Our collections

Our collection strengths span across various disciplines, ensuring that you have the necessary materials to advance your study or research. If you can't find what you need in our collections, we may be able to help you source the material from other libraries.

Accessing physical items in our collections

Most of our collection is able to be borrowed, however, some items may be in storage locations and need to be requested.

Items in our reference and special collections may be viewed in the holding library but may not be borrowed. Some other collection items may not be available to borrow due to the nature of the material or storage access restrictions.

If you are unsure or need help, please contact us and our friendly team will be happy to assist you.

Available formats

Digital

The Library takes a ‘digital first’ approach to resource acquisition to facilitate access to the collection regardless of time and location. Most of our collection is in digital format and can be accessed wherever you are via Library collections search. This includes journal articles, eBooks, legal cases and videos as well as many other types of information relevant to research and teaching.

Books, journals and theses

The General collection at all campuses contains books on a wide range of subjects that support teaching and research.

Journals, also known as serials, periodicals and magazines, are published in parts on a continuing basis. Academic journals have been published almost exclusively in digital format for many years, however, the Library holds some bound hard-copy back-issues and continues to collect a very small number of relevant periodicals in hard copy.

All La Trobe University theses that are published in digital format are available (subject to any embargo period) via our institutional repository, OPAL. We also have a large number of theses in physical format in our collection.

Other formats

We also hold some material in the form of video cassettes, laserdiscs, slides, charts, anatomical models, assessment/test kits, multimedia packages, CD-ROMs, DVDs and specialised computer programs, music recordings and scores.