that can be drawn between the island and the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, where MacNeil grew up. Anyone from a small town can surely empathise with some of the idiosyncrasies of island life.

The novel centres around an annual book festival held on the island called The Brilliant and Forever. The festival draws an eclectic crowd of locals and literary types from further afield, who hope to make a name for themselves in this remote and strange place. We see events unfold from the perspective of our nameless protagonist, who is best friends with Macy and Archie the alpaca. Our protagonist is a contemplative man who experiences moments of clarity and calm, particularly whilst cycling around the island. As the reader, you can’t help but share his love and endearment for his companions. Macy defies conventions and is full of kooky ideas and witticisms and the funny but anxious Archie is nobly leading a fight for alpaca rights. All three are aspiring writers taking part in the literary festival.

Within the book is a series of short stories which are all individual entries for the festival. Each of these stories are unique, fantastic, humorous and heart-breaking. Even in these individual tales, MacNeil’s voice comes through. There is an unbroken thread weaving the festival stories together with themes of empathy, identity, and loneliness emerging. MacNeil also brings together folklore traditions of storytelling and the modern world.

The island can be seen as a microcosm of our society. There are many divides on the island, from the rich whitehousers to the poorer blackhousers. Black houses are traditional houses from the Scottish Highlands and Islands, which were sometimes viewed as crude and inferior structures to the newer white houses. In the book, these houses represent the privileged and less privileged echelons of society. There is also divide between humans and alpacas. There are elements of segregation on the island, and alpacas are treated as second class citizens. Archie’s entry to the B&F festival is all the more remarkable as none of the judges are alpacas, and the publishers who hold power are all human. The privileged whitehousers have a veneer of respectability and civility but they struggle with perpetual unhappiness due to their materialistic culture. There are strong undercurrents of violence and an ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality amongst the whitehousers.

As I read the book I found myself at times despairing and at times full of rage for the injustices Archie and others face in the novel. Ultimately, I felt uplifted by the examples of unlikely friendships and the vision of a fair and shared community for all. I’d definitely recommend this book. If you don’t enjoy it, in the words of Archie, “it’s a jazz thing you don’t get”.

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Join the discussion. Tell us what you thought of The Brilliant & Forever, or what your favourite Big Read shortlisted book is. Come by the library to borrow a copy.

Book Review: The Penguin Lessons by Tom Michell

A review of The Penguin Lessons, written by Eduardo R. Garcia, Midwifery student

A foreign country in turmoil. An adventure. An unforgettable friendship.

The Penguin Lessons is a narrative told in first person by the author, Tom Michell, whose family members were distributed all over the world and inspired him with tales and stories about their discoveries, filling his imagination and making him familiar with these places. However, while this encouraged his adventurous spirit to take off, he was also moved by the desire to explore an unknown territory where his relatives had not been before, and hence why South America came as a perfect destination for his cause. Years later, during the 70s, an advertisement looking for staff in a Boarding School in Argentina would become his passage to his longed for adventure, fearless of the economic and political situation that whipped the country in the meantime.

What makes this personal journey especial is not only the wealth of insight into Argentina, its people and the description of a period that is long gone. The real core of the story is the friendship between Michell and Juan Salvador, or Juan Salvado: a penguin that our leading man rescued out of the jaws of death.

Michell’s action could have stayed as an anecdote in an otherwise more formal and serious narrative, however he decided to take the penguin under his arm and continue his travels, bringing Juan Salvado with him into the Boarding School, and making this the story of a lifetime. The bird, or the way that he is presented to us by Michell, makes us think of him as a character with his own personality and decision-making; he is a little fighter that serves as a main narrative thread, providing emotive and funny moments as this peculiar and almost fantastical relationship between bird and human develops.

Perfectly written, and unfolding wit and charm, Michell imagines the replies that Juan Salvado gives him through his eyes or actions, humanizing the character and making the readers understand his desire to protect the animal and why everyone around loves him, breaking the barriers that one could imagine as impregnable between a penguin and the human world. Because, at the end of the day, could a penguin belong with humans?

