By far the best way to find out what books, electronic books, dvds, etc. we hold, is to check the Library Catalogue.  As we work in partnership with West Lothian Council Libraries, when you search the catalogue, you will also find books held in the libraries throughout West Lothian, including the High Schools. You can request books from any of these libraries.  For guidance on how best to use the Library Catalogue, reserve and renew your books, click the following link for: Guidance  This information is provided by West Lothian Council.    Please note as a student, your username is your student number  (8 DIGIT NUMBER).   Your PIN number is the first 4 digits of your date of birth.  E.g. If you were born 4th May your pin number will be 0405.

This is our biggest collection of electronic books and covers a wide range of subjects  . It offers key word and  advanced search facilities.

This is currently our smallest collection of ebooks.  Click on the OpenAthens tab and then select or type in West Lothian College in the Institution tab. If you are already logged into your College Microsoft 365 account the list of books will then open. If you are not, you will be asked to sign in. Use your Microsoft 365 log in i.e., student number@west-lothian.ac.uk and the password you created.

Only a few books available from this company.  All these books are also available via the library catalogue.

Alternative insights into the visual arts with fast paced news, comment, debate....

Anatomy TV is an interactive educational resource on human anatomy. It provides interactive 3D models as well as text, slides and video clips.

Anatomy TV can be used to:

• find information in an interesting and dynamic way
• view interactive images and videos
• find images for use in coursework and presentations   
• test your knowledge by taking interactive quizzes.

 Interactive and video guides to support learning anatomy for resistance training

The Courtauld Institute of Art provides access to a searchable database of over 40,000 images from the Courtauld, The Conway Library, and independent photographers.

The Business and Management Portal delivers high quality digital reports and other publications from the British Library’s collections to business and management researchers.  You will need to register to be able to access this resource.

The Social Welfare Portal provides a single point of access to our vast print and digital collections of research and information on policy development, implementation and evaluation.

Listen to a selection from the British Library’s extensive collections of unique sound recordings, which come from all over the world and cover the entire range of recorded sound: music, drama and literature, oral history, wildlife and environmental sounds

Clickview gives access to hundreds of educational  videos and TV programmes. Your tutor may direct you to specific content or you can browse the content on your own.  Sign in using your college Office 365 email address and password. You will find the sign in button at the top right hand side of the screen.

Alternatively google search clickview uk or use www.clickview.co.uk. to take you directly to the Clickview site and use the same usernames and passwords above.

A series of healthcare databases..

Videos, guides, learning and assessment activities,  this offers a full suite of resources to support competences required to obtain a qualification.

Library Hub Discover brings together the catalogue of over 80 major UK research libraries: national, academic and specialist.

This resource covers a wide range of topics such as Climate Change, Mental Health, Drugs, Alcohol and many other social issues in the form of Articles, Statistics and Related Web Links.

Username:   westlothian

Password:   westlothian

Videos, guides, learning and assessment activities,  this offers a full suite of resources to support competences required to obtain a qualification.

The Digital Commons Network brings together free, full-text scholarly articles from hundreds of universities and colleges worldwide. Curated by university librarians and their supporting institutions, 

Directory of Open Access Books is a joint service of OAPEN, OpenEdition, CNRS and Aix-Marseille Université

DOAJ is a community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals. DOAJ is independent. All funding is via donations, 40% of which comes from sponsors and 60% from members and publisher members. All DOAJ services are free of charge including being indexed in DOAJ. All data is freely available.

Videos, guides, learning and assessment activities,  this offers a full suite of resources to support competences required to obtain a qualification.

J. Paul Getty Museum's Open Content Program makes freely available over 109,000+ digital images from the J. Paul Getty Museum and Getty Research Institute.

Practice online for the British Citizen test.  Sign up for free.

Discover artworks, collections and stories from all around the world in a new way. Explore cultural treasures in extraordinary detail and easily share with your friends.

As the name suggests, this is a more scholarly Google .  It will provide access to lots of online journal articles etc which may support your studies.   If you have problems accessing the full articles, please contact the College Learning Centre staff who may able to help obtain this for you.

