Welcome to De Montfort University’s Library Learning Services. As members of the public, or a student from another university or college, you have access to our main Kimberlin Library. This is building 21 on our campus map.
All external users of our library have reference access to our Kimberlin Library, a large 4-storey library in the middle of our campus. Reference access allows you to read the books and print journals on our open shelves.
Please be aware that you don’t have access to online resources, to our DVDs, library stack items or other media collections and you can’t book or go into the Postgraduate / individual / group study rooms or borrow laptops and other non-book items. These are solely for use by current DMU students.
There are library regulations which govern use of our spaces by visitors, external card holders and DMU staff and students. Whereas DMU staff and students may be subject to sanctions such as a fine or access restrictions if they breach these regulations, P800 card holders and visitors breaching these regulations have their access rights permanently withdrawn. Please take the time to read through these regulations before visiting or applying to join our library.
Access to other resources, and borrowing rights, depend on what type of access you have:
If you’re studying / working at another university?
DMU use Eduroam as our WIFI provider, along with most UK universities. You can bring your own device into our library and use the WIFI to remotely access the internet via your own university, but you have no access to DMU online resources and you cannot log on to our PCs.
SCONUL also run a summer access scheme for students on taught courses, so not for staff or for research students. This scheme allows you to come in an unlimited number of times over the summer vacation, so long as you enter during our vacation hours, by showing your university student card.
This scheme generally opens at DMU on the Wednesday after the late May Bank Holiday and runs until the third week of September.
If you’re studying at a local college or a member of the public
You are welcome to bring your own device to work on, such as a laptop, but the university does not provide any form of guest WIFI so you cannot get access to the internet, or to any DMU online resources. You also cannot log on to our PCs.
Under 18s:
Generally under-18s cannot come into our library except when accompanied by an adult, and only for a maximum of 30 minutes. Parents and older siblings looking to bring children into the library with them should be aware of this restriction as it applies both to visitors and to DMU staff / students.
If you are under 18 and have a particular research need from our library, such as a collection of particular relevance to a project you’re working on, please contact our library in advance by email / in writing to enquire about access.
To gain access to the library as a student on a FE or HE course at a Leicester or Leicestershire school or college please see your home institution for details of the DMU Aspire scheme. This card will give you access:
Mon – Fri 18:00 – 20:30
Sat 10:00 – 17:30
Sun 11:00 – 18:30
through until 30th June in your current academic year.
Please be aware that we will ask you for your reasons for joining when you apply so you will need to demonstrate a genuine research need to use our collection.
Member of the Public:
A member of the public can apply for an external P800 library card. This costs £60.00 for 12 months’ access and allows you to borrow up to 4 items at a time and access at the “P800 card holder” hours of access shown on this page. If you’re applying for membership as a member of the public, a link to our membership application form is here.
DMU Alumni:
DMU alumni are entitled to a free P800 library card as a former student. This allows you to borrow up to 4 books at a time but does not give you access to the PCs, the Law Library in the Hugh Aston building, the Eric Wood or Greenhouse Learning Zones or the online databases or online journals that you used as a student. Please contact the university’s alumni office who will provide you with confirmation of your course of study then apply for library membership here.
Staff / student from another university:
A student / staff member from another university is entitled to a free P800 card under the SCONUL scheme which gives university staff and students access to other universities’ libraries. Whether you can borrow items or not depends on your SCONUL band, which is decided by your course of study – undergraduate, postgraduate, full time, part time, distance learner etc. or if you’re a member of university staff. Apply online for the SCONUL access scheme here. Once you have successfully applied for SCONUL access and have an email confirming your SCONUL band and expiry date, apply for library membership here.
Hours of Access
P800 Card Holder
| Kimberlin Library* |
| Term Time & Vacation |
| Monday - Friday 08:45 - 20:30 |
| Saturday 10:00 - 17:30 |
| Sunday 11:00 - 18:30 |
*This library is open extended hours all year round so holders of current P800 cards can enter the library all through our vacations, even on Christmas Day, New Years Day and Easter Sunday.
Although our Kimberlin Library is open extended hours, there are restrictions on the hours when you can enter. Overnight this may mean that you can leave the library but then not get back in again until the following morning. Please be aware of this when making arrangements to stay in the library overnight and ensure you take all your belongings with you if you leave.
Please also be aware that visitors are not able to visit our library during our exam period. This is to ensure that we have enough study spaces for the increased number of our own students using the library at this time.
There will be no walk-in access for visitors during this time and no new external library cards will be made.
The closed period for visitors takes place from the start of April until mid-May each year. If you already have a P800 library card in use before the start of this restriction, your card will continue to allow you access during your usual hours of access but you will otherwise have to wait until visitor access resumes in mid-May before visiting our library or getting a library card made.