University Library

Booking media

Booking media materials

Media materials, held in the Media Collections of the ERC, may be booked in advance for a specific date and time. This is very useful if you need media materials for class presentations or screenings. You can also book items months in advance. We recommend that you try and book materials, at least seven days in advance, to allow items to be returned on time for your booking.

Who can book media materials?
Those who are eligible to borrow can book media materials.
What can I book?
All materials held in the Media Collections may be booked including Reserve Media and Media Store materials.
Please note, if booking Reserve Media materials, you will also need to make a booking for the playback facilities as you will need to use most of these items in the Library.
Where do I book media materials?
Media bookings are taken at the ERC Loans and Information Desks.
Academic staff may also e-mail their bookings to media-collections@unimelb.edu.au
How many items can I book?
For most borrowers, there is a limit of 4 concurrent bookings and only 2 bookings may be placed at one time.
For University of Melbourne academic staff there is no limit to the number of bookings, but it is preferred that they e-mail, multiple booking requests to : media-collections@unimelb.edu.au.
Am I notified when my booked material is available?
Since, you are booking media materials for a specific date, no automatic notification is given. You will need to keep a note of when you placed the booking and collect the material on or before that date.
If you wish to see what and when you have made bookings, just go to the Library catalogue and select "View Your Circulation Record ". Please note, "Booking shelf " means that the item is located at the ERC Loans Desk and is available for collection.
Items not collected after 2 days from the start of the booking period will be returned to the shelves or set aside for the next booking.
Where possible, we will notify academic staff, if an item they have booked is unavailable.
Where do I collect my booked materials?
Items that state "Booking Shelf" on the Library Catalogue or on your Library record are held at the ERC Loans Deskand are ready to pick up.
Media Reserve items (i.e. 2 hour or overnight loan materials) need to be located in the Open Reserve and then borrowed.
Items booked less than 7 days in advance and which were not on loan need to be picked up from the open shelves.
Booked items need to be collected within 2 week days from the start of the booking period or if the item is a 2 hour loan, within 30 minutes of the start of the booking period.
Please note
While every effort is made to make the material you have booked available, from time to time, items may be unavailable. It is recommended that classes not be programmed solely around the use of the booked materials.

Booking media store materials

Some lesser used, fragile or archival media materials are kept in a closed access collection. These items are all listed on the catalogue and have the call number prefix, UniM ERC Media Store.

To access these materials you will need to either make an immediate request or a booking.

Immediate requests

These can only be made between 9.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m., Monday to Friday (excludes some public holidays).

These can be made directly to ERC Level 4, Room 420. Telephone 8344 8650.

Bookings (deferred or after hours requests)

These can be made at the ERC Loans or Information Desks.

Items can be requested for collection either after 3.00 pm on the subsequent weekday (not including some public holidays) or at a later specified date.

You can collect your booked Media Store item from at the ERC Loans Desk on the date you specified up to a period of 2 week days from that date.

More information on booking media materials.

Booking 16mm film screenings

Media Collections has a small collection of 16 mm films which can be viewed in the Viewing Rooms. To do this, you will need make an advanced booking, with Media Collections staff. It is recommended that bookings be made on weekdays between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.. Weekend and after 5:00 p.m. bookings are not usually possible. To book e-mail media-collections@unimelb.edu.au.

Academic staff of the University of Melbourne may book and borrow 16mm films for on campus use. Please contact media-collections@unimelb.edu.au.

Please note : A minimum of 24 hours notice is required to either borrow or view films.

Booking Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) materials

ACMI is the former Cinemedia collection. It is the largest public lending collection of films and videos in Australia. The ACMI Collection was formed from the collections of The State Film Centre of Victoria and the Tertiary Film Centre. The ACMI catalogue is available on the Internet. University of Melbourne staff and students are eligible to borrow materials from ACMI for the purpose of study and course delivery through Media Collections.

When booking ACMI resources via Media Collections :

Booking National Film and Video Lending Service (NFVLS) materials

The NFVLS is provided by ScreenSound Australia, the National Screen and Sound Archive, in Canberra.

University of Melbourne staff and students are eligible to borrow materials from NFVLS for the purpose of study and course delivery through Media Collections.

The National Film & Video Lending Collection catalogue is available on the Internet.

When booking NFVLS resources via Media Collections :

Media Collections inter-library loans

University of Melbourne customers

External customers

Information Desk
Media Collections
ERC Library
Gate 6 (Swanston Street)
The University of Melbourne Vic 3010

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