The Guggenheim offers art catalogues, essays on art history and more all freely available online

Hairdressing Training provides exemplary step by step guidance videos, self evaluation tests, worksheets and guides relating to an expanding collection of hairdressing styles and techniques. All video content has been created by those who teach hairdressing in the UK FE colleges. These resources are openly available without the need for institutional subscription or login.

Videos, guides, learning and assessment activities,  this offers a full suite of resources to support competences required to obtain a qualification.

This is an excellent resource covering contemporary social issues such as poverty, equality, homelessness etc.

Username and password are available from the Learning Centre staff   Email: LeaningCentre@west-lothian.ac.uk  Or it may also be listed in your course area in Moodle.

Access to journals, primary sources and electronic  books covering all aspects of the social sciences. For free access to the full resource you will need to register with National Library of Scotland . Registration is free. Alternatively, you can search the database and access some their open access materials free and without registration. Registering details below:

Registration Information

Growing collection of Open Access journals covering topical areas

An online learning platform for Early Years Practitioners comprising of short webinars and courses that you can work through at your own pace e.g How Children Learn, Challenging Behaviour, Development Milestones etc. Simply use the search bar at the top of the Kinderly homepage to find topics that interest you. 

User Name and Password is required. Please contact the LearningCentre@west-lothian.ac.uk or LHartley@west-lothian.ac.uk to get your account set up.

Kortext platform with access to approx. 10,000 curated Open Access (OA) and Open Educational Resources (OER) for the Further Education and Skills (FES) sector. 

The knowledge network is available to students who go on placement within the NHS and selected teaching staff. Registration details are available from the above link. If you need any assistance accessing and using this resource please speak to the Learning Centre staff.

Provides you with access to the library resources of Edinburgh Napier.  You can use this as a tool when searching for information.  The College Learning Centre staff can help obtaining any resource you may find.

The OAPEN Library contains freely accessible academic books, mainly in the area of humanities and social sciences. OAPEN works with publishers to build a quality controlled collection of open access books, and provides services for publishers, libraries and research funders in the areas of deposit, quality assurance, dissemination, and digital preservation.

The Oxford Open series is a new flagship open access (OA) journal series from Oxford University Press (OUP). Journals in this series will further OUP’s mission to support excellence in research, scholarship, and education. This will be achieved by providing additional high quality, broad scope, fully OA venues for researchers to disseminate their work.

PubMed is a free resource supporting the search and retrieval of biomedical and life sciences literature with the aim of improving health–both globally and personally.

SSERC offers a broad portfolio of services, principally in support of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) areas of the curriculum.

Username   WLC20189

password  DECHmont91

A searchable archive of American Vogue, from the first issue in 1892 to the current month, reproduced in high-resolution colour page images.

VADS: free art and design images for education

e-Books, e-Talking books, e-Magazines and digital resources accessible 24/7.   All free of charge using your public library membership card.  Definitely worth a look.

Presentations can be a powerful tool for sharing ideas and sparking conversation, but what makes a good presentation great?  A short course lasting approx. 6 hours 

Developing study skills helps you to get organised and manage your studies.  This course helps with effective strategies for reading and summarising information. Approx. 3 hour course.

Recommended by the London School of Economics a list of useful apps that may help your studies. They include Study Planners , help with referencing and a  flash card app for revision. (most are available on iPhone and Android).

A collection of short bitesize course produced by the Government's National Career Service.  They are all free to access and cover options from beginner to advanced level.  Well worth a look at.

Developing study skills helps you to get organised and manage your studies. This course helps you to familiarise yourself with the different types of research needed for higher education study. Approx. 3.5 hours time commitment.

To help in the fight against fake news, the BBC has compiled a collection of activities and resources to help students be more discerning when looking at the news.

Developing study skills helps you to get organised and manage your studies. This module provides an overview of how to get started with study skills. After completing this introductory course, try the other study skills modules: Getting organised for study; Finding and evaluating information; Writing for your course; Reading, note-taking and summarising; and Giving effective presentations.  Approx. 30 minutes time commitment.

A really good short video on the basics of using Microsoft word reference tap to do your Harvard referencing.

