The Learning Resources Centres (LRC) provide a range of spaces, services, and technology to help support students and staff with disabilities.
- Study spaces
- LRC services and facilities
- Assistive technology
- Book retrieval
- Sensory lending collection
- Planning your visit
- Help and support
Study spaces
- Adjustable-height desks are available on all floors of both of our LRCs. Please ask a member of staff if you are having any trouble locating them.
LRC services and facilities
- Book reservations - reserve a book via our Online Library and pick it up from the reservation shelves on the ground floor of your selected LRC.
- Request a scan - if an electronic version of a library book is unavailable, you can request a scanned copy of a print book chapter, if we hold a physical copy in the LRC.
- The welcome desk on the ground floor of both LRCs is available for face-to-face support. Find help and support when studying in the Learning Resources Centres
- Low-level Information Points are available on the ground floor of both LRCs and the first floor of the de Havilland LRC to look up books or find answers to common questions on AskHerts
- Lifts are available in both LRCs providing access to all floors.
- Accessible toilets are available on all floors of the LRC.
- Select a Chromebook loan from a locker at an accessible height. If there are none available, please ask a member of staff.
Assistive technology
Networked on all PCs in the LRCs:
- TextHelp Read and Write Gold - software which has many study skills features including an inbuilt dictionary, enhanced spellcheck, and a screen reading option, for LRC users with dyslexia.
- SuperNova(previously Lunar) - screen magnification software, for LRC users with a visual impairment
- Inspiration 9 is available on a number of PCs in both LRCs.
- This is a mind-mapping programme, to help with essay planning, organizing thinking, and exam revision, for students with dyslexia.
- Available on the ground floor at de Havilland LRC in the green zone
- Available on the 2nd floor at College Lane LRC in the blue zone (2NW)
- Look out for the signage on PCs or contact the Helpdesk for more details.
If you would like text to be read aloud, follow the guidance provided for each of our main ebook suppliers:
- Ebook from VLE
- Ebook from Ebsco
- Ebook from Ebook Central - ProQuest
- Reading lists in your module.
You may wish to use The Read Aloud tool which will read whole Word documents, Outlook emails, and web pages (viewed in the Microsoft Edge browser) aloud to you. More guidance is available from Microsoft:
- Use Learning Tools in the Edge browser, including Read Aloud
- Listen to your Word documents
- Listen to your Outlook email messages with Read Aloud
Book retrieval for students with disabilities
If because of your disability, you are unable to gather your own books in the LRC your Student Wellbeing Adviser can arrange for a Book Retrieval Service. This is something which must be requested through Student Wellbeing so please contact your adviser to arrange.
- We will need to know the book Title, Author, and Call number, and which campus you want to collect the book(s) from.
- Requests should be emailed to LTS@herts.ac.uk with a minimum of 3 working days' notice.
- We'll send you an email when they are ready for collection.
Alternatively, you may wish to use the book reservation service. This includes items currently available on the shelves and you can select which LRC you would like the books to be delivered to.
Sensory lending collection
Sensory support items are available to all students and staff for loan, and can be useful to manage anxiety, and to stimulate the senses in a calming way. They can be used by any students, and may be particularly useful for trainee teachers to use in their school placement. More information about these resources can be found on our Education toolkit here: Sensory collection.
Planning your LRC visit
Our LRCs will be less or more busy, and therefore quieter or noisier, depending on the time and day you visit.
- You can use the Herts Mobile app to check how busy the LRCs are before you visit. In the app, select Plan Your Visit and then view live data and daily trends.
- The LRCs are usually more busy in the afternoons and early evenings on weekdays.
Our LRCs have a range of quiet floors and study spaces. Please visit the LRC Welcome Desk (during term time) for more information.
You can also book a group study room for up to 5 hours per week and book up to 10 days in advance. These rooms have adjustable lighting to suit your needs.
For accurate, up-to-date venue access information about LRC spaces you can also use the University of Hertfordshire Accessibility Guide on the AccessAble website and the AccessAble app (available on iOS and Android) to help you easily and safely plan your journey around campus and remove the uncertainty of travelling to new places.
Help and support
Please ask a member of staff if you need support accessing any of our services.
Our Library and Computing Services Helpdesk service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can contact the Helpdesk by phone, email or create your own support ticket.
During term time our LRC Welcome Desk opening hours are 10:00 - 17:00 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and 11:30 - 17:00 on Wednesdays.
Information on opening hours and how to get help using LRC services is available on AskHerts.
If you have any feedback or suggestions about how we can improve our spaces and services please let us know at helpdesk@herts.ac.uk.
For specialist disability support including making an appointment with a Disability Advisor, please contact the Student Wellbeing Team.
- Email: studentwellbeing@herts.ac.uk
- Phone: +44 (0)1707 284453
More information about accessing disability support is available ask.herts.ac.uk/disability-services