Free University Card Replacement

Posted on April 29, 2025 by lawlibrarian

So, what do you do when your university card is lost, damaged or stolen?

Well, usually you will visit our EdHelp Service Desk in the Main Library or any Card Help Desks and get a replacement card. But, you will need to pay the £10 fee; and the fee applies to all card holders (staff, students and visitors)

But for the next few weeks, between April 21 – May 23 you can get your university card replaced for free!!!

This is a one time, single offer for the duration specified above, so if your card is lost, damaged or stolen, head to one of our card help desks and the super friendly library staff there will be able to help you.

Best wishes

Your Academic Law Librarians

Library Databases search box now live!

Posted on March 12, 2025 by lawlibrarian

So, how have you been searching for databases for your studies so far?

Have you been using the link from myEd?

Or perhaps going straight to the Databases A-Z list or by subject?

Well, now there is another way that is user friendly and hopefully can increase your engagement with using databases. A Library Databases search went live a few weeks ago. Its aim is to improve the way you search for databases; you can either search by name (if you already know the name of the database you want to access) or by subject. Using either way, will limit the results in DiscoverEd to the ones that are most relevant. Library Database search bar

Here are two examples:

a) if you want to search for Westlaw, you type the name of the database and click on the search button. As soon as you do that, you will be directed to the Westlaw link in DiscoverEd Library Database search displaying the result for Westlaw

b) if you don’t know which database you want to access but instead search by subject, then you will get a list of databases that are relevant to the subject term you inserted. In this example, I used ‘law’. Library Database search displaying the results for law

In both cases, please remember to sign in before you go any further so that you can access all the material we are subscribed to.

The usage of this new featured will be monitored over the next few months (in comparison to the Databases A-Z for example) and if you find it useful, any feedback will be welcomed.

Till then, happy searching and be in touch with any comments!

Dear Library, I love you / I am breaking up with you because….

Posted on February 4, 2025 by lawlibrarian

Happy February all!

With Valentine’s day fast approaching, the Law Library has decided to run again the very successful ‘Love Letters to the Library’.

The idea for these Love Letters is taken from Andy Priestner’s A Handbook of User Experience Research & Design in Libraries.

Library users are asked to write letters to the Library, and it can be about anything that they love or hate. It has been very successful as Priestner says “the method is universally understood and very willingly participated in”.

So, you are given the option to either declare your love or break up with the Library. The letters are written specifically to the Library and not to staff and you can give your reasons for your choice. Your responses help us have a very informal and often funny but instructive idea as to how you feel. We will run this from the 10th till the 16th February; you can pick up your love or break up letter from the foyer at the Law Library and fill it in at your leisure.

Table with 3 transparent small stands. There are 2 read trays with pieces of paper in them. The is a small bowl with chocolates

Responses are private and are judged by Law Library staff. When winners are chosen from each category they are contacted for permission to anonymously post the letters on social media. And there will be a £20 book token for a winning love letter and a winning break up one! So, go ahead and pick up your love or break up letter from the Library and let it know how you feel and what you like or don’t like about it.

: Example of love letter to be completed

: Example of breaking up letter to be completed

We are looking forward to reading your replies; and remember to address them to the Library.

Have fun!

Happy New Year and Welcome back

Posted on January 9, 2025 by lawlibrarian

Happy new Year all and welcome back!

2025 has landed and the new semester is already underway. Teaching has resumed and the Law Librarians are busy delivering new information literacy classes to postgraduate students.

The Law Library is now open but still on reduced hours until this Sunday. Please check before planning your trip there to avoid any disappointment. Normal opening hours will resume on Monday 13 January. The Main Library has resumed its normal opening hours.

3 students in the entrance of the Law Library, in the Old College

As always, we are here to help you with any enquiries you have about resources, referencing and literature searching. We offer one to one appointments most weeks; visit the MyEd Events Booking system and look for ‘literature search clinic’ and select the option relating to Law. And if you can’t see a bookable slot that suits you please email us on law.librarian@ed.ac.uk.

Warm Wishes from your Law Librarians

Posted on December 19, 2024 by lawlibrarian

With the exam period almost finished, it is time for all of us to get a well deserved break from studies, assignments and work in general. The University will be closed across the 2024 festive period from 5pm on Monday 23rd December 2024 and reopening at 9am on Friday 3rd January 2025.

The Law Library will remain closed for the period mentioned above. If you are studying or conducting research over the winter break you will find our online resources remain accessible via the usual channels, but should you run into difficulties we will not be able to respond to any messages until we return in January. Your Law Librarians will be away from Friday 20th December 2024 and coming back on Monday 6th January 2025.

The Main Library will remain open for most of the duration of the holidays but with reduced staffing and opening hours.

We wish you a restful and pleasant winter break during your time away from the University. See you in 2025!

~ Anna & Rania

Resource Lists: What do you think? We want to know!

Posted on March 15, 2024 by lawlibrarian

Vectored image of small people standing on and around a ginormous stack of books with a laptop balanced on top. The laptop screen shows the Resource List logo. Many of the small figures are reading books or on devices.

We’re in the midst of gathering feedback about Resource List use within the School of Law and would like to invite our students to get involved in a short focus group that will help us shape our approach to lists in the future.

If you’re available on Wednesday 17 April 2pm to 4pm and will be in Central Edinburgh then please email our project manager Karen to register your interest.

