First class educational facilities

World-class students require world-class facilities. Whether it's the University Library, with its archives and special collections attracting scholars from all over the world, IT support, or the opportunity to study abroad, you will find the facilities you need to complement and support your studies at Durham University. Study here and you'll not only work with world-class academic staff, but you'll also have access to some of the best facilities and study-support to ensure you get the most from your postgraduate experience.

The University invests over £200m annually on staff, students and facilities: In 2007 we opened the Calman Learning Centre, a £12m lecture theatre development which incorporates innovative lecture and learning facilities and an IT café with open access facilities for all students. The multimillion pound Palatine Centre, ranked excellent for its environmental design, opened in September 2012 housing a brand new student services building (including new Careers facility, Counselling services, Disability Services, Immigration and Financial Support Office and a catering facility), an impressive extension to the University Library, a brand new Law School complete with Moot Court, and pedestrianisation of the Science Site.

Libraries

Durham University's libraries offer an excellent range of resources and flexible study spaces to support postgraduate study and research. Our print collection contains in excess of 1.5 million items. We provide substantial and rapidly growing collections of digital resources including electronic journals, books and databases for tracing journal articles, conference and research papers.

To help you make best use of our wide variety of electronic and print materials, subject-specific support and information skills training is available. In collaboration with departments, we offer workshops in our PC Classroom, giving hands-on practice with web-based information resources and subject-specific advice on using technology to keep up to date with the latest research in your field. Support is available throughout the year from the liaison librarians for your department. They can discuss your particular requirements and information needs, enabling you to make the most of the Library throughout your study.

So that you can study when you wish, long opening hours are provided, seven days a week. Taught postgraduates may borrow up to 30 books at a time and research postgraduates up to 40. Postgraduate Research Study Centres have also been established in the Main University Library and at the Library at Queens Campus, Stockton. The University Library has three sites in Durham City and one at Queen's Campus, Stockton. Some departments and colleges have their own dedicated library facilities and the majority of colleges also have library or study facilities. Our Document Delivery Service can obtain material for you from other libraries on inter-library loan, and we participate in national and regional networks allowing you personal access to libraries outside the University.

Palace Green Library, the home of the University's Archives and Special Collections, is also undergoing a four year long redevelopment project which will inaugurate a new Archives and Special Collections Reading Room, new education and conservation facilities and four new galleries to exhibit treasures from the University collections.

Special collections and archives

The University has many rare and internationally renowned special collections and archives which are housed at Palace Green Library, in the World Heritage Site. The special collections include over 75,000 books printed before 1850, 100 medieval manuscripts, 3,400 metres of archives and artefacts, over 30,000 maps and prints and 100,000 photographs. Highlights include the collections of seventeenth century English books and the Sudan Archive, both of which are recognised with national Designated Status by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, and the monastic archives and medieval manuscripts. A regular programme of public exhibitions offers the opportunity to view collections outside of your studies.

The three University museums (the Oriental Museum, The Old Fulling Mill Archaeological Museum and the Durham Castle collections) also provide a unique research resource for postgraduate study.

IT facilities

Computing and Information Services (CIS) are responsible for providing computing and information technology services for teaching, learning, research and administrative activities at Durham University.

CIS operate andmaintain the University's data network, which is connected to NorMAN, the local Metropolitan Area Network linking the five North East universities and a number of further education colleges in the region. We are also connected to the UK Academic Network supplier, JANET which provides high speed onward connections to other UK academic institutions and to major worldwide networks. NorMAN also connects the Durham City site to Queen's Campus, Stockton.

CIS provide networked PC services at both Durham City and Queen's Campus with over 1,900 PCs located in classrooms and open access areas across the University. Should you need short-termaccess to a laptop, our libraries offer a loan scheme. In addition to this, each college has their own computing facilities, giving users access to all online services, including learning, teaching and research materials, Microsoft Office applications, library services, email and the Internet. All college bedrooms have network points connecting to our EnSuite Online service, providing free access to the Internet and the University network.

An IT Service Desk provides direct support to all students and staff, and is accessible via telephone, email and a counter service. In addition, there are a range of self-service support materials including FAQs and information sheets which can be found on our web pages.

For those interested in scientific applications, our integrated UNIX service is based on both time-sharing (accessible from all networked computers) and server/workstation services. We also offer a High Performance Computing service dedicated to numerically intensive programming problems.

Our online learning environment, Durham University Online (duo) supports learning, teaching and research, offering a wide range of tools for communicating, social networking, creating blogs and wikis, document searching and file sharing. As duo is web-based, you can continue your work from outside the University when on fieldwork or visiting other institutions.

A range of training is available to postgraduates for a variety of software packages including word processing, bibliographic software, statistical software and other more subject specific packages.

Helpful staff and the IT link provided by the duo (Durham University Online) system provide an important connection with the University. The duo platform allows you to study and keep in touch with staff and other students, as well as keep up to date with the events at a busy university.

Richard Sugden, Doctorate in Education