Accessible study rooms

There are accessible study rooms available in the Main Library and at Kings Buildings. These areas are allocated to students who require additional learning support or the use of assistive technology. Accessible PCs are available across campus.

What is an accessible study room?

These rooms are for use by students who have registered with the Disability and Learning Support Service and who have the relevant provision in their Schedule of Adjustments that permits access. They are single occupancy rooms that can be pre-booked for up to four hours a day.

How do I get access to an accessible study room?

If you would like to find out about how to obtain use of an accessible study room please contact the Disability and Learning Support Service to arrange a consultation.

If the Disability and Learning Support Service allocate you an accessible study room, then a schedule of adjustments will be created on your record for this purpose. Only students with this particular schedule of adjustments can use the accessible study rooms.

What happens next if the Disability and Learning Support Service offer me access to an accessible study room?

The Disability and Learning Support Service will contact the IS EdHelp team about the adjustment. Once you receive an email from IS EdHelp, you will be able to collect a key. You will be able to collect a key for these rooms from the IS EdHelp desk on the ground floor of the Main Library or from the IS EdHelp desk at the Murray Library – a £10 deposit is required which is to be paid online. The deposit will be added to your library fines when you come to the service desk and will be refunded when you return your key at the end of your studies. Once you have collected your key, you can start to book the accessible study rooms through the online booking system on ResourceBooker. You can book a room for up to 4 hours at a time with one booking per day.

Disability and Learning Support Service

The University of Edinburgh

Work: 0131 650 6828
Email: disability.service@ed.ac.uk
Web: Disability and Learning Support Service

Street: Disability and Learning Support Service
University of Edinburgh
Health & Wellbeing Centre
7 Bristo Square
City: Edinburgh
Post Code: EH8 9AL

A video with information about booking an accessible study room

How does the online booking system work?

All accessible study rooms must be booked for use in advance. You cannot just turn up and use an unoccupied room. These rooms are bookable through Resourcebooker. Please see the guide below on how to use this service to book Accessible Study rooms.

Accessible Study Room Booker Guide (127.6 KB Word)

Where are the rooms located and what are the opening times?

Main Library

There are 15 Accessible study rooms on Floor 1 of the Main Library:

Rooms 1-3 contain a range of specialised software and hardware (if you are eligible for these rooms you will be given a specific key)

Accessible Technology accessible study rooms

Rooms 4-7 and 13-15 are bookable, via Resource Booker, by any key-holder referred from the Disability and Inclusive Learning Service containing a PC, Keyboard, Mouse, footrest, ergonomic chair and coat hook. These rooms have had a HDMI cable added to allow you to connect your laptop to the monitor in the room.
Rooms 8-12 are issued to one individual for the duration of their time at University of Edinburgh by the Disability and Inclusive Learning Service

There are a further 5 rooms on the 3^rd floor in the Yellow Zone (rooms 3.16-3.20) – containing a PC, Keyboard, Mouse, footrest, ergonomic chair and coat hook

These rooms are available anytime the Main Library is open and are booked in the same way as above.

Main Library Opening Hours

King’s Buildings

Noreen and Kenneth Murray Library

There are 2 accessible study rooms on the first floor of the Noreen and Kenneth Murray Library at King’s Buildings, both with assistive technology.

These rooms are available when the Noreen and Kenneth Murray Library is open and are booked in the same way as above

Noreen and Kenneth Murray Library Opening Times

Murchison House

There is one accessible study room on the lower ground floor of Murchison House located at the Kings Buildings Campus.

This room is available when Murchison House is open and booked in the same way as above.

This room has have had a HDMI cable added to allow you to connect your laptop to the monitor in the room.

Murchison House | The University of Edinburgh

Access

If you have a key for the Main Library accessible study rooms 4-7, 13-15 and 3.16-3.20 it will work on the doors of the rooms at King’s Building. Rooms 1, 2 and 3 in the Main Library have a different key, and if you are allocated one of those rooms you will be issued with the specific key for that room. If you have the key for an accessible study room and it is booked but the occupant hasn't arrived yet, you can use the room until the person who has booked it shows up.

Lighting

There are dimmer switches in all of the accessible study room. In the 1st floor rooms in the Main Library the switches are near the desks (not where you would expect a light switch to be). The switches on the 3rd floor are next to the door where you would expect a light switch to be. There are instructions on how to use these light switches in the rooms, but if you are unsure please ask a member of EdHelp Service Desk staff

What assistive technology is available in the accessible study rooms?