Tea, coffee and cake will be provided and participants will receive a £10 gift card for Blackwells, which can be used to purchase any of their worldly goods (including books, games, stationery and much more!).

There are eight spaces available. The focus group will take the form of informal discussion with some structured questions about whether or not you use the List system, what you like about it, and will give you lots of time to provide your thoughts and discuss with others in the room. All feedback will be used to inform the development of lists within the school and responses will be anonymised.

If you have any questions about the process please contact Karen Stirling by email.

(NOTE: Date changed from 26th March to 17th April to gather more participants.)

Academic writing help: Royal Literary Fund Fellow

Posted on January 26, 2024 by lawlibrarian

Photo by @Aspen on nappy.co

Are you a student who is struggling with academic writing? Are you a staff member who knows of a student who isn’t quite getting the hang of writing at University level?

Perhaps you need to book an appointment with our Royal Literary Fund Fellow. Mary Paulson-Ellis is a well-respected expert in the field of writing, and has been a writing mentor, workshop leader, tutor and writer-in-residence for many organisations including the National Centre for Writing, the National Galleries of Scotland and the Edinburgh International Festival. She is also a committee member for the Society of Authors in Scotland, and student feedback from her first semester working at Edinburgh has been enthusiastically positive. She specialises in helping students in any discipline hone their writing skills and she does this by arranging one-to-one appointments with students in the Main Library.

The service is free, confidential and individual to each student’s needs. To find out more about the service you can visit our RLFF page, or to book an appointment please email Mary directly.

Library Tours for Staff 2024

Posted on January 19, 2024 by lawlibrarian

Are you a new or existing staff member who would like to find out more about the University’s libraries?

Join an Academic Support Librarian on a 20 to 30-minute in-person tour of one of our ten Library sites. Find out about key library services including EdHelp, borrowing, printing, and study spaces. Discover the general print collections at the Library and explore the subjects covered. These tours are suitable for staff in all roles across the university and staff can visit as many of our libraries as they wish.

The currently scheduled dates are listed below. To book a tour, visit Event Booking.

Schedule of library tours:

Main Library

22 January @ 09:30, 6 February @ 10:30, 6 March @ 14:00, 2 April @ 10:30, 8 May @ 14:00, 12 June @ 14:00 (additional tours to be confirmed)

Art and Architecture Library

5 March @ 09:15

Edinburgh College of Art Library

6 February @ 09:15, 9 April @ 09:15, 7 May @ 09:15, 11 June @ 09:15

Law Library

12 February @ 10:00, 21 March @ 11:00 (additional tours to be confirmed, or email law.librarian@ed.ac.uk for more info).

Moray House Library

25 Jan @ 11:00, 22 Feb @ 11:00, 21 Mar @ 11:00, 25 Apr @ 11:00, 23 May @ 11:00, 20 June @ 11:00

Noreen and Kenneth Murray Library

14 Feb @ 15:00 (additional tours to be confirmed)

New College Library

30 Jan @ 16:00, 27 Feb @ 16:00, 26 Mar @ 16:00 (additional tours to be confirmed)

Royal Infirmary Library

26 Jan @ 10:00, 7 Feb @ 10:00, 26 March @ 09:30 (additional tours to be confirmed)

The Lady Smith of Kelvin Veterinary Library

24 Jan @ 14:00 (additional tours to be confirmed)

Western General Hospital Library

25 Jan @ 10:00, 19 Mar @ 12:30, 22 May @ 13:00

Welcome to Week One!

Posted on September 20, 2023 by lawlibrarian

Hello, and if you’re a new student joining us for the 2023/24 academic year we look forward to meeting you in the Law Library soon!

We are Anna Richards and SarahLouise McDonald, and we are your Law Librarians. Anna works the first half of the week, SarahLouise the second, and you can reach us both by email on law.librarian@ed.ac.uk at any time.

Photos of Anna and SarahLouise (L-R). The background is formed of a white space with black and blue geometric shapes behind the photos.

You may have already met us at one of the several induction sessions we’ve been running over the past week or two. If you missed them you can find recordings on the Law Librarian Media Hopper Channel:

The slides for each session are added as ‘attachments’ to the videos above. Please note that captions are automatically generated and we’ll endeavour to get them corrected over the coming month.

One session which wasn’t recorded was the Diploma Welcome to the Library session which was delivered face-to-face. If you’re a Diploma student you should already have access to the slides via your Learn pages, but if not you can find them here: Law – Diploma induction 2023.

If you’re looking for information on using the physical library, we recommend you check out the Law Library webpages and take a look at our Virtual Orientation Guide (Microsoft Sway document – other formats are available by request). We hope that you’ll get in touch with either ourselves or our colleagues on the library helpdesk by contacting EdHelp if you have any queries. See you in the library!

Would you like to be the next LexisNexis Student Associate?

Posted on June 21, 2023 by lawlibrarian

Each year our major databases recruit for a new Student Associate to fill the role of training and peer support. LexisNexis have announced they are currently looking for a student at the University of Edinburgh to fill this position for the 2023/24 academic year. Please see the attached flyer for more information:

LexisNexis Student Associate Job Advert

The closing date for applications is 17th July, applications can be submitted in the form of CVs at the following link: https://bit.ly/3IyxXDO

Good luck!

Law Librarian

Academic Support Librarians for staff & students in the School of Law blogging on Library resources, services and skills.

Category Archives: News