New! Roper iPoll

Following a successful trial last year I’m happy to let you know the Library now has a subscription to Roper iPoll provided by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University.

You can access Roper iPoll via the Databases A-Z list, DiscoverEd and relevant Subject Guides and Databases by Subject pages.

Roper iPoll provides U.S. and international public opinion polls and datasets from 1935 to the present. Surveys cover any number of topics including, social issues, politics, pop culture, international affairs, science, the environment, and much more. Includes the major academic, commercial and media survey organisations. You can search for datasets by keyword, country, surveying agency, timeframe and type of sample. 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

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 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

New! News, Policy & Politics Magazine Archive

I’m happy to let you know that following some successful trials in the last couple of years the Library has purchased the News, Policy & Politics Magazine Archive from ProQuest. This resource offers digital access to the archival runs of 15 major 20th and 21st century consumer magazines covering such fields as the history of politics, current events, public policy and international relations. Central to this collection is the archive of Newsweek, one of the 20th century’s most prominent and highest circulating general interest magazine.

You can access News, Policy & Politics Magazine Archive from the Databases A-Z list and appropriate databases by subject listsYou’ll soon be able to access it from DiscoverEd as well. 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

Trial access: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics online

Thanks to a request from a member of staff the Library currently has trial access to the online Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. This resource offers long-form overview articles written, peer-reviewed, and edited by leading scholars on a large and varied range of topics and subjects related to politics.

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

Trial access ends 12th December 2017.

Updated regularly you can easily search the resource, browse by subfield or search within a subfield. It also gives you options to refine and sort your search results.

Access Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics via e-resources trials.
Access is available until 12th December 2017.
Feedback welcome.

Access is only available to current students and staff at University of Edinburgh.

Caroline Stirling – Academic Support Librarian for Social and Political Science

New library subject guides for SPS

We’ve been revamping the library subject guides for School of Social and Political Science. So if you’re just starting at the University or you are a returning student why not take a look?

The subject guides include information about and links to library resources, facilities and services both specifically for your subject area and for general library use.

You can find new subject guides for the following subject areas:

These subject guide pages have been completely overhauled and we hope these will prove useful to you.

Caroline Stirling – Academic Support Librarian for School of Social and Political Science