Main Library Accessible study rooms (assistive technology) You will only have access to these if you have been given a specific key – the general bookable accessible study rooms have a different key

Accessible study room 1: HP Scanjet 5590 ADF scanner, SARA scanner reader, electric adjustable height desk, Kensington Orbit trackball mouse, ABBYY Finereader, Adobe Creative Cloud, MindGenius, TextHelp Read&Write, Dragon Naturally Speaking, Zoomtext, Audio Notetaker and Adobe Digital Editions.

Accessible study room 2: HP Scanjet 5590 ADF scanner, electric adjustable height desk, high visibility black-on-white keyboard, Logitech marble mouse, ABBYY Finereader, Adobe Creative Cloud, MindGenius, TextHelp Read&Write , JAWS Professional, Zoomtext, Audio Notetaker and Adobe Digital Editions.

Accessible study room 3: HP Scanjet 5590 ADF scanner, Prodigi document magnifier and reader unit, electric adjustable height desk, Kinesis Advantage ergonomic keyboard, Cirque Glide Point Trackpad, left hand Quill mouse, ABBYY Finereader, Adobe Creative Cloud, MindGenius, TextHelp Read&Write , Dragon Naturally Speaking, Zoomtext, Audio Notetaker and Adobe Digital Editions.

King’s Building, Noreen and Kenneth Murray Library - The rooms in the Noreen and Kenneth Murray Library have assistive technology and the key to access these rooms is the same as the general bookable accessible study rooms in the Main Library and at Murchison

Accessible study room 1: HP Scanjet 5590 ADF Scanner, Merlin CCTV unit, manual adjustable height desk Microsoft 4000 ergonomic keyboard, 3M ergonomic right-handed optical mouse, ABBYY Finereader, Adobe Creative Cloud, AutoCAD 2016, UniSim Design Suite, MindGenius, TextHelp Read&Write, JAWS, Audio Notetaker, Zoomtext and Adobe Digital Editions.

Accessible study room 2: HP Scanjet 5590 ADF Scanner, SARA scanner, manual adjustable height desk, Microsoft 4000 ergonomic keyboard, 3M ergonomic right-handed optical mouse. ABBYY Finereader, Adobe Creative Cloud, AutoCAD 2016, UniSim Design Suite, MindGenius, TextHelp Read&Write, Audio Notetaker, Zoomtext and Adobe Digital Editions.

Who do I contact if there is an issue with the room?

If you have an urgent issue in any of the rooms and require immediate assistance please contact the Library Helpdesk staff. If you would like to report a fault or issue with the rooms please contact Viki Galt, Head of Disability Information - viki.galt@ed.ac.uk

We aim to do an annual survey requesting feedback on these rooms. If you have access to these rooms a link to the survey will be sent to you automatically, usually in Semester 2.

Accessible study room etiquette

Please bear in mind that these rooms are in high demand and we rely on students being courteous and considerate to ensure these rooms are able to operate as efficiently as possible

When using the room, please comply with the following regulations:

Bookings can be made for a maximum of 4 hours
No more than a single 4 hour booking should be made per day
Rooms are for individual work and not available for group work
If studying with music, headphones must be used
Do not use the room to make social mobile calls and keep all other calls to a minimum as this can disrupt other users
Lock the door when you leave the room
If the room is vacant but booked, you may use the room until the booker shows up for their session
Ensure you take all belongings with you when you leave and do not leave personal belongings in the room
Eating is not permitted in any of the study rooms
Leave the space clean and tidy and remove all litter

We respectfully ask students who are using these rooms to adhere to the guidelines set out in the code of conduct which can be found below

Accessible Study Room Etiquette Reminder (111.2 KB Word)

Request an alternative format

To request this document in an alternative format, such as large print or on coloured paper, please contact Viki Galt, the Head of Disability Information.

Viki Galt

Head of Disability Information

Information Services

Work: 0131 650 6645
Email: viki.galt@ed.ac.uk

Street: Argyle House
Floor F West
3 Lady Lawson Street
City: Edinburgh
Post Code: EH3 9DR

BSL users can contact me via Contact Scotland-BSL, the on-line British Sign Language interpreting service. Find out more on the C ontact S cotland website.