Category Archives: Library

Mar 05 2014
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Featured, Library

We feel very Olympic today

Our newest Library Assistant at the Library Annexe is Marko Mlakar, who joins us at Edinburgh from Ljubljana, Slovenia. Marko worked at the University of Edinburgh last year as an intern within the Scholarly Communications team and brings a wealth of experience to the Collections Management team. Marko settled into his new role just in time for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, and with enough Olympic spirit still in the air, reflects on the competition in his first blog entry.

Carl Jones, Library Annexe Supervisor

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With the Olympic Games now behind us, it’s time to reflect a little on the fun we had at the Annexe over these past few weeks. Honestly, we could not hold our excitement about the Games so we got involved with every single Olympic day – falling short of watching TV during our work hours, of course! Since that super Olympic spirit hadn’t really left us we wanted to track down the oldest item about the Olympics in our collection for the Annexe blog… but it turned out to be neither that interesting nor that old – a bit of an anti-climax, for sure! Our advice is if you really want to know more about the Games, Moray House Library seems to be the place to visit.

The Library Annexe Sochi Winter Olympics board
The Library Annexe Sochi Winter Olympics board. Slovenia punch above their weight to bring the “Team Annexe” medal count up to 15.

We did, however, manage to introduce a bit of playful competition to the office during the games! Cheering for our united athletes of “Team Annexe” the Olympic spirit was running high from the get go, to the extent that we even created our Annexe Team Olympic medal board, which we put up to follow the achievements of our Olympians.  Our united Team of Australia, United Kingdom and Slovenia won no less than 15 medals altogether (3 gold, 5 silver and 7 bronze) beating China and some other great winter sporting nations such as Finland, Italy and Sweden. WOW! That is without a doubt an extraordinary achievement for such a small team. And as every story has to have a moral at the end, we would like to make sure you get this one right – never underestimate the power of team effort, no matter how small the team.

About Moray House Library

About the Scholarly Communications Team

Marko Mlakar, Library Annexe Assistant

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Jan 13 2014
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Library

Beautiful Bindings

thesis on rickets 1 thesis on rickets 2

As part of our Thesis Scanning Service, when we come across a request for a thesis that has beautiful binding we make sure to scan and include these images in the digitised content.

A recent example of this is the beautiful golden marble effect shown above on William David Osler’s ‘Thesis on Rickets’ awarded in 1896.

The digitised copy of this thesis is available for download from the Edinburgh Research Archive (ERA), Edinburgh University’s digital repository of original research produced at The University of Edinburgh.

Download and view ‘Thesis on Rickets’ from the ERA archives’.

More information on our digitisation service can be found on our Thesis Scanning service page.

Stephanie Farley (Charlie), Library Annexe Assistant

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Nov 14 2013
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Library

Reading Rooms and visiting the Annexe

We run a fast and effective retrieval service for Annexe materials. If you want to consult the whole item we can have it sent to a convenient library location via our twice daily courier deliveries, and if you are wanting a chapter or article we can scan and deliver a digital copy directly to your inbox.

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Reading Room Annexe 1

Occasionally, however, you may want to browse through a larger selection of Annexe materials which include: lesser used books, back issues of journals,reference maps and atlases, newspaper indexes and microfilm.

The Annexe also stores selected material from the Library’s Special Collections, University Archives and Lothian Health Services Archive (LHSA).

Perhaps you want to search through part of a journal run for relevant articles or browse the microfilms for a couple of years’ worth of newspapers. If so you’ll find a well-stocked kitchen, friendly staff and plenty of study space to spread out as you work.

The Annexe has two comfortable reading rooms and we can offer visitors use of an open access PC, a microfilm reader and an OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog) for searching items in the catalogue.

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Reading Room Annexe 2

To arrange access to items from the Library’s Special Collections, University Archive s and Lothian Health Services Archive (LHSA) material stored in the Annexe, contact the CRC to first determine if a visit to the Annexe would be suitable.

