London School of Film, Media and Design subject guide

LibSearch

• To find books on a topic area, use LibSearch via our library page and search using keywords, eg typography.
• To find a specific book, use LibSearch and search for the title and/or author’s surname.

Tips on print books

• Add a LibSearch filter to restrict your search to print books: All filters > Location > Paul Hamlyn Library
• Make a note of the title, author and shelfmark for each book, eg Grids for graphic designers. Gavin Ambrose. Floor 3, 686.22 AMB
• Use LibSearch on your phone by downloading the app, EBSCO Mobile.

LibSearch

• To find ebooks on a topic area, use LibSearch via our library page and search using keywords, eg fast fashion.
• To find a specific ebook, use LibSearch and search for the title and/or author’s surname.

Tips on ebooks

• Add a LibSearch filter to restrict your search to ebooks: All filters > Location > Electronic Publication.
• Many of the ebooks available via LibSearch can be found by searching our main ebook platforms directly: VLeBooks, Ebook Central and Perlego.
• Notes on Perlego. If it’s your first time using Perlego, sign up on a laptop. Create your account with your UWL email address. Use Perlego on your phone by downloading the app.

The Library is committed to developing culturally inclusive collections. We work with students to ensure that our library holds diverse content that reflects a variety of perspectives. If there is an inclusive title that you would like to see in the library, please submit to Co-create the Library.

Examples of inclusive titles

• Authored by a person from an underrepresented or marginalised group, eg a writer from the Global South, a writer with heritage from the Global South, an LGBTQ+ writer, a care-experienced writer, a neurodiverse writer, a writer with a disability, a displaced writer or a writer from a lower socioeconomic background.
• Authored by a person from a contentually underrepresented group, eg a woman writer in a male-dominated field.
• The book’s content is primarily focused on an underrepresented or marginalised group eg Indigenous peoples or those with Indigenous heritage, those with lived experience of a mental health condition, those with lower socioeconomic status including accent discrimination and economic inequality.
• And many more examples...

• See a list of Co-create titles that have been added to our collection

We’ll buy the book for the library collection

Contact katie.mcnamara@uwl.ac.uk with details. As well as the author, title and edition, let your subject librarian know whether you prefer a print copy or an ebook and any relevant timeframes.

We’ll borrow a print copy from another library

Submit an inter-library loan request: Log in to your library account, go to "your inter-library loan requests" and create a new request.

We’ll borrow the book from another library in the UK and you’ll collect it from our library. Please note that it will usually take at least one week for the book to arrive.

Abstract and Indexing (A&I) databases do not provide the full-text of a journal article or book chapter, they are a tool to expand your search beyond UWL Library subscriptions. Find and read the abstract (summary) of an article to decide whether you want to read the full-text. This type of database is useful for quickly analysing documents and broadening your search.

Dimensions.ai

Dimensions.ai is a free A&I database. It contains over 100 million publications with linked data sets. Analytical views help evaluate the impact of research.

Google Scholar retrieves both articles that you can read in full-text, as well as those that you cannot. To connect UWL Library subscriptions to Scholar, please follow these steps:

1. Settings
2. Library links
3. Search for University of West London
4. Add

Your search results will show "FullText@UWL" links. This will allow you to read articles that UWL Library subscribes to whilst searching Scholar.

Check LibSearch

Using LibSearch, enter the title of the journal article to check whether UWL Library has access. If you do not find the article, please submit an ILL request.

Submit an ILL request

When you submit an inter-library loan (ILL) request, we’ll email you a copy of the journal article, usually within a few days. Submit online by logging in to your library account, going to your "inter-library loan requests" and creating a new request.

To find journal articles on a topic area, use LibSearch via our library page and search using 3-5 keywords, eg biophilic design architecture.

To check whether you can read a specific journal article, use LibSearch. Copy and paste the title of the journal article and check whether full-text access is available.

To ascertain whether UWL Library subscribes to a particular journal, eg Fashion Theory, begin typing the journal title into LibSearch. If UWL Library subscribes, a suggestion will appear as a publication. Check the years that you can access: About this publication > Full text access.

To browse the electronic journals that UWL Library subscribes to, use the publication finder via EBSCO in the left hand panel of LibSearch.

Tips on journal articles

• When searching on a topic area, add LibSearch filters to restrict your search to journal articles only: Source type > Academic journals.
• When searching on a topic area, add additional LibSearch filters to narrow your results and make them more relevant:
  • Peer reviewed — restricts to only peer reviewed content
  • All time — restricting by date can help to find recently published material

Many journal collections are indexed in LibSearch at article level, but not all. You may wish to search journal collections separately. Please see the list of collections relevant to design students.

Arts Premium

Arts Premium includes the Art, Design & Architecture Collection, Music & Performing Arts Collection and Screen Studies Collection.

• Download a list of titles in this collection. Alternative link to Arts Premium
• This database isn’t included in a LibSearch search

Business Source Premier

Business Source Premier is a business research database that will be especially useful for design students researching a marketing, entrepreneurship or business focus. Alternative link to Business Source Premier

CORE

CORE provides free and seamless access to millions of research articles aggregated from thousands of Open Access data providers, such as repositories and journals from around the world. The content of CORE covers all research disciplines.

