Abnormal and Clinical Psychology: an Introductory Textbook by
Abnormal and Clinical Psychology aims to introduce and evaluate the conceptual models of mental health problems and their treatment, as well as to provide valuable analyses of various disorders, such as schizophrenia and paedophilia.
Blackwell Handbook of Sensation and Perception by
This handbook provides an authoritative overview of the field of perception; it surveys the entire field of perception, including vision, hearing, taste, olfaction, and cutaneous sensibility.
Child Psychology by
This second edition of Child Psychology reflects the increasingly sophisticated and varied research methods used to examine the highly complex interactions contributing to children's cognitive, emotional, and social development.
Cognitive Psychology by
Major topics covered in this text include perception, attention, memory, concepts, language, problem solving, and reasoning, as well as some applied topics such as everyday memory. This edition has been substantially updated and revised to reflect new developments in the field (especially within cognitive neuroscience).
Cultural Psychology by
The 4th edition of this text incorporates examples from around the world and from everyday life to make the material relevant to a wide range of students. Research methods are emphasized throughout.
Handbook of Developmental Psychology by
The Handbook of Developmental Psychology is a comprehensive overview of the study of human development. It follows a systematic life-span structure, from pre-natal development through to old age in human beings, and concludes with a substantive section on the methodological approaches to the study of development, focusing on both qualitative and quantitative techniques.
Health Psychology: a critical introduction by
A comprehensive survey of the discipline is provided, framed within a lifespan approach, and emphasising social-cultural factors such as gender, ethnicity and social-economic status. All major topics are covered, including health behaviours, health promotion, coping strategies, stress, biomedical and biopsychosocial models of health and illness, chronic illnesses, psychoneuroimmunology, disability, pain, and patient-provider communication.
Language Development by
The 5th edition of this text thoroughly covers the biological bases of language development and the core topics of phonological, lexical, and syntactic development. It also provides in-depth discussions of the communicative foundations of language, the development of communicative competence, language development in special populations, childhood bilingualism, and language development in the school years.
Psychology by
This text takes an integrated approach that looks at multiple perspectives to understand the larger complexities of the field. In the Eighth Edition, the authors present psychology as a central discipline that connects to the humanities as well as the exciting advances in neuroscience.
Psychology of Perception by
This book defines the terminology used in the fields of sensation and perception and describes the biological and physical bases required for understanding sensory experiences.
Psychology : The science of mind and behaviour by
Written by a team of Australian and New Zealand-based academics, this well-regarded text emphasises a biopsychosocial approach to the study of psychology.
Social psychology by
The 8th edition of this text continues to place social psychology in an international, contemporary context while exploring cutting edge research and bringing classic theories to life for students in Australia and New Zealand.
A Student's Guide to Developmental Psychology by
Guiding students through the key topics, this book provides both an overview of traditional research and theory as well as an insight into the latest research findings and techniques. Taking a chronological approach, the key milestones from birth to adolescence are highlighted and clear links between changes in behaviour and developments in brain activity are made.
These resources are reliable sources of definitions, and contain information to help you get started with an unfamiliar topic.
The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology by
The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology, now in its fourth edition, work has been updated and expanded to reflect new research in many exciting areas including biological and neurological discoveries.
Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development by
A reference repository, but also frequently updated, the Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development is presented in A to Z format, and consists of three volumes that address the major conceptual areas of child development: learning, behavior, and emotions.
Encyclopedia of Social Psychology by
These two volumes include more than 600 entries chosen by a diverse team of experts to comprise an exhaustive list of the most important concepts. Entries provide brief, clear, and readable explanations to the vast number of ideas and concepts that make up the intellectual and scientific content in the area of social psychology.
The Oxford Companion to the Mind by
Cultural as well as scientific, 'The Oxford Companion To The Mind' combines authoritative description and analysis with lightness, wit, and a personal touch. This edition presents three new mini symposia on consciousness, brain imaging, and artificial intelligence.
A dictionary of psychology by
This guide to psychology contains over 11,000 entries and provides clear and concise definitions of a wide range of terms and concepts in psychology, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis.
Dictionary of Psychology by
An easy to use online dictionary.
The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology by
The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology has become a byword for demystifying the language of this complex subject. Now fully updated for its fourth edition, this wide-ranging and accessible dictionary is invaluable for both students and professionals, and an indispensable guide to all areas of psychology and psychiatry.
The University Library uses a classification system called Library of Congress (LC).
A call number can be found on the spines (or the front cover), of all the books, and they are shelved in classification sequence. You might be familiar with the Dewey Decimal System of classification, which is used in school and public libraries.