To arrange a visit to the Annexe to access any of the other material simply send us an email (library.annexe@ed.ac.uk) or give us a call (0131 651 1523) to discuss a suitable time.

Despite our remote location out in South Gyle we’re relatively easy to get to either by the 2, 22 or 35 buses or by hopping on one of the regular trains that call at Edinburgh Park. You could even sneak in a visit to Krispy Kreme’s over the road while you’re out this way.

Stephanie Farley (Charlie), Library Annexe Assistant

Maria O’Hara, Library Annexe Assistant

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Oct 31 2013
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Library

Happy Halloween/Samhuinn from the Annexe

The results of our now annual Annexe pumpkin carving competition.

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Ohh spooky.

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Stephanie Farley (Charlie), Library Annexe Assistant

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Oct 03 2013
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Library of the Centre for the Study of World Christianity now at the Annexe

The Library of the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non Western World (CSCNWW), which was located in Thomas Chalmers House, adjacent to New College, was moved out to the Annexe over the summer break and is now available to students and staff at all library sites via the Library Annexe retrieval service.

The space in Thomas Chalmers House being previously used to house the library collection was generously loaned by the School of Divinity but is now required for other purposes. Previous access to this collection was haphazard and managed by postgraduate students in the department. Moving the collection out to the Annexe provides regular reliable access to material that was previously available only sporadically.

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Study spaces in the New College Library

Additionally this move is going to allow cataloguers the chance to properly examine and update the collection.  This means a greater wealth of information in regards to what is held in the collection, making location of research and study materials much easier for students, staff, and visiting readers.

As part of an ongoing project, other lesser used materials identified in the New College library will also be moved out to the Library Annexe. This will create space for the more relevant and higher use items in the CSCNWW Collection, as identified via the retrieval service, to be housed at the New College library for easier browsing access.

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Shelving in New College where space will be created to house higher use items from the CSCNWW Collection.

The Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non Western World (CSCNWW) Collection was originally a private donation to the New College library by Professor Andrew Walls. The collection has grown over time via additional donations and acquisitions, and contains a large amount of primary research material in the history of Christian missions in the non-western world.

For more information about the Centre for the Study of World Christianity please click on the link below:

Centre for the Study of World Christianity

Stephanie Farley (Charlie), Library Annexe Assistant

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Sep 11 2013
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Library

Requesting Electronic Delivery of Journal Articles and/or Book Chapter Scans from the Annexe

In addition to the item retrieval service for books and journals, we also provide electronic delivery of scanned journal articles and chapters from items held out at the Library Annexe.

There are two starting points from which to make a request for an article or book chapter:

  1. Use the Library Catalogue, and select ‘Library Annexe Scan Request’
  2. If you know the article or chapter you require, log in to ILLiad.

The User Guide provides information on using ILLiad to make a request for the digital delivery of a scan:

You do need to register with ILLiad to receive the requested scans, however registration is free and needs doing only once.

Interesting fact: in the last year the Annexe Team processed a total of one-thousand-and-ninety-seven scan requests for an average of fifty requests per week.

Stephanie Farley (Charlie), Library Annexe Assistant

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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 01 2013
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Library

How to request material stored in the Library Annexe

The Library Annexe is the off-site store for lesser-used material.

All students and staff can request items from the Library Annexe to support their learning, teaching and research. This service is provided free of charge for staff and students of the University of Edinburgh.

Each year staff at the Annexe deal with a large number of requests for this material; in 2011-12 this included supplying 3,300 books and journals, delivering 1,400 scans and responding to 552 email enquiries.

General Collections material

If you wish to consult a whole journal or book, you may request the item using the Library Catalogue. For more information on how to do this we recommend you read the Library Annexe Item Request Users’ Guide

Items are delivered to the Main Library and site libraries via two courier deliveries each day. For more information on when you can expect to pick up your request you can learn about delivery times for requested material

Wanting to request something? Use the Library catalogue to make a request!

 

Stephanie Farley (Charlie), Library Annexe Assistant

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