Open to all members of the Department of Informatics and of the Centre for Cognitive Science, the resource centre includes over 1,000 books as well as thousands of technical reports and journal articles, videos, CDs, volumes of conference proceedings and computer manuals -- nearly 7,000 items in total and all available for loan.
As well as computer science, artificial intelligence and artificial life, interest areas that come under the umbrella of cognitive science are covered - in linguistics, philosophy and psychology, for example.
Catalogue
To see what we have, and whether it is available, you can access our online catalogue, which allows you to search precisely (in abstracts too) as well as browse within categories, to check what you have out on loan yourself - and when it is due back, and also, when an item you want is already out on loan, to request notification upon its return. You can even click to view details of our latest acquisition.
Technical reports
The resource centre holds technical reports from research bodies worldwide, for example Rank Xerox and Inria, as well as from universities from Aalborg to Yale. We don't 'free-exchange' reports as we once did, because most are now online, but hard copies of specific reports can always be ordered if needed.
Publications
We publish some 15-20 research reports a year. The greater number of these are the Cognitive Science Research Papers, of which there are at present over 500, while about half a dozen are published annually as Computer Science Reports (there are over 100). Paper copies of all of these are available for sale at a nominal charge.
Dissertations, exam papers, lecture notes
A further resource is the work of previous MA/MSc students and third-year undergraduates. Copies of both dissertations and third-year projects are kept for reference or loan for a couple of years. Students find these very useful, both in their subject matter and to see how they are laid out - and how much people have written! - when it comes to their own turn.
The centre holds exam papers from previous years, turned to by students for revision, though recent examples are now available online. Teaching material is also distributed here; this might mean a term's lecture overheads on sale or a folder of supplementary reading for short-term loan.
Binding
The two binders, a heat binder and a ring binder, may be used for a small charge. (Please note: these are now found in the Informatics office.)
Using the resource centre
Situated in Chichester 1, Room 008, near the Informatics Department Office, the centre is open Monday-Friday during normal office hours throughout the year. Please ask the helpful staff at the Informatics office for help with queries.