To find many Psychology books in the open stacks, the call number range you can browse is:
BF1 – BF900
However, some books might be in other sections, of the Central Library e.g.
GN for Cultural Psychology
HM for Social Psychology
P for Language Development
WM for Abnormal Psychology etc.
You might also be required to use the other campus libraries to get the books you need, e.g. the Health Sciences Library, the Science Library, the Education Library (Robertson), or the Law Library.
To help find books, use the library catalogue ‘Library Search | Ketu’, and check out this short video: How to find a book on the library shelves.
Use Library Search | Ketu to access all material that the library has purchased or subscribes to, including:
Scroll to the bottom of the search results to link through to make an interloan request if we don’t hold something you want.
Take advantage of the features including; filtering to material type, and use the ‘advanced search’ option to narrow your results.
Check out this short introductory video: Using Library Search | Ketu
Refer to this: Online guide about using Library Search | Ketu for more detailed information.
Because Library Search | Ketu is a vast database, use the filters that are listed down the left hand side of the search screen to help narrow your results. You can ‘tweak’ your results in the following ways:
If you are finding that you are getting too many results, or results that are not relevant, click into the record of a result that you know is useful (e.g. a book that is on Reserve for your course), and take a closer look at the information about this resource.
Look at the ‘Details’ section of the record.
Take particular note of the ‘Subjects’ section.
This section uses ‘Subject Headings’ which are an example of ‘controlled vocabulary’. Controlled vocabulary is standardised language that is used to organise information, and is a way to both retrieve library records, and to link library records that are on same topic.
Either click on the 'Subject Headings' to find related records, or use this language in your subsequent searches for better results.
The ‘Description’ section of a library record can also give you ideas for keywords to use in your searches.
Sometimes the description is a list of chapter titles, sometimes it is more detailed and informative; either way the language used might give you some ideas for how to conduct a more effective search.
Reserve Collections provide access to high demand items, such as textbooks and recommended readings. Every Library has its own Reserve Collection. Items in the Reserve Collection are used in the Library for 2 or 3 hours at a time.
To search for items on Course Reserve:
If the item on Reserve for your course is in:
At the Central Library, the Reserve Collection is located on the ground floor, across from the main library entrance.
Watch this video: to learn more about Course Reserve and how to use it, and/or check out the library website.
For information about borrowing books, take a look at this library webpage.
It will help answer any question you might have about:
And, click here for information about paying library fines.
Library staff are more than happy to assist you with any queries you might have about any of this information.
Check out our library help page for more information on getting help, library FAQs, and a link to chat with a staff member.
Please know that there are no silly or stupid questions, and that we are here to support you to use the library.
Most of the time, the library doesn't provide access to an Ebook because the publisher of the book has not made a multi-user licence available.
Any individual can purchase (or rent) a copy of an Ebook that they can use themselves. When a library purchases (or rents) an Ebook, we have to purchase it on a licence that allows more than one person to use the Ebook. Sometimes publishers do not make these licences available. If that is the case, the best option for the library is to purchase a print copy so that we can all access the book.
Sometimes, only a few people are able to access an Ebook at any one time. In this case, you might just have to try accessing it again later.
Other times, each individual can only have access to a limited amount of the book at any one time (for example, you can only download a limited amount of chapters before you reach the copyright limit), and/or for only a short period of time (for example a day or a week). In these cases, you also might have to wait and try to access it again in a day or two.
And sometimes, we might have an Ebook listed on the catalogue in anticipation of someone wanting to access it, but we haven’t actually purchased it yet. In this situation, you just have to request access, and that will normally be approved quite rapidly.
In all cases, if you are having trouble accessing an Ebook, contact either the Eresources team (you can ‘report an issue’ via Library Search | Ketu or email them) or contact your Subject Librarian.
You can request an interloan of any book we don’t hold. For instructions on how to do this, check out the interloans webpage. This is a free service, unless we need to go beyond NZ or Australia to find the book. We will check with you of that is the case. You can also request a scan of a book chapter that we don’t hold, for free, using the same request method.
For information on requesting books from Storage check out this Library FAQ entry. You might find the Library FAQ helpful for other questions you have about using the library.
You can request the book and it will be recalled off the current borrower. Click here for information about how to do this.
The current borrower will immediately receive an email telling them that they have to return the book in one week. You will receive an email notification when the book has been returned from the current borrower, and waiting for you to pick it up on the hold shelf.
You can request a scan of a book chapter, or an article if the library only holds the journal in print.
Click here to watch a video about how to make a scan request.