Trial access: Online Egyptological Bibliography and First World War primary sources

*The Library has subsequently subscribed to Online Egyptological Bibliography. Find out more at New to the Library: Online Egyptological Bibliography (OEB)*

The Library currently has trial access to the Online Egyptological Bibliography (OEB) from the University of Oxford and The First World War primary source database from Adam Matthew.

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

Access to OEB is only available until 17th October 2016.
While trial access to the First World War databases ends on 31st October 2016.

Online Egyptological Bibliography (OEB)

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Beginner’s guide to finding a book in DiscoverEd

Got a book you need to find in the Library but not sure how to search for it in DiscoverEd? This beginner’s guide should help.

If searching for a known book use a combination of title and author keywords.

–> Search DiscoverEd

For example, if you were looking for this book:

A.A.M. Duncan, Scotland: the making of the kingdom (Edinburgh, 1992).

You could do a search using the keywords “duncan”, “Scotland”, “making” and “kingdom”. DiscoverEd will look for items that include all the keywords in the item record.

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Reading your reading list and recognising references

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)?

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Being unsure about this is very common for new students so you’re not alone but if you can learn how to read your reading list and recognise references now it will make you more confident using the Library and will save you a lot of time and effort in your studies. 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:

  • Book
  • Book chapter
  • Journal article

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New to the Library: Nineteenth Century Collections Online

Over the summer the Library was able to purchase the British Politics and Society collection, part of Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO) from Gale Cengage. This is a major new resource for the Library and provides a fascinating look at this period of great change.

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British Politics and Society  brings together primary source documentation, allowing a greater understanding and analysis of the development of urban centers and of the major restructuring of society that took place during the Industrial Revolution.

You can access Nineteenth Century Collections Online: British Politics and Society via the Databases A-Z. Continue reading

New to the Library: Samos archaeological reports

Further to a request from staff in HCA the Library is currently in the process of trying to purchase a copy of all available volumes of the Samos series of archaeological reports published by the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut.

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Samos is one of the most important archaeological sites of the ancient Mediterranean world and this series of reports on excavations of the site provides essential data for staff and students research. Continue reading

New to the Library: Church Missionary Society Periodicals

Following a successful trial earlier this year the Library has now purchased access to module 1 of Church Missionary Society Periodicals, Global missions and contemporary encounters, 1804-2009.

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This resource features publications from the Church Missionary Society, the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society and the latterly integrated South American Missionary Society.

You can access Church Missionary Society Periodicals from the Databases A-Z list. Continue reading

New Library resources for Chinese history

I’m happy to let you know that the Library has recently purchased two new primary source databases looking at Chinese and Asian history. These are China: Culture and Society and a new collection of files covering 1938-1948 from Foreign Office Files for China. So if this is an area you are interested in then read on.

You can access both databases via the Databases A-Z list.

Foreign Office Files for China, 1938-1948: Open Door, Japanese war and the seeds of communist victory

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Foreign Office Files for China provides access to the digitised archive of British Foreign Office files dealing with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Library had already purchased access to the files covering the period 1949-1980, broadly covering the Communist Revolution, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. Continue reading

New to the Library: Papers of Neville Chamberlain

I’m pleased to let you know that the Library has recently purchased the Papers of Neville Chamberlain, an online resource containing political papers documenting Chamberlain’s policies as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister and highlighting his personal correspondence with his family.

You can access the Papers of Neville Chamberlain via the Databases A-Z list. This collection is made available to us via Archives Unbound from Gale Cengage.

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Some new Library resources for you

On the HCA Librarian blog I have highlighted new resources or material that have been purchased for the Library’s collections from requests from students or staff in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology.

However, new resources purchased from requests from other schools in the College of Humanities & Social Sciences and beyond may also be of interest to HCA students and staff. I generally tweet about these but I thought I’d put a quick post together just to highlight some of these resources.

In no particular order…

Historical Statistics of the United States: Millennial Edition Online

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Historical Statistics of the United States (HSUS) is a compendium of statistics about the United States and is the standard source for the quantitative facts of American history. –> Find out more

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Spotlight on Digital National Security Archive (DNSA)

This is the first in an occasional series highlighting some of the online resources available at the Library that will be of interest to students and staff in History, Classics and Archaeology.

The Digital National Security Archive (DNSA) from ProQuest gives you access to a vast collection of important declassified U.S. government documents. This provides valuable primary source material central to U.S. foreign and military policy since 1945 and helps advance research in history, politics and international relations.

IFWithin DNSA are collections that cover U.S. policy towards critical world events, including their military, intelligence, diplomatic and human rights dimensions. Each collection is overseen by a subject expert and they allow researchers to directly access the original documents that shaped responses to these critical world events.

With the recent purchase of the collections U.S. Policy in the Vietnam War, Part I and II the Library now has access to 7 collections via DNSA.
[As of August 2017 4 new collections have now been added.]

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