Category Archives: Featured

Aug 21 2013
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Featured, Library, Projects, Uncategorized

Thesis Scanning Service attracts international attention

Given the global impact of research at the University we probably shouldn’t have been surprised when our little Thesis Scanning Service attracted attention around the world – but we were.

To date roughly half of all orders received have come in from outside the UK. Predictably, English speaking countries such as the United States and Australia account for the majority of requests. The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) in Chicago has even become our first repeat customer; ordering four theses scans in as many months. Each thesis scanned for the CRL will eventually be made available to their users via their digital repository. For those unaffiliated with the CRL, however, they will also be available for anyone to download on our own digital repository, ERA.

Not all orders are coming in from the English-speaking world; requests have come in from countries as far afield as Japan, Israel and South Korea. While the majority of requests have been made by academic researchers, some have been for exhibitions or even family history enthusiasts. Currently, requests have been received from 13 different countries and we hope to see this number increase in future.

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Aug 08 2013
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Featured, Library

Tour de Store

As well as the usual retrieval and scanning services offered by the Library Annexe, which you may have read about on our blog or web page, we are also happy to provide tours of the facility to anyone who wishes to see what we do. We have hosted occasional open days where staff and library users are invited to spend an hour at the Annexe viewing some of the collections and watching us work, but we will also happily give tours upon request.

Annexe Tour

Scott is obviously deeply absorbed by the tour or else dazzled by the lights.

We were visited on Wednesday 24th July by Rachel, Scott & Christine from the Main Library’s Help Desk team, who deal with requested Annexe material every week and were keen to see the Annexe for themselves.

Library Tour 2

Rachel ponders the secrets of the Annexe collections.

They were undeterred by the earlier bout of traditional Edinburgh rainfall and made the short and easy journey from George Square to South Gyle. We started proceedings with a tour of the two units that comprise the Library Annexe, a circuit that took us through two reading rooms, staff offices and, of course, the 33,000 linear meters of shelving space spread across our substantial stores. Stops were made to take in some of the varied collections, including a rare chance to glimpse the recently acquired Nelson Archive. As guide, I did my best to provide our guests with some interesting facts and figures. For example, did you know that, in addition to our monographs, journals and archives, we also hold approximately 1,000 ECA Artworks? Or that we scan an average of 26 articles and chapters for our users each week? Or that we loaned a total of 3185 items in the 2011/12 academic year?

Library Tour 3

Charlie demonstrates how we process requests and even manages to do it with a smile.

After the circuit was completed, the visiting Help Desk staff were granted respite in our staff quarters, where Charlie demonstrated how we process the various physical item requests we receive each day, and Maria did a stellar job of showing off our impressive scanning suite, which we use for digitising all scan requests and is central to the operation of our increasingly well subscribed thesis scanning service.

Library Tour 4

Maria is in the spotlight as she shows off our state-of-the-art scanner.

Links:

Requesting Material from the Library Annexe

Thesis Scanning Service

Carl Jones, Library Annexe Supervisor

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Aug 06 2013
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Featured, Library

Western General Hospital Library and the Annexe

The University of Edinburgh Library operates on a number of sites around the city. One of these is the Western General Hospital Library which holds part of the University’s medicine collections, including literature covering oncology, gastroenterology and neurology.

Brain Model for use by Staff and Students at the Western General Hospital Library

Libraries are not only about books. Staff and students at the Western General Hospital Library can also make use of this Brain Model.

The Western General Hospital Library is open to both staff and students of the University of Edinburgh and NHS Lothian staff. There are computers connected to both the University’s network and NHS Knowledge Network to provide a great range of information access.

The Library Annexe has been working closely with the Western General Hospital Library to identify duplicate runs of journal series, or gaps in runs held by either the Western General Hospital Library and the Annexe. By identifying where duplicate runs are held and moving an entire run from the Western General Hospital Library to the Library Annexe, or using items held in the Library Annexe to fill gaps in journal runs being held at the Western General Hospital Library we are able to provide a more comprehensive and complete information experience for our readers.

Shelves at the Western General Hospital with gaps from the de-duplication.

Exciting new space on the shelves from de-duplication means more room for additional materials.

Stephanie Farley (Charlie), Library Annexe Assistant

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Jul 25 2013
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Featured, Projects

The new Annexe Thesis Scanning Service proves popular

 

picture of a number of black-bound theses piled up in a cupboard over two shelves

The orders for thesis scans are definitely piling up.

After 9 months and 62 orders the pilot stage of the Thesis Scanning Service is over. When the service started I don’t think any of the team anticipated the impact it would have on our workload. We naively expected to be scanning one thesis a week but, with an average eight scan requests coming in each month, it isn’t unheard of for us to deliver five completed scans in one working week. This far exceeded our expectations and we have been pleasantly surprised by the uptake. In fact, now that the service is up and running, each of us devotes up to half of our working day to digitisation.

The project has highlighted the demand for digital copies of theses. Although only a handful have made their way onto ERA thus far those that have are benefiting from increased visibility and usage. Since being made available on ERA, Lance Whitehead’s 1994 thesis on the Clavichords of Hieronymus and Johann Haas has been viewed over 100 times and downloaded almost 40. On average the theses that have been available via ERA for more than 6 months have been downloaded 23 times each.

As more materials are added to the ERA database, their visibility on search engines such as Google Scholar will only increase, allowing our worldwide audience access to Edinburgh’s Research. Despite some of the interesting moments and challenges along the way, we feel the service has been a great success and all of us on Team Annexe are looking forward to seeing how it develops in the future.

