Category Archives: Library

Spotlight on Gale Cengage digital primary sources

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On Tuesday 30th January we’ll be holding a Discovery Day event in the Main Library where representatives from 3 publishers of digitised primary source collections and our very own Centre for Research Collections will be on hand to help you navigate through and find useful material in the huge range of primary sources you have access to at the Library. Gale Cengage are one of the publishers who will be attending and this blog post highlights the fantastic collections the Library has access to through them.

The Library has access to a large and broad range of primary source collections that can be accessed via the Primary Source database list or the separate Newspapers & Magazines list and Images & Moving Images list.

The Library is very lucky to have access to 12 of these types of databases from Gale Cengage, a leader in education, learning, and research resources online. This actually gives you access to around 300 collections of primary source material. Gale’s digital collections span 500 years of history and a wide breadth of topics, including politics, society, business and leisure. Continue reading →

New books in the Library for History, Classics and Archaeology

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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 History, Classics and Archaeology and these demonstrate the wide range of subjects being taught, studied and researched within School.

–> Find these and more via DiscoverEd.

Early Greek portraiture: monuments and histories by Catherine M. Keesling (shelfmark: NB1296.3 Kee. Also available as e-book).

The crusade in the fifteenth century: converging and competing cultures edited by Norman Housley (e-book).

The long aftermath: cultural legacies of Europe at war, 1936-2016 edited by Manuel Braganca and Peter Tame (shelfmark: D744.7.E8 Lon. Also available as e-book).

Race relations at the margins: slaves and poor whites in the antebellum Southern countryside by Jeff Forret (shelfmark: F220.A1 For.)

Beyond conflicts: cultural and religious cohabitations in Alexandria and Egypt between the 1st and the 6th century CE edited by Luca Arcar (shelfmark: BR127 Bey.)

Drawing Lithic artefacts by Yannick Raczynski-Henk (shelfmark: GN799.T6 Rac.) Continue reading →

Spotlight on Adam Matthew digital primary sources

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On Tuesday 30th January we’ll be holding a Discovery Day event in the Main Library where representatives from 3 publishers of digitised primary source collections and our very own Centre for Research Collections will be on hand to help you navigate through and find useful material in the huge range of primary sources you have access to at the Library. Adam Matthew are one of the publishers who will be attending and this blog post highlights the fantastic collections the Library has access to through them.

The Library has access to a large and broad range of digital primary source collections that can be accessed via the Primary Source database list (see also the separate lists for Newspapers & Magazines and Images & Moving Images).

Adam Matthew are a publisher who specialise in producing high-quality, digitised primary source collections online. They put together thematic collections sourced from libraries, archives, museums, etc., around the world and they have databases that cover the Medieval period onwards.

The Library is very lucky to have access to 11 of these collections (or databases) from Adam Matthew and all can be accessed via the Primary Source database list.

China: Culture and Society

Continue reading →

On trial: primary source databases

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I’m happy to let you know that Adam Matthew Digital are very kindly giving us trial access to 7 of their fabulous primary source databases. This gives you a unique opportunity to access some extensive digitised primary source collections that between them cover the 16th to the 21st century.

So if you’re interested in the history of the book or history of publishing, theatre history, socialism in the 20th century, Japan in the 20th century, social and cultural history, 17th to 19th century poetry, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, etc., there may be something here for you.

Left: Advertisement for the New Music of Country Dance executed by several celebrated horses at the Olympic Pavilion (1807) from Eighteenth Century Drama. Right: Architectural plan for Oxford University Press, Amen Corner (1913) from Literary Print Culture.

All the databases can be accessed via the E-resources trials page.
Access is available on and off-campus.

Trial access to all the Adam Matthew Digital databases ends 20th November 2017.

I’ve already highlighted Socialism on Film and Foreign Office Files for Japan in previous blog posts so this post will round up the further 5 databases available to us for the trial period. Continue reading →

On trial: Foreign Office Files for Japan

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Are you interested in Japanese history in the twentieth century? Do you want to know more about Anglo-Japanese ties in the first half of the twentieth century?

The Library currently has trial access to Foreign Office Files for Japan, 1919-1952 from Adam Matthew Digital. This database makes available extensive coverage of British Foreign Office files dealing with Japan between 1919 and 1952.

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

Trial access ends 20th November 2017. Continue reading →

On trial: Socialism on Film

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I’m pleased to let you know that the Library has been given the opportunity to trial for a second time the fascinating Socialism on Film: The Cold War and International Propaganda from Adam Matthew Digital and the BFI National Archive.

This impressive collection of documentaries, newsreels and features reveals the world as seen by Soviet, Chinese, Vietnamese, East European, British and Latin American film makers. Documenting the communist world from the Russian Revolution until the 1980s and covering all aspects of socialist life. And what makes this resource unique is the collection of films were produced almost exclusively in the communist world and then versioned into English for distribution in the West.

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

Trial access ends 20th November 2017. Continue reading →

On trial: Women’s Magazine Archive I and II

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*The Library has now purchased access to the ‘Women’s Magazine Archive, collection I and II’. See New to the Library: Women’s Magazine Archive.*

Following a request from a student in HCA the Library now has trial access to ProQuest’s Women’s Magazine Archive, collection I and II. This unique database comprises archival runs of leading women’s consumer magazines of the twentieth century.

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

Trial access ends 16th November 2017. Continue reading →

On trial: Illustrated London News 1842-2003

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*The Library has now purchased access to this resource. See New to the Library: Illustrated London News Historical Archive*

Thanks to a request from a member of staff in HCA the Library currently has trial access to the Illustrated London News Historical Archive, 1842-2003. Illustrated London News was the world’s first pictorial weekly newspaper and this archive gives access to the full run of this iconic illustrated newspaper.

 

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

Trial access ends 31st October 2017.

The first issue of Illustrated London News was published on Saturday 14 May 1842 and as the world’s first fully illustrated weekly newspaper, it marked a revolution in journalism and news reporting. Continue reading →

How to…read your reading list and search for readings in the Library

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Got your reading list but not sure what you’re being asked to read (is it a book, is it an article, is it a bird, is it a plane…)? Or are you just not sure how you’re meant to search for and find these items in the Library (in print or online)?

It may just be the first week of semester but many of you will already be required to start reading material in preparation for your lectures, seminars or tutorials. Finding and accessing this material can be an early hurdle for many new students but don’t panic, it can be a lot easier than you think.

Learning how to read your reading list and recognise references now will make you more confident using the Library and will save you a lot of time in your studies later. And these skills will be of use to you at all stages of your University life and beyond.

What’s in a reading list?

Reading lists are just lists of essential, recommended or further readings for your course. They can include a wide range of material including books, book chapters, journal articles, documentaries, films, newspaper articles, websites, blogs, etc., but I am going to concentrate on the 3 most common:

  • Books
  • Book chapters
  • Journal articles

Continue reading →

On trial: State Papers Online: Eighteenth Century

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Following a request from a student in HCA I’m pleased to let you know that the Library currently has trial access to State Papers Online: Eighteenth Century, 1714-1782, Part II: State Papers Foreign: Low Countries and Germany from Gale Cengage.This contains the papers written or received by the secretaries of state in the course of British diplomacy in the Low Countries and Germany through the 18th century.

You can access this resource at State Papers Online: Eighteenth Century, 1714-1782. Access is available on-campus. Off-campus access is only available if using the VPN.

Trial access ends 6th October 2017.
 Continue reading →