With the sensitivity of someone who has observed the damage that human actions could perpetrate in nature, the author inspires us to be considerate with the environment. Also, in reference to the title of the novel, Michell learns and demystifies knowledge and ideas about penguins, teaching us some tips in case, one day, we find ourselves in a similar situation and need to parent one of them.

Similar reads: Big Fish, Water for Elephants.

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Join the discussion. Tell us what you thought of The Penguin Lessons, or what your favourite Big Read shortlisted book is. Come by the library to borrow a copy.

Book Review: The Power by Naomi Alderman

A review of The Power, written by Beth Jackson, FMBS Liaison Support Librarian

This powerful, provocative tale of how power corrupts will leave you questioning not only the dystopian world of Roxy, Allie, Margot and Tunde but our own society too. ‘Shockingly’ good.

How different would our world be if women were the dominant gender, wielding physical power over men? This is the central theme running through The Power, which examines how society changes after teenage girls suddenly develop the ability to discharge electricity through their hands. They soon learn they are able to awaken the power in older women too, and before long the entire female population are able to control, hurt and kill their oppressors – in this case, men.

How the global chaos unfolds is told through the stories of four central characters. Roxy, the daughter of a gangster, is caught in a criminal underworld and desperate to avenge her mother’s murder. Margot, a low-level American politician who once bestowed the power exploits it for political gain. Allie, a runaway who escapes her abusive foster father and becomes the leader of the new revolution, amassing followers who believe in the supremacy of women. Finally Tunde, a Nigerian journalist whose viral video of a teenager discharging her power on a male harasser kick-starts what becomes known as the ‘Day of the Girls’.

We see how their stories converge over the years as the power mechanics shift and belief systems change. Alderman does not present a matriarchal utopia by any means and graphically depicts the cruelty women are capable of. This can make for tough reading at times, but what’s most unsettling is that many of the displays of violence she posits are gender-flipped examples of the brutality inflicted on women in the real world. Considering the difficult and complex topics in the novel, the violence doesn’t feel gratuitous and serves a broader purpose of highlighting stereotypes about gender and illustrates how power can corrupt anyone.

It might not be the gentlest read among KU Big Read shortlist, but it is certainly packed with action, suspense and plenty of provocative scenes which will keep you ruminating long after you’ve finished the book.

Notable mention: If you are a fan of Margaret Atwood (particularly The Handmaid’s Tale) you might be interested to know she mentored Alderman back in 2012 (they co-wrote a zombie serialisation together!). Her influence can be felt in the storytelling and the dystopian themes underpinning the novel.

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Join the discussion. Tell us what you thought of The Power, or what your favourite Big Read shortlisted book is. Come by the library to borrow a copy.

Available to Borrow Now: ‘KU Big Read @ St George’s Library’ Books

Introducing our new book display in the library to celebrate the KU Big Read @ St George’s Library. As well as My Name is Leon, the official KU Big Read of 2017, all of the shortlisted books are featured in the display with a reviewer recommendation. They are available to borrow on a three week loan. If you would like to know more about the KU Big Read shortlisted titles you can read our weekly reviews using the Big Read tag.

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We also have last years winner, The Humans, in the book display as well as a range of fiction and non-fiction from our LGBTQ+ and Mind Boosting collections. So, if you’re wanting to take your mind off your exams, or you want to pick up a good summer read, come by the library to check out the display!

Book Review: Radio Sunrise by Anietie Isong

A review of Radio Sunrise, written by Dr Julia Wood, Senior Researcher

Ifiok, our narrator, is a journalist at Radio Sunrise in Lagos. In his world, the “brown envelop” is the driving force – it contains the bribes that decide which topics will be covered and how favourably. Sadly, he often lacks the money he needs to stuff his own envelops to procure the favours he needs to sweeten his life.

