For lecturers and module owners we ask that you make contact with us the library to have items added to library stock. As a public body we have to purchase all library material from a set list of suppliers and we use aggregators Proquest and Gobi for eBooks.
As a ATU Staff member you can submit Purchase Requests to suggest items we can add to stock, for this you need to be logged in to your Library Account to do this. Please do a search of our catalogue before you submit your suggestion. If you could provide details of the module that the eBook applies to that would be great and enable us to update the applicable Reading List.
We always look for approval from the department head before sending out book orders for any course or module.
Further information on book ordering for the Library can be found in this Library FAQ.
Sometimes we are asked to purchase eBooks for ATU Library that cannot be added to library stock. The reasons for this may vary, but the crux of the reason comes down to licensing. Library material must be licenced so that more than one person can use it. For print items this is very simple, as usually only one person can read a print book at a time. For eBooks, this must be built in to the eBook access, and normally libraries pay much more for eBooks that can be accessed by more than one person at a time.
These are examples of eBooks that libraries can't buy:
Academics, if you are writing a text book and want your students to be able to read it in their libraries, please have a look at this guidance document compiled by the #ebooksos campaign in the UK.
The information on this guidance document is applicable to any country, when dealing with academic publishers.
Please be aware that publishers sell their books to libraries differently than how they would be sold to academic departments, students and the general public.