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Facilities
The Library, in a pleasant,
modern building, contains about a million books and subscribes to about 4,700
current periodicals. A computer-based system permits rapid access to
information on Library stock and its availability. The Short Loan
Collection contains books most in demand by students on taught modules.
Books which are not in stock may
be obtained for readers on inter-library loan, and there are facilities for
photocopying. There is a library of 250,000 books at Bulmershe Court and
specialist Music and Agriculture libraries. Book shops are to be found at
Whiteknights and Bulmershe.
www.rdg.ac.uk/library (opens in new
window)
Computing facilities are
excellent. Computer Services runs centrally-funded facilities for use by
students and provides both self-teach materials and informal modules and
seminars on practical computing topics. Facilities on campus include a
distributed system of powerful
workstations linked on a high speed data network and large numbers of personal
computers, both within individual departments, and in central rooms some of
which open 24 hours a day for student use.
The campus network which includes
Halls of Residence enables you to access the computer you want to work on
from anywhere on campus. It also connects to JANET which links all
universities and research bodies, and the Internet which provides access to the
World- Wide Web electronic mail and file transfer facilities across the world.
Hardware available includes IBM Compatible PCs, Apple Macintosh, some Acorns and
Unix Workstations as well as a central Sun system, and there is a wide range of
applications and communications software.
All undergraduate and
postgraduate students are registered to use the central computing facilities
according to the published Acceptable Use Policy, and a user name and password
is made available on arrival. Draft quality printing is available free of
charge and high quality print out, colour plotting and colour OHP slides can be
obtained at modest cost.
www.rdg.ac.uk/ITS
(opens in new window)
A large part of a student's
life on the campus revolves around the Students' Union building and the wide
range of clubs and societies organised by the Union. The Union building and all
the facilities of the Union are
run and administered by a student executive committee, which is
elected annually by the student body. The Union building offers shops, travel,
insurance and banking services as well as bars and a coffee lounge. Discos,
dances, pop concerts, meetings and sporting activities take place in the Union
Hall. All undergraduates must be members of the Union, and the Union
subscription is included in the Tuition Fee for visiting students.
The Union prints its own handbook
annually and gives you a free copy when you register with it. It contains
information about the University, the town and Union affairs. It will tell you
everything you need to know about the facilities offered in the Union building,
about the cultural, sporting, religious and other clubs and societies, and about
the social services which the Union provides.
www.rusu.co.uk
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Sport / Keeping fit
Sport is an integral part
of University life. Three levels of participation are catered for at Reading:
the top performers who represent their University clubs, the middle band seeking
 lower level
competition such as inter-hall and inter-departmental sport and the large
non-competitive group who enjoy exercise in its many forms.
The main playing fields are on
the Whiteknights campus close to the Halls of Residence. The athletics pavilion,
besides providing first-class changing accommodation, includes a kitchen and
bar. The grass tennis courts, the bowling green and the floodlit hard porous
pitch are other popular outdoor amenities at Whiteknights.
The Wolfenden Sports Centre
offers a wide variety of sporting facilities, such as basketball and tennis.
Other indoor provision for sport includes the gymnasium at Bulmershe Court,
eight squash courts and the Students' Union Hall. The University is fortunate in
possessing excellent river facilities on the Thames for rowing, canoeing and
sailing.
www.rdg.ac.uk/sports/
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The cultural life of the
University is greatly enhanced by its active Department of Music which organises
regular concerts and recitals for members of the University and those living in
the neighbourhood. There is a large University Choral Society and Orchestra, a
Chamber
 Orchestra
and a Chamber Choir. Also there is a Music Club, a small chamber choir known as
the University Singers, and a University Opera Society which gives a stage
performance each year. These groups are open to all students. There is a series
of Campus Concerts each term.
There is an active department of
Film and Drama and several dramatic groups; the focus of these is the University
Drama Society, offering several presentations each term. The French and German
Departments also produce a play each year.
The Reading Film Theatre provides
performances, in the Palmer Theatre, of films which represent 'the best of
cinema'.
www.extra.rdg.ac.uk/events/displays/music.asp
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www.rdg.ac.uk/music/publish/index.htm
(opens in new window)
www.readingfilmtheatre.co.uk/
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