Mass Observiation Project – on trial

*The Library has now purchased access to Mass Observation Project. See New! Mass Observation Project, 1981-2009 *

I’m happy to let you know that the Library currently has trial access to Mass Observation Project, 1981-2009 from AM Digital, which allows you to explore the history of Britain through three turbulent decades, written by those living through it.

Access Mass Observation Project via the E-resources trials page.
Access is available on and off-campus.

Trial access ends 24 June 2023.

Mass Observation Project, 1981-2009 provides digital access to a unique life-writing archive, capturing the everyday experiences, thoughts and opinions of people living through the turbulent final decades of the 20th century and the advent of the 21st century. Continue reading

Dissertation Festival 2020

From 26 October – 6 November the Library is running a virtual Dissertation Festival. The online events taking place during this two week period will highlight what the Library can do for you to help you succeed with your dissertation.

In this blog post I am going to focus on the sessions that might be of particular interest to dissertation students (undergraduates or postgraduates) in the School of Social and Political Science (SPS). However, to find all sessions available and to book on take a look at the Dissertation guide. 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

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 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 one, 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.

The Blood telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a forgotten genocide by Gary J. Bass (shelfmark: E855 Bas.)

Where underpants come from: from checkout to cotton field: travels through the new China and into the new global economy by Joe Bennett (shelfmark: HD9736.C62 Ben.)

The European Union’s evolving external engagement: towards new sectoral diplomacies? edited by Chad Damro, Sieglinde Gsteohl and Simon Schunz. (e-book).

Taxing Africa: coercion, reform and development by Mick Moore, Wilson Prichard and Odd-Helge Fjeldstad (shelfmark: HJ3021 Moo. Also available as e-book).

Peace for Lebanon?: from war to reconstruction edited by Deirdre Collings (shelfmark: DS87 Pea.)

Town twinning, transnational connections and trans-local citizenship practices in Europe by Andreas Langenohl (e-book). Continue reading

Fitba’ crazy, fitba’ mad? A football inspired reading list (yet again!)

The 2018 World Cup kicks off today in Russia and to mark this occasion we decided to resurrect and update our football inspired reading list that we originally published just over 2 years ago when Euro 2016 began (and 2 years before that when the 2014 World Cup started – don’t say we don’t have any new ideas!) These are just a small number of the e-books currently available to staff and students of the University in the Library’s collections that look at different aspects of the beautiful (or not so beautiful) game from a social sciences perspective.

Football and supporter activism in Europe: whose game is it? edited by Borja García and Jinming Zheng explores and compares football governance, fandom culture and supporter engagement in Europe. With a specific focus on supporter activism and campaigning, the collection provides a comparative study of several European countries. The authors argue that supporters, despite being the pillar or the ‘lifeblood’ of their club, see their role in football governance marginalised. The volume is unique in that it challenges the widely accepted assumption that membership football clubs encourage the democratic participation of supporters.

Marketing and football: an international perspective edited by Michel Desbordes and Simon Chadwick examines in two parts the study of football marketing in Europe and the development of a marketing dedicated to football, with the question of the European example being used worldwide.

Football hooliganism, fan behaviour and crime: contemporary issues edited by Matthew Hopkins and James Treadwell focuses on a number of contemporary research themes placing them within the context of palpable changes that have occurred within football in recent years. The collection brings together essays about football, crime and fan behaviour from leading experts in the fields of criminology, law, sociology, psychology and cultural studies. 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, 2017/18 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.

The politics of borders: sovereignty, security, and the citizen after 9/11 by Matthew Longo (shelfmark: JC323 Lon. Also available as e-book.)

Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Paternalism by Jason Hanna Kalle Grill (e-book).

The unending hunger: tracing women and food insecurity across borders by Megan A. Carney (shelfmark: JV6602 Car.)

Big data, little data, no data: scholarship in the networked world by Christine L. Borgman (e-book).

“Return” in post-colonial writing: a cultural labyrinth edited by Vera Mihailovich-Dickman (shelfmark: PR9085 Ret.)

Havens in a storm: the struggle for global tax regulation by J.C. Sharman (shelfmark: K4464.5 Sha.) 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 one, 2017/18 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.

Controlling capital: public and private regulation of financial markets edited by Nicholas Dorn (shelfmark: K1066 Con. Also available as e-book).

The rise of the outsiders: how mainstream politics lost its way by Steve Richards (shelfmark: JC423 Ric.)

Energy politics and rural development in Sub-Saharan Africa: the case of Ghana by Naaborle Sackeyfio (e-book).

Decolonizing anthropology: moving further toward an anthropology for liberation edited by Faye V. Harrison (shelfmark: GN345 Dec.)

Transforming patriarchy: Chinese families in the twenty-first century edited by Gonçalo Santos and Stevan Harrell (shelfmark: HQ684 Tra. Also available as e-book).

Residential child and youth care in a developing world. 1, Global perspectives 1 edited by Tuhinul Islam and Leon Fulcher (shelfmark: HV862 Res.) Continue reading