In this interactive film from the Open University, you'll watch a fellow student grapple with a tough deadline in the midst of her busy life. Can you help her make the right decisions?

testing Kahoot

some free access to this information.

What is Microsoft teams? Shows you the basics on how to use it.

You Tube video help to use Office 365

Introduction to OneDrive

OneDrive provides you one place to store, share, and sync your work or school files. It is the Microsoft cloud service that connects you to all your files and gives you the ability to access them from anywhere and on any device.

PowerPoint is a presentation application that creates a slide show of important information, charts, and images to display during a presentation. Recent advances in PowerPoint include subtitling on slides, Presenter coach, and other enhanced interactive features.

Useful videos from Connecting Scotland covers:

How to choose a device and internet

How to use your device

How to stay safe online

How to do things

Computer terms and jargon.

Short videos covering various aspects of ethical computing:

Protecting Your Online Data

How Your Online Data Is Used

Turning Data into Knowledge

Importance Of Your Online Data

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is an important part of the workplace. Word processing, computerised spreadsheets, email communication and web-based research are just some of the tasks performed every day. In this programme, various employees demonstrate the skills required to be competent in their positions, including using computers effectively in an office, researching a business project, presenting information, types of digital documents, and the use of spreadsheets and databases for decision making and data storage. Understanding the basics will equip viewers with the knowledge and skills essential for work in the modern workplace.

Learn My Way has free courses for you to learn digital skills to stay safe and connected. Subjects covered:

Using your computer or device.

Online basics

Office programs

More internet skills plus information on finding jobs, health, money and public services online.

Free courses to help you develop your confidence and develop your digital skills. A mixture of short videos, games and courses covering many aspects of using digital devices safely and effectively. Covers basics for beginners and digital wellbeing  Broken down into  two sections, Home Life and Work Life, so also includes sections on getting a job and launching a business.

Our award-winning range of 400+ how-to guides covers a whole host of digital topics. Written by subject matter experts and updated daily, the guides are perfect for supporting others with digital skills or improving your own knowledge.

Whether you use websites and social media or chat to your pals online and do a bit of shopping... Find out why it's important to keep yourself and your data safe with 'Digi Know?'

Helping young people to be safe confident explorers of the online world -- American but may be some useful materials.

Designed by children and young people from the Children's Parliament and the Scottish Youth Parliament, Mind Yer Time has been created to support everyone who loves social media and screen time. We've got positive tips, stories and information for children and young people, to help you use your screen time positively!   Some of the topics covered:

Digital Rights, Health and Wellbing, how to cope with Bullying etc

Supporting families online

Get expert support and practical tips to help children benefit from connected technology and the internet safely and smartly.

Build your digital Skills with Digital Eagles.

Provides high quality, digital skills learning programmes to develop and grow capability, aligned across the Scottish public and third sectors.

Digital Skills Toolkit

A range of learning guides. You can work through the guides at your own pace using the 'Play' and 'Pause' buttons.

You may find it helpful to print out the documents below which give step-by-step instructions to getting online using a PC or tablet. 

Free Resources

Get the most from your computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone

New to the College? Feeling Confused? Need Information?  Use this guide to help answer those questions e.g Where do I find the College holiday dates? Can I Borrow a Laptop from the College? How Do I report Absence? etc

In response to the Coronavirus we have been given  temporary access to this collection of electronic books.  Hope they are of some use.

A short video from Anglian Rusking University on how to reference using the Harvard system

A excellent resource for information.  Straight forward question/answer format

This book is recommended to all first and second year uni. students.  Well presented, easy to read information.

As the name suggests Google for scholars  - you .  Provides you with access to more academic journals etc.  If you find information and you are only provided with an abstract contact the library team.   They may be able to get the full article for you.

Primarily aimed at life sciences and biomedical topics.   Sport and beauty therapy students may also find this useful.

For all those matriculating students, remember you have access to your destination university library.  As you know, more and more library resources are available online so you may still be able to find that book or journal to support your  work.  We've provided a direct link to Napier here but also try the other universities.   If you have forgot your username and password, let us know and we may be able to help.

All HNC and above level Mechanical Engineers can access this resource.  See details within you own moodle course area on how best to use this service.