Library service standards

The University of Portsmouth Library is committed to delivering Customer Service Excellence in all areas of our work. These Library Service Standards are monitored and reported on a monthly basis. The Standards work alongside our Customer Charter to show our customers what they can expect from our services.

We welcome your feedback on these Standards and all aspects of our service.

We will provide access to the resources our customers need and signpost them effectively.

Providing access to the resources our customers need:

We will actively monitor reading lists through statistical reporting and review processes to ensure availability and currency of reading list resources.  

  • Where these items are available for purchase they will be obtained in accordance with our Collection Management Policy
  • Where it is possible for items to be digitised this will be undertaken in line with copyright legislation and within the timeframe of the requester

Access to physical items from our collections:

80% of all items will be reshelved within 1 working day. 

We will provide a Click & Collect Service for customers who wish to reserve items for collection.

  • Click & Collect items will be available for collection within 1 working day of the request where the book is available in the library

For customers who are not on campus, we will provide remote access to our physical collections through a variety of services.

  • Students and academic staff may request loanable items via our Postal Loans Service. Postal loan requests will be posted within 2 working days of their receipt where the book is available in the library
  • Students and academic staff may request scans of items via our Scan and Deliver Service. Scan and Deliver requests will be supplied within 2 working days of their receipt where the item is available in the library

Access to items that are not part of our Library collection:

We will provide access to requested articles and books that are not part of the Library’s collection through a combination of purchase and Inter Library Loan, providing the item is available via those routes and all necessary information has been provided by the requester. 

  • Where it is possible, books requested via Inter Library Loan will be purchased for stock (in ebook format if available)
  • We will satisfy 90% of all other requests that proceed to Inter Library Loan

Electronic resources:

We will provide our customers with support in accessing and using eresources and deal with reported issues appropriately. 

Signposting Library resources:

We will ensure that we signpost our library collections to the UoP community through the provision of the following: 

  • Provision of Subject Pages that link to current subscriptions and supporting materials that are annually reviewed
  • Promotion of new resources via blog posts, social media and the New Book spreadsheets published on the Library website