Access to Library Services is determined by a students' programme progression information held on the Student Portal/SAP.

Full year or part of year deferral:

Undergraduates who are resitting exams or handing in assessed work later in the academic year are given the status "External Candidate" and progression code XF on SAP (via NESS) by their academic school.  External Candidates are not expected to be on campus or in lectures, they are entitled to a smartcard for that academic year which will give them read only (i.e. not borrowing) access to the library as well as their NUIT logins and e-resources access. 

Undergraduates who are attending lectures and have the progress code XR are classed as an internal candidate and are entitled to a smartcard with full access to all University services (including the library) for that academic year.

Postgraduates who are "writing up" a final part of their dissertation can also be classed as an internal or external candidate with the same level of library access as undergraduate students 

If you or your academic school need support or further advice contact Student Data Team via the help desk at Great North House or student-data@ncl.ac.uk

Summer only deferral: Undergraduate smartcards have a smartcard expiry date of 30th September of their final year, meaning access to library e-resources and study spaces is available until that date.  Borrowing rights, however, end in mid June (at the end of the regular assessment period) but those with an updated Student Portal/SAP record showing an exam resit or assessment deferral status for August will have their borrowing rights extended into the summer vacation.

Schools have been advised of the following from colleagues at Student Progress:

For final year undergraduate students who have deferred assessments or have resits outstanding their progress decision code on their SAP record needs to be updated to either XT (deferred assessment) or XS (resit) to ensure that they maintain access to library resources over the summer. Please ensure the correct deferral or resit decision has been released in the NESS system after exam boards so that this feeds through and updates their SAP record.”

The library is unable to change expiry dates or input SAP codes, so please check with your school administrators it has been completed, they can contact the Student Progress/Data Management team at: student-data@ncl.ac.uk for help.

If you are waiting confirmation of your deferral or resit status, please contact Library Help or attend the Philip Robinson Library or Walton Library in person during desk services opening hours and borrowing rights can be manually adjusted until the data feed is actioned.