University
Library
The University of Crete
Library was established in 1978 and is located at the Rethymno
Campus. The central library is primarily oriented toward the
Humanities, Education and Social Sciences. All active members
of the academic community of the University of Crete - undergraduate
and postgraduate students, faculty members and administrative
staff - have the right to use the library material and services.
Library users have access to workstations through which they
may use the available electronic resources. Photocopying machines
operating with magnetic cards, printers, scanners and microfilm
readers are also available.
Library Services:
The central library in Rethymno has 250,000 book titles and 40,000
periodical volumes (1,300 current subscriptions), along with
reference material, a short loan collection, and closed access
collections.
The Library of the University of Crete is fully automated by an Integrated Library
System called PTOLEMEOS II, which is a product of close cooperation between the
Library and the Computing Centre of the University. This system is the main tool
for searching the library print material, and is accessible either in text mode
through telnet, or in web interface on a WWW/ Z39.50 client application. The
WWW interface is more user-friendly and offers advanced searching options. It
also provides the possibility of connecting to multiple electronic catalogues
in Greece or nationwide simultaneously. The database of the Rethymno branch includes
about 230,000 bibliographic records and is the second largest in Greece.
The Library Automation team - All the library’s electronic services are supported
by an I.T. & R.D. Unit, strongly specialized in library automation. The team,
which supervises and develops the Integrated Library System, is responsible for
the introduction of Information Technology to the Library, and also cooperates
with companies and organizations throughout the country and abroad, within research
projects related to automation and implementation of I.T. in the Library.
Reference Service - The Library in Rethymno provides an official reference service
to which users can address their enquiries. One main objective of the reference
service is to educate users so that they can take full advantage of the available
tools.
Interlibrary Loan Service - The Library provides interlibrary loan service and,
according to statistical data, the Library of the University of Crete is one
of the busiest libraries in Greece in terms of interlibrary loan requests and
transactions. The Library is a founding member of Hermes, the Greek serials union
catalogue.
Electronic Journals - The Library holds a significant - and rapidly growing -
collection of electronic journals.
Databases - The Library provides access to specialized and multi-disciplinary
databases in Greece and abroad. The databases can be accessed either on-line
or through the local CD-ROΜ network of the Library. With the addition of the
journals that are provided through the online databases, the Library provides
access to more than 10,000 journal titles (more than 5,000 full texts).
The Library is a founding member of HEAL-Link, the Greek academic libraries consortium,
which promotes cooperation among its members and supports common subscription
to electronic resources and information services.
Digital Library - The Library of the University of Crete is one of the first
among the Greek libraries to create a collection in digital format. At present
the collection consists primarily of the theses and dissertations written by
students at the University of Crete, along with technical reports and journals
published within the University of Crete academic community, and a few digitised
gravures. The digital library is freely accessible through the library web pages
(http://dlib.libr.uoc.gr/).
The European Documentation Centre - The Centre was established in July 1999 by
a joint decision of the University of Crete and the Committee of the European
Union and operates as a department of the University Library in Rethymno. It
cooperatives closely with the Departments of the University that offer courses
or conduct research related to issues of European integration.
More information about all of the above services and how to use them, as well
as information about the numerous other services offered by the University Library,
can be found at the Library’s website (http://www.libr.uoc.gr/). This website
contains a full description of all the services offered, the activities in progress,
the infrastructure of the library, and technical details. The website enables
users to search and browse the library's collections, both print and electronic.
All the available electronic resources are grouped together in sections (CD-ROMs,
on-line databases, electronic journals, etc.), while the print collections may
be traced through the electronic catalogue. Through the library website, electronic
contact can be made with the interlibrary loan service to order material that
the library does not hold, or the reference service for general or more specific
enquiries.
Central Library in Rethymno
Tel: +30 28310 77810, Fax: +30 28310 77850
Hours: Monday - Friday: 09:00 - 22:00, Saturday: 09:00 - 14:00
