Social Work
Welcome to the Social Work subject guide - your guide to using the library resources, services and facilities for your subject.
Main Library
To help you navigate the Main Library in George Square, watch this student tour which highlights the various resources, services and facilities available in the Main Library.
- Main Library - orientation guideThis guide will help you to find the Main Library, and to navigate its services and collections.
Using the Online Library
The Library has a vast amount of online resources you can use for your learning and research which can be a bit overwhelming when you're first starting to use them. Our guide provides information to help you navigate all the online resources you'll need throughout your studies.
Other University of Edinburgh Libraries
There are 10 other site libraries at the University that you can visit and use.
Where are the Social Work books in the Library?
The Main Library holds the majority of books for Social Work. Most of the books in the Main Library are in the HUB Collection on the ground floor or on the 2nd or 3rd floors, depending on their shelfmark.
The most common shelfmarks for Social Work start with:
| HV | Social Pathology, Social and Public Welfare and Criminology. |
| RA | Public aspects of medicine, including public health and mental health. |
Remember the Library has access to thousands of e-books which you can access via DiscoverEd.
Centre for Research Collections
The Centre for Research Collections (CRC) is the main space for anyone using the University of Edinburgh's historic and special collections, including rare books and manuscripts, University of Edinburgh archives, personal and institutional archives, Lothian Health Services Archives, University of Edinburgh PhD theses, art collection, musical instrument collection and more.
The CRC are based on the 6th floor, Main Library.
In 2018 the Department of Social Work at Edinburgh University celebrated its centenary. On the back of this a project was put together to catalogue and re-house several archival collections all relating to Social Studies at Edinburgh at the CRC. You can read more about this project, the collections being conserved, catalogued and rehoused and the stories found on the Advisors, Advocates & Activists blog.
Accessing material not in the library collection
If the library does not have what you want then there are different ways of getting access to the material:
The Inter-Library Loan (ILL) Service:
This allows you to request material either held at distant university library sites including the University Collections Facility, or material not held by the university.
Book Recommendations:
If you are unable to find the book that you need for your studies then use the Student Request a Book (RaB) service to recommend a purchase.
Visit another library:
It may be possible (and sometimes quicker) to visit another library to get access to the item you require. Some reciprocal schemes and agreements allow our staff and students access to some other libraries