The University of Manchester Library provides you with the resources and support you need throughout your MBChB Programme. The Main Library and Stopford Library house all of the essential textbooks, the majority of which are also available as eBooks. In addition you will be provided with a number of individual, downloadable core e-textbooks that will be available to you for the duration of your studies. The Alan Gilbert Learning Commons provides a 24/7 learning environment (in term times) in addition to study skills workshops. The library also has an extensive collection of further e-books, databases and journals available online.
Getting Started
All the information you need to get started at the Library is found on the get started page of the library website. You will need your student card to access all library sites around campus. Many of our services and resources also require you to confirm that you are a registered student. This authentication can be your student card, and usually the central username and password you use to log on.
There is a library guide for medical students giving all of the latest information on resources and learning, and research services available. This is a good starting point if you are looking for any library resources or information related to your Programme.
Each course module in 1MedLearn or Canvas includes an on-line reading list, so you can quickly check availability and directly access e-books, digitised chapters and e-journals or articles.
Main Library
The Main Library holds the principal collection of medical books and journals available. Medical textbooks are available in the blue area of the library and journals are available on floor 1 of the green area in the clinical sciences sequence. Most journals you will want to use are available online via Library Search. Books and periodicals in other related subjects such as biology are located in other areas of the Main Library. The library search facility will let you know what items are available and where to find them including e-books and online journals.
The Main Library offers group study rooms, individual study space options and computer clusters. Wi-Fi is available throughout the building and a café lounge can be found on the ground floor. The Library has long opening hours and extends these during exam periods.
Please check Locations and Opening Hours for full details on opening hours and facilities.
Stopford Student Hub and Library
The Stopford Building Library is a smaller site library which holds core texts for first and second year students in the Schools of Medical Sciences, Health Sciences and Biological Sciences. Full details of what is available can be found using the Library search or asking a member of customer service staff. In addition to books, Stopford Library also has ten sets of half skeletons, two iPads and several anatomical models which are all loanable. There is also a life size vertical skeleton, affectionately known as Ernest, available for use in the Library. The anatomical models, including the skeleton will be returning when the library reopens
Facilities
There is 1 MFD and 12 PCs. The library is for quiet working with a separate silent study area (except during the examination period when the whole library is for silent study only).
Please check Locations and Opening Hours for full details on opening hours and facilities.
NHS Trust/Placement Libraries
Don’t worry that going out on clinical placement will limit access to useful study resources. Placement hospitals all have on-site libraries with out of office hours access and The University of Manchester Library is able to offer remote services to ensure that your needs are taken care of. Where possible books are provided in electronic format including a subscription to Clinical Key Medical Education which includes hundreds of books, images and videos. Nearly all journal subscriptions are also available online via Library Search.
Help with searching the internet for high quality health information is available in the library guide for medicine, which has links to a variety of sites that have been checked for reliability and quality, and brief summaries of their content. The guide also contains a page specifically aimed at students on placement, which brings together information on resources and services that you may need whilst away from the University campus.
Alan Gilbert Learning Commons
The Alan Gilbert Learning Commons is a state of the art study and learning centre at the heart of the Oxford Road campus boasting an onsite café, an impressive atrium providing a social meeting space with Wi-Fi access and flexible study spaces and environments throughout the building.
The Learning Commons hosts a series of training sessions and workshops in a great learning environment. My Learning Essentials offers a suite of online sessions and group workshops on library and information literacy; academic and study skills workshops; career and employability skills and skills clinics.
Find out more about the range of modules, workshop schedules and booking information through My Learning Essentials.
My Learning Essentials
My Learning Essentials is the library’s comprehensive Programme of online resources, workshops and drop-ins designed to support you in your personal and professional development. Workshops and drop-ins are held throughout the year and include special sessions during exams and the summer. Our online resources are available at all times, providing flexible support for your development from undergraduate to postgraduate level and beyond.
Full details of workshops and online resources can be viewed on the My Learning Essentials website. The My Learning Essentials Programme is run by The University of Manchester Library in collaboration with other services across campus.
Library News and Updates
Keep up to date with the latest library developments via Facebook, Bluesky, Instagram, You Tube, or LinkedIn.
Textbooks
A full list of core and recommended books can be found on 1MedLearn.
Although it is possible to get through the course just by borrowing from the Library, you may want to have some books of your own. The Library has physical copies of nearly all recommended texts in both the Stopford Library and the Main Library. (The Stopford Student Hub and Library will hold physical copies of core texts only.)
Where possible these are also provided in electronic format including a subscription to ClinicalKey Medical Education which includes hundreds of books, images and videos. E-books are accessible through most internet-enabled devices as soon as you join the University, so you may want to see what’s available before buying any textbooks. E-books are more up-to-date, are easier to search and you can bookmark pages on whichever device you use them on. It is best to look at what is available via the Library before making any purchases. Do not discard the books you have used recently for your A-Level studies, bring them with you! Use them to revise relevant knowledge as you go along, whilst adding to it and building on it in the coming year. If you have not been studying Biology or Human Biology at A-Level, we strongly recommend that you make use of an elementary Human Biology book.
Students in the years above you often sell their old textbooks. Although these books may be one or two editions old, the content should be very similar, and they will be much cheaper than in the shops. Our students’ advice is to not buy textbooks before starting the medical programme but go to the Library and try some different texts to see which work for you before you buy.
In addition, all students on the MBChB Programme are given an i-pad in Year 3. As well as the financial benefits of being able to access e-books, most students report a 70 to 100% reduction in print costs as a result of having an iPad.
Useful Websites
1Med will be your main source of information, as well as this online Programme Handbook.
A curriculum map for the undergraduate medicine Programme is available at https://cmt.mhs.man.ac.uk
During the later stages of the Programme, Health Education North West is a useful source for information relating to foundation training.