It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the Virtual Library of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. In your studies, in your teaching and research work and as professionals, you will need to have all the information and documentation necessary at your fingertips in order to be able to achieve your goals. We have developed the Virtual Library to meet all your needs.

The Virtual Library is part of the UOC's educational model and is one of the most important support services for learning, teaching, research and administration which the University places at your disposal over the Virtual Campus.

Taking advantage of the technological possibilities provided by the campus, the Library does not simply have a central virtual space but it enters the Class, the teaching, research and even leisure areas to provide a universe of knowledge on a range of media related to your work. You have available to you various basic sources with which to consult us:

• The Catalogue and the Digital Collection. The Catalogue includes both physical-format documents: books, journals, videos, CD-ROM, CD-I, etc., and electronic and digital documents, which you can access straight from the bibliographic record. We also provide you with access to other catalogues from around the world.

• Among many other information resources, the Digital Collection contains specialist full-text databases and electronic journals on a great range of subjects. We should highlight the specialisation in the Information and Knowledge Society as a fundamental subject in the work of the University.

• You can use a global search engine to find the information in the entire Library, regardless of where it is precisely.

• In the Class, you will find a series of specialist resources and services in each subject, which will be of great interest for you in achieving your learning goals.

As a complement to all of this information, the Virtual Library offers you a lending service, own and external document supply service, bibliographical information, documentary searches and a range of customized services which will facilitate, complement and allow you to carry out your work easily and efficiently.

We hope that we can be of use to you in your achieving your goals.

Adoració Pérez Director of the Virtual Library