JSTOR Arts & Sciences Collections

JSTOR collections include more than 2000 journals in the humanities, social sciences and sciences.

• Alternative link to JSTOR Arts & Sciences Collections page

FAME

FAME contains comprehensive information on companies in the UK and Ireland. Use it to research companies, assess their financial strength and analyse in relation to competitors.

• This database isn’t included in a LibSearch search

Drama Online

Drama Online gives access to a range of dramatic works and includes overviews of major concepts and topics, biographies of performers, playwrights, directors, designers, choreographers and composers and critical works on major playwrights. Collections included are: Nick Hern Books (playtexts), Globe on Screen, Shakespeare & Early Modern Drama videos, Playwrights Canada Press (playtexts), Aurora Metro Books, Critical Studies & Performance Practice and the National Theatre Collection.

• Alternative link to Drama Online

WGSN (Worth Global Style Network)

WGSN reports forecast fashion trends including seasonal and colour forecasts, sustainability and trend curve analysis. The image library contains high-quality images of catwalks, retail windows, in-store displays, trade shows and street style. Design tools and resources include colour libraries, colour palettes tools, royalty-free prints, graphics and 2D and 3D CAD designs.

• This database isn’t included in a LibSearch search

Mintel

UK Market Research database, subjects include: fast-moving consumer goods, financial services, media, retail, tourism and education. Unlimited access.

WARC

World Advertising Research Center is an industry-standard database that contains case studies, market reports and trend analysis. Search cases by industry, see WARC’s ranking of the world’s best marketing campaigns, and use tools to help with strategy and pitches. Find articles, case studies and research on key marketing topics, see emerging trends and read reports. This is available until 31 March 2025.

LS:N Global

LS:N Global is a subscription-based insights platform that documents new consumer behaviour and key industry trends to give business professionals the confidence to make informed decisions about the future

Box of Broadcasts (BoB)

BoB records programmes from UK Freeview TV and radio channels. Programmes are made permanently available and the transcript of most TV recordings can be searched. Box of Broadcasts allows you to make clips of programmes which can be easily shared with other students and staff or embedded in Blackboard.

• New users should register their UWL email address on first use

Kanopy

Kanopy is a streaming service for films and TV programmes. UWL has access to a select number of films, documentaries and programmes via this platform.

European Newsstream

European Newsstream contains the full text of newspapers including UK national and Sunday papers. Choose 'publications' to see a list of newspapers covered.

• Alternative link to European Newsstream

Mintel

Mintel is a UK market research database. Reports use data from trade, industry and government to offer future value forecasts and market analyses. Subjects include fast-moving consumer goods, financial services, media, retail, tourism and education.

• Please find an alternative link to the Mintel website
• This database isn’t included in a LibSearch search

Passport

Passport is a global market research database. Passport offers comprehensive coverage of international consumer markets, consumer lifestyles in other countries, economic statistics, demographic forecasting and industry reports for most major markets and consumer products. This is available until 31 March 2025.

• This database isn’t included in a LibSearch search

WARC (World Advertising Research Centre)

WARC is an industry-standard database for the advertising and marketing sector. Search cases by industry, use tools to help with strategy and pitches, find articles, case studies and research on key marketing topics and media consumption. This is available until 31 March 2025.

Artforum is an international monthly magazine specialising in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ x 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist.

Creative Review focuses on commercial creativity, covering design, advertising, photography, branding, digital products, film and gaming. It publishes six issues a year. Listen to the podcast — Creativity Sucks, A Creative Review podcast.

• Access note: In addition to our print holdings, the Library also subscribes to the Creative Review website. There is a unique username and password needed to access. Please search for 'Creative Review' in LibSearch to get the details. Ensure that you have Blackboard open and logged in

i-D is a British bimonthly magazine published by Vice Media dedicated to fashion, music, art and youth culture. i-D was founded by designer and former Vogue art director Terry Jones.

Printmaking Today is the authorised Journal of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers. First published in 1991, it is published quarterly in March, June, September and December.

Wired is a monthly American magazine that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy and politics.

Admap is a unique monthly magazine for the propagation of ideas, new insight and evidence of effectiveness in marketing communications.

The London Review of Books (LRB) was founded in 1979, during the year-long management lockout at The Times to fill the space left by the temporary absence of the Times Literary Supplement. Published twice a month, it contains book reviews, memoir and reportage. Each issue also contains poems, reviews of exhibitions and movies, ‘short cuts’, letters and a diary.

The New Statesman was founded in 1913 by the Fabian Society as a weekly review of politics and literature. The New Statesman describes its politics as “progressive and liberal”.

Journalism practice is a peer-reviewed journal that provides opportunities for reflective, critical and research-based studies focused on the professional practice of journalism.

British Vogue is a fashion magazine published in London since 1916. It is the British edition of the American magazine Vogue and is owned and distributed by Condé Montrose Nast.