Maria O’Hara, Library Annexe Assistant

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Jul 18 2013
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Collections, Featured

ECA Collection at the Annexe : Dame Blackadder

A series of articles on the relationship between the Library Annexe and the ECA.

One of the gems being stored out at the Annexe amongst the ECA Collection is the below oil panting by Dame Elizabeth Violet Blackadder.

(c) Elizabeth Blackadder; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

Tuscan Landscape by Elizabeth V. Blackadder, Oil on paper, 51 x 71 cm, Collection: ECA part of University of Edinburgh Fine Art Collection

A Scottish painter and printmaker, in 1962 Blackadder began teaching at Edinburgh College of Art where she continued until her retirement in 1986.

She is the first woman to be elected to both the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Academy.

Her work can be seen at the Tate Gallery, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and has appeared on a series of Royal Mail stamps.

If you are interested in the paintings stored out at the Annexe, the BBC have digitised the collection and made it available on the web page ‘Your Paintings’.

 

Stephanie Farley (Charlie), Library Annexe Assistant

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Jul 10 2013
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Featured, Projects

Tom Kibble’s Thesis digitised and made available online

Picture of Tom Kibble

Professor Kibble is currently an Emeritus Professor at Imperial College London

During the summer graduations Tom Kibble will receive an Honorary Degree from the School of Physics & Astronomy for this work in Theoretical Physics. An Edinburgh graduate, Kibble contributed to the discovery of both the Higgs mechanism and the Higgs boson.

scanned image of handwritten formulas included in the thesis

All of the formulas in the the thesis were handwritten.

Ahead of the graduation ceremony in July the School requested the digitisation of his 1958 Thesis on Quantum Field Theory. As with all of our thesis scans the digitised copy will shortly be made available on ERA. In the meantime, the School of Physics & Astronomy will be using it for an exhibition on Kibble to coincide with the conferment of his honorary degree.

Maria O’Hara, Library Annexe Assistant

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Jun 27 2013
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Featured, Projects

Edinburgh physician’s thesis digitised for inclusion in Japanese Museum Exhibit

unedited image of a scanned page

The Carbon Pages were so thin a sheet of paper had to be placed behind each page before it was scanned

Earlier this year a digital copy of the 1909 thesis of Scottish born anthropologist and physician Dr Neil Gordon Munro was ordered by a museum in Japan. The digitised work will be included in an exhibition at the Yokohama History Museum in the city where Munro lived and worked as director of the General Hospital for much of his career.

The thesis was challenging to digitise as much of it was typed on thin, see-though carbon paper. Many of the pages had become wrinkled with age and some were handwritten.

As the University of Edinburgh begins exploring distance learning tools and deploying courses via Coursera this thesis, submitted from Japan, demonstrates the Universities rich yet largely invisible history of distance learning.

For a closer look at the completed digital copy on ERA go to: http://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/6685

Maria O’Hara, Library Annexe Assistant

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Jun 21 2013
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Collections, Featured

ECA Collection at the Annexe: British Art

A series of articles on the relationship between the Library Annexe and the ECA.

Among the items from the ECA Collection being stored at the Annexe are some stunning examples of British Art that were purchased in the 50s with funding provided by the Carnegie Trust.

Including some works by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, and Augustus John.

Library of Congress, Bain Collection

Augustus John poses for the American press on board a ship.

If you are interested in the paintings stored out at the Annexe, the BBC have digitised the collection and made it available on the web page ‘Your Paintings’.

 

Stephanie Farley (Charlie), Library Annexe Assistant

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Jun 14 2013
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Featured, Projects

Edinburgh University introduces new Thesis Digitisation Service

Staff member using the Bookscanner at the Library Annexe

Charlie demonstrates our beautiful scanner.

In October 2012 the Library Annexe began operating a new Thesis Scanning Service. The service has proved popular with theses covering topics from historical re-enactment to earthquakes. And if anyone is fluent in Arabic and can tell us what Al-Hajeri’s (2007) 1200 page thesis is about – let us know!

Once scanned, a digital copy of the thesis is made available on the university’s institutional repository ERA where they are already seeing increased usage. The eventual aim is to make the entire thesis collection available online.

For more information on the service visit the Thesis Scanning Service webpage and to find out more about the University’s online repository check out the research already available on ERA.

Maria O’Hara, Library Annexe Assistant

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Jun 10 2013
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Collections, Featured

ECA Collection at the Annexe : Storage

A series of articles on the relationship between the Library Annexe and the ECA.

The Annexe provides a great space to store, sort, preserve and work on collections.

Improvements to the storage of materials are always on-going. Recently staff from the ECA have been working hard out at the Annexe lining shelves with Plastazote, a hard foam, to protect the paintings.

Volunteers, lining shelves with Plastazote to protect paintings stored at the Library Annexe

Volunteers, Siobhan & Catriona, lining shelves with Plastazote to protect paintings stored at the Library Annexe

Plastazote is used in conservation for many purposes. It is used for packaging and the protection of various fragile objects and artifacts. Also, to create book rests and display supports.

So what is it? Plastazote foam sheets are a high density light weight chemically neutral and inert polyethylene foam material. Catch all of that? This means that the foam is inert and acid free so it won’t react chemically with any conservation material it comes into contact with. The high density foam can be cleanly cut and sculptured to most shapes. Both of these factors make it great for packing archival boxes to fit the object, such as rare books and other valuable items that are subject to potential damage.

Plastazote lined shelves at the Library Annexe

The finished product.

By lining the shelves out at the Annexe, we are creating a more secure, safe, preserving space for the ECA Collection to ensure that the Collection will be in top condition to be enjoyed for many years to come.

 

Stephanie Farley (Charlie), Library Annexe Assistant

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