About the Library

We are proud to provide you with award-winning library services. You can access trusted, quality resources that support your studies, and use our online tutorials and other forms of training. We can give you the skills that empower you to live, learn and work in a digital society. 

Help and support is at the core of what we do. To help you achieve academic success, we work with module teams to choose online content and teach digital and information literacy skills. Library teams support staff with their learning, teaching, research and personal development. We also help students every single day. The Library Helpdesk is staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, through webchat.  

Other areas of the Library you may not know about… 

Research Support 

If you are a postgraduate research student or if research is part of your role at the OU, we can help. We offer support and guidance on Open Access Publishing, Research Data Management, and managing your research outputs. We also maintain ORO and ORDO, and run training sessions for researchers among other services. To find out more, visit the Research Support website. 

University Archive 

The University Archive is home to unique collections of research and a range of historical materials. We have a physical archive in Milton Keynes, as well as the Open University Digital Archive (OUDA). This means that we can preserve digital and digitised OU content, and make it much more widely available. So, as an Archive, we can store, protect and share our exceptional collections with the world. 

Accessibility  

We are devoted to being accessible. That means we want it to be as easy as possible for everyone to work and study with the OU, no matter what needs they may have. To ensure this, we test online tools and systems on a regular basis. We also work closely with the publishers, to help them make their resources even easier to use. Accessibility is embedded in the training we deliver, the services we provide, and the library building itself. 

Content & Licencing and Intellectual Property/Rights (CLIP) 

The CLIP team makes sure that everyone at the OU has access to resources that support their studies, teaching and research. We work closely with publishers and rights holders to manage the intellectual property portfolio. We are also insured to provide IP-related advice, including copyright and trademarks. Our work means that our courses are enriched with the best content out there, while also reducing any legal risk to the University, or its reputation.

An award-winning library

In 2024, we won a Recognition of Excellence in Teaching (RET) award, which celebrates the strength and diversity of our teaching practices as a Library. This is an OU award that shows the impact we have on the university as a whole.  

In 2019, we won the Information Literacy Award. It recognises our outstanding team, who show the impact, innovation, initiative and originality in raising the profile of IL within their sector. This is a prestigious, UK-based award that we are proud to have won.