Drapers magazine was founded in 1887. The monthly magazine covers fashion retailing in the UK.

Fashion Practice is an academic, peer-reviewed academic journal covering contemporary design and manufacture within the context of the fashion industry. design theory to the impact of technology, economics and industry on fashion practice.

Fashion Theory is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the study of fashion, including aspects from sociology, art history, consumption studies and anthropology.

Love: fashion and fame is a biannual British style magazine founded in 2009 by stylist and fashion journalist Katie Grand.

Launched in 2004, Selvedge covers the history and future of textiles, fibres and cloth.

View magazine is a quarterly trend forecasting publication focused on colours, textiles, fashion, casual and athleisure, lifestyle and brand strategy. Trend forecasts are 24 months ahead of the current season and include womenswear, menswear and young fashion.

• Access note: Textile View and View 2 (casual & athleisure) merged in 2021 to form View magazine

Edge is a multi-format video game magazine launched in 1993. Each issue includes a ‘making of’ article on a particular game, usually including an interview with one of the original developers. It is a UK-based magazine and publishes 13 issues annually.

3D Artist looks at the entire 3D world, from TV and architecture design through to film work, concept art and character development. It is a UK-based magazine and publishes 13 issues annually.

3D World’s focus is 3D animation, visual effects, video game design, illustration and architectural visualisation. It is published every four weeks.

Cinefex (published 1980 - 2021) was a bi-monthly magazine dedicated to the the world of visual effects in film and TV.

Eye, the international review of graphic design, is a printed magazine about graphic design and visual culture.

Camera Obscura is a journal of feminism, culture and media studies published by Duke University Press. The journal encourages contributions in areas such as the conjunctions of gender, race, class and sexuality with audiovisual culture, new histories and theories of film, television, video and digital media and politically engaged approaches to a range of media practices.

The British Journal of Photography has provided the latest photography news since 1854.

Founded in 1977, History of Photography is an international quarterly journal devoted to the history, practice and theory of photography in all its definitions — artistic, scientific, commercial and domestic, in archives, art galleries and museums, on the page, on the wall or on the screen.

The journal PhotoResearcher is published twice yearly (April and October) as special issues focusing on a specific subject.

Photographic Review is a quarterly photography magazine published in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Source publishes emerging photographic work and contemporary photography from Ireland and the UK.

The UWL Repository is a digital archive of research, scholarly and enterprise output produced by UWL staff and research students. The repository does not always offer the full text of a work; some outputs are abstract-only or may be available as a manuscript.

The services below link to theses and dissertations produced at Higher Education Institutions globally. Please note that the full text may not always be available online.

• ProQuest Dissertations Express - Open access dissertations are freely available. If the dissertation you require is not open access, please request as an inter-library loan (ILL). Please note that limits apply to the number of dissertations that are available via the ILL service.
• British Library theses (formerly EThOS) - The main British Library catalogue now provides access to digital doctoral theses held in UK institutional repositories. To access these documents, search for a thesis and then click on a title of interest to view the full details for that work. TOnhe link can be found under the section labelled "View line - External Resource Available" (in green) just above the "I want this" section (in red) at the bottom of the page.
• DART-Europe E-theses Portal provides access to the full text of theses from institutions, national libraries and consortia across Europe.
• DiVA | Digitalia Vetenskapliga Arkivet - The publications in the DiVA portal come from the 50 DiVA members based at institutions across Sweden.
• EBSCO Open Dissertations is a multi-disciplinary source containing records for theses and dissertations from over 300 universities across the globe.
• PQDT Open - ProQuest Open Access Dissertations and Theses provides the full-text of theses and dissertations, free of charge.
• Global EDT Search - search for theses and dissertations globally.

If a thesis is not available in full text online, it may be:

• Embargoed - An embargo is a period of time during which the full-text cannot be accessed. The time period can range from several months to several years.
• Behind a paywall - Whilst some theses are made openly available, others require payment to read the full text. If you would like to read a thesis that is behind a paywall, please submit an inter-library loan request by logging into your library account, going to 'your interlibrary loan requests' and creating a new request.
• Only available in print - Many theses, especially older publications, were not born digital and have not since been digitised. To read a thesis that is only available in print, register for SCONUL access to enable you to visit the library where the thesis is held. SCONUL access rules vary locally so it is always advisable to get in touch with the holding library before making a special trip. Note that you are unlikely to be able to borrow the thesis but will instead need to read in the Library.

Theses and dissertations authored by UWL students at UG and PGT level are not stored by the university, either in hard copy or digitally. PGR student work can be found in the UWL repository.

Library basics:

• Your UWL account
• Loans, renewals and charges via the your Library account, borrowing and renewals page
• Library book suggest form

Using other libraries:

• SCONUL access page
• Library Hub Discover website
• Interlibrary Loans information

Distro room:

• LSFMD Handbook via CampusPress

Copyright:

• Guidance for HE on Copyright

Academic staff

• UWL Repository
• Digitisation services via the support for teaching page