New! British Labour Party and Independent Labour Party Papers

I’m happy to let you know that the Library now has access to 3 British Online Archive digital collections of primary source documents relating to British political history in the 20th century:

  • British Labour Party Papers, 1906-1968
  • British Labour Party Papers, 1968-1994
  • Independent Labour Party Records, 1893-1960.

You can access all 3 databases via the Digital Primary Source and Archive Collections guide, the Databases A-Z list and the Politics and International Relations subject guide. Continue reading

New! African Newspapers, Series 1 1800-1922

I’m pleased to let you know that the Library had recently purchased the digital primary source database African Newspapers, Series 1 1800-1922 part of the World Newspaper Archive from Readex. This gives you unique access to a fully searchable collection of historical newspapers from Africa.

You can access the African Newspapers, Series 1 1800-1922 via the Newspapers, Magazines and Other News Sources guide. Or you can access it via the Databases A-Z list. Individual newspaper titles will also be added to DiscoverEd in the near future. Continue reading

New! LGBT Magazine Archive

I’m happy to let you know that the Library now has access to the LGBT Magazine Archive from ProQuest until 31st July 2024. This primary source database is a searchable archive of major periodicals devoted to LGBT+ interests, dating from the 1950s through to recent years.

You can access the LGBT Magazine Archive via the Newspapers, Magazines and Other News Sources guide. Or you can access it via the Databases A-Z list. Individual magazine titles will be added to DiscoverEd this week. Continue reading

The Library in the time of Covid-19

Not sure what Library resources, services and support are available to you at this unusual time? You can always keep up to date with all of this via our Library Covid-19 site but we’d like to highlight some key areas in this blog post.

Temporary access to e-books and other e-resources
E-books and books in general
Requesting a chapter from a book or journal article for personal use
Digital primary source and archive collections
Returning library books


Temporary access to e-books and other e-resources

The Library is already in a strong position when it comes to online resources and digital collections. We have around 1.4 million e-books, 185,000 e-journals, 700 licensed databases, 84,000 streaming videos and 6,000 scanned book chapters and journal articles. The majority of this content can be accessed via DiscoverEd and your subject guides. Continue reading

Manchester University Press – free e-book access until 30th June

I’m pleased to let you know that Manchester University Press (MUP) have opened up access to their 12 e-book collections until 30th June 2020 in light of the Covid-19 outbreak.

While the University Library already has access to a large number of e-books published by MUP, and already subscribes to 1 of the 12 collections, this extended access opens up a wide range of e-books that we’ve not had access to before for a limited period of time. Continue reading

African and South Asian newspaper archives: on trial

*The Library has now purchased access to African Newspapers, Series 1. See New! African Newspapers, Series 1 1800-1922*

Thanks to a request from UncoverEd I’m pleased to let you know that we currently have trial access to 3 digital newspaper archives from Readex covering African and South Asian titles. The 3 databases are African Newspapers: The British Library Collection, World Newspaper Archive: African Newspapers, Series 1 1800-1922 and World Newspaper Archive: South Asian Newspapers 1864-1922.

You can access all 3 databases via the E-resources trials page.
Access is available both on and off-campus.

Trial access ends 13th March 2020. Continue reading

5 recommended Library resources for Africa Week 2019

Yesterday, 24th October, was the start of Africa Week 2019 at the University. A chance to celebrate Edinburgh’s connections to the region. There are a number of events taking place to mark Africa Week but I wanted to highlight just some of the library resources available to staff and students of the University that will allow you to study and research Africa and Africa related subjects further.

1. C.A.S. collection on 4th floor, Main Library

Have you ever been searching DiscoverEd for a book or journal related to Africa and come across shelfmarks starting C.A.S.? Continue reading

New! Tanzania and Malawi in records from colonial missionaries, 1857-1965

I’m pleased to let you know that the Library now has access to Tanzania and Malawi in records from colonial missionaries, 1857-1965 from British Online Archives. This database gives you access to 54,550 digital pages from the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) archives including correspondence, journals, magazines, books, reports, etc.

You can access Tanzania and Malawi in records from colonial missionaries, 1857-1965 via the Databases A-Z list, the Digital primary source and archive collections guide or the African Studies databases list. You can also access it via DiscoverEd.

The UMCA was founded in the late 1850s, after the return of Dr David Livingstone from the region in 1857. This high church Anglican society drew its missionaries initially from the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Durham and Dublin. Under its motto “A servant of servants”, from its main centres of Zanzibar and Nyasaland (now Malawi), the UMCA began from an early date opposing the slave trade and promoting the education of the indigenous people and the training and ordination of African priests. Continue reading

New books in the Library for Social and Political Science

Thanks to recommendations from members of staff and requests via RAB from students the Library is continually adding new books to its collections both online and in print. Here are just a (very) small number of the books that have been added to the Library’s collections in semester two, 2018/19 for the School of Social and Political Science and these demonstrate the wide range of subjects being taught, studied and researched within School.

–> Find these and more via DiscoverEd.

Heart: a history by Sandeep Jauhar (shelfmark: QP111.4 Jau.)

Heineken in Africa: a multinational unleashed by Olivier van Beemen ; translated by Bram Posthumus (HD9397.N44 Bee.)

Tangled diagnoses: prenatal testing, women, and risk by Ilana Löwy (e-book).

Pervasive punishment: making sense of mass supervision by Fergus McNeill (shelfmark: HV7419 Macn. Also available as e-book).

Can we all be feminists?: seventeen writers on intersectionality, identity, and finding the right way forward for feminism edited by June Eric-Udorie (shelfmark: HQ1221 Can.)

Energy and geopolitics by Per Högselius (e-book).

Reclaiming Afrikan: queer perspectives on sexual and gender identities curated by Zethu Matebeni (shelfmark: HQ75.16.A35 Rec.) Continue reading

New! African Studies – Oxford Bibliographies

I’m pleased to let you know that following a request from staff members in the Centre of African Studies (CAS) the Library now has access to Oxford Bibliographies: African Studies collection.

You can access Oxford Bibliographies: African Studies via DiscoverEd, the African Studies LibGuide or via the entry to Oxford Bibliographies on the Databases A-Z list.

Since the literature on African Studies is diverse, fast moving, controversial, and scattered among unfamiliar sources, Oxford Bibliographies have asked leading scholars to identify the most significant themes and areas of study in their fields, recommend the best sources for exploring them, and discuss these works conceptual and empirical significance to provide a series of guided studies through the diverse approaches to a wide array of complex subjects. Continue reading