His assignments include some bizarre stories such as the missing penis case and the goat arrested for armed robbery. There are strange beliefs held by those around Ifiok. The devout Christian studio manager calls some airlines “diabolical transporters” who engineer crashes to suck the victims’ blood whilst his girlfriend considers his favourite restaurateur to be an evil being who sprinkles magical herbs by the door to increase the number of customers. Although Ifiok does not believe these stories he is concerned that a young woman may have put a love potion in his food.

Ifiok often feels sad about the bad things that happen in his country. The penis snatcher has petrol poured on him and is only saved from burning by an out of control truck scattering the crowd of vigilantes. He refers to a country of thieves: he steals stories from CNN, the radio station accountant steals his pen, and politicians steal votes while the rich steal from the poor. There is a policy to support local drama but prime time TV mostly shows dated Mexican soaps and his own radio drama has been cut.

Disappointments feature strongly in Ifiok’s story but Isong’s writing makes it colourful and humorous. The book is engaging and made me care deeply about what would happen to the narrator. It provided a window in to a world that is so different to anything I know from my life in London that the term ‘small world’ should be scrubbed out. I highly recommend it, enjoy!

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Join the discussion. Tell us what you thought of Radio Sunrise, or what your favourite Big Read shortlisted book is. Come by the library to borrow a copy.

Book review: My Name is Leon by Kit De Waal

A review of My Name is Leon, written by Joanne Powell, Senior Lecturer in General Practice Nursing

I so enjoyed reading and reviewing this beautifully and sensitively written book for The Big Read. The story starts with the birth of Jake and the reader soon realises that his mother, Carol, can’t cope.  Leon is nine years old and his baby brother, Jake, has just been born. The book describes a particularly difficult period during Leon’s childhood.

The book opens with his mother leaving Jake to go and have a cigarette leaving Leon and Jake together on their own.  Carol is also on her own as a single parent – both brothers have different and absent fathers and while Carol and Jake are white, Leon is mixed race. His father, Byron, is in prison, while Jake’s father, Tony, is in another relationship and has rejected Carol and Jake.

Illustration and blurb extract

Carol has problems coping on her own and spirals into a desperate decline relying on Leon and often leaving him and Jake alone or with her neighbour, Tina. Tina raises the alarm when Leon, desperately hungry, asks Tina for money for food.   Jake and Leon go to live with Maureen, an emergency foster carer with “fuzzy red hair like a halo and a belly like Father Christmas”. Jake is soon adopted – he’s white and a baby and therefore in demand. But no one will adopt Leon who has a black father and is already too old.

This book is set during the 1980s in Birmingham during a troubled time characterized by racial tension – Irish republicanism and police brutality against black people that spark the riots of 1981. After a birthday present of a bike, Leon develops a sense of freedom and discovers the Rookery Road allotments. Here we are introduced to pivotal characters Tufty and Mr Devlin. They both introduce Leon to the concept of nurture through the planting and cultivating vegetables from seeds. However, the allotment is a political hotbed and racial tensions spark between Tufty, a West Indian political activist who Leon admires and Mr. Devlin, an aging member of the IRA. Leon, who listens too much at doorways and keyholes, is focused on being reunited with Jake and plots to find him.

80s Boombox illustration from the book

This book is a page turner as you seek to find out how it works out for Leon. It provides an important and sometimes uncomfortable commentary on attitudes to parenting, race and adoption during the 1980’s. For me, being a child of the 1980’s, I found the descriptions of the racial tension and riots uncomfortable to read and it provoked distant memories. The novel is full of quietly shocking moments which also reveals how much child protection has moved on from 30 years ago.

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If this brilliant review hasn’t already convinced you to read My Name is Leon, here’s another reason – it’s  now the winner of KU Big Read. Congratulations Kit De Waal!

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Join the discussion. Tell us what you thought of My Name is Leon, or what your favourite Big Read shortlisted book is. Come by the library to borrow a copy.