Tag Archives: welcome

Welcome to Week One!

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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!

Information skills throughout the year

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If you read our last post, you’ll have heard all about the top information we like our students to have early in the semester; about inductions and key resources we want to make sure you can access. Now we’re a few weeks in we’ve had some more questions about what we have coming up next.

We have made up two documents here (one for undergraduate students, one for postgraduate students) which outlines the key training events we’ll be offering during 2022/23. This includes some law specific materials and some training that is open to all UoE students. Click on the documents below to download the PDF you need:

Information Skills sessions for Law (UG)

Information Skills sessions for Law (PG) 

We’ll write more about specific training sessions nearer each event but in the mean time we hope this is useful. If you want to get in touch to discuss any library or research related questions, you can always reach us via law.librarian@ed.ac.uk.

Hardback books which are open and stacked on top of each other.

Image from Moritz320 via Pixabay

 

Legal resources: taking care of quizness!

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A neon sign is mounted on a dark wall. The sign shows a green old-fashioned television set with pink dials and grill on the front below the screen. Inside the screen are the words 'Quiz Time' in pink capital letters.

Image from USA-Reiseblogger on Pixabay.

It’s week one of semester two and we’ve already run several induction sessions for our January starts (and refresher sessions for current students who need them). Now would be a perfect time to put your newfound legal information resource skills to the test, and what better way than to with our quiz?

tinyurl.com/lawlibquizjan2022

Twelve questions with no time limit to test what you’ve learned about searching and using the library catalogue and databases. Have a go, and let us know how you get on!

 

New Year, New UoE Library Services training sessions

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A blue and golden sky with a few scattered fluffy clouds is visible, with a black city skyline at the bottom of the image. Beams of light seem to be projecting from a golden glow in the centre of the image, where the sun is just visible setting beyond the buildings.

Rays of sun through houses at sunset, Morningside, Edinburgh (@eilisgarvey via Unsplash)

Welcome back to Edinburgh! Although we don’t yet know what 2022 has in store for us, we do know that we’re keen to make sure our students are the best prepared they can be! For the Law Library team that means offering you a full range of induction and refresher sessions on how to use the library. If you’re feeling like you could do with a little update on the best ways to find resources, book on to one of our upcoming events using the links below.

Library Refresher: Wednesday 12th January, 11am to 11.50am (online)

Aimed at all undergraduate and postgraduate students, this session is a whistle-stop tour of all the things we told you at the start of the year. We’ll rattle through the resources and links relatively quickly so that we’ve lots of time to answer your questions, and if you’re feeling confident by the end of the session we’ve also got a quiz for you!

Come along if… you found researching your assignments just a little bit tricky at the end of last term, and you can’t remember where to go to find help.

PG Using the University Library – Law: Wednesday 19th January, 10am to 11am

Join us for an introduction to using library resources at the University of Edinburgh. Topics covered will include how to find and access books, journal articles and legal databases using library resources, and how to get help if the library doesn’t have what you need. The second part of this presentation will take a closer look at major legal databases including Westlaw and Lexis Library where you will learn how to find full text cases, legislation and commentary, and tips on how to use these resources efficiently and effectively.

Come along if… you’re a PG Online student starting in January 2022 at the School of Law.

Library Support for the School of Law (STAFF): Wednesday 19th January, 12noon to 12.30pm (online)

We don’t just work directly with students, we’re keen to speak to fellow staff members about how we can support their work too. We’re running a short session where we’ll present a bit and chat to anyone who works with the School of Law to make sure they know about all the ways we can help enhance their teaching or support throughout the year.

Come along if… you’re a member of staff and want to find out more about how we can help you!

PhD Sources, Materials & Bibliography: Wednesday 26th January, 11.30am to 12.30pm

(contact the Law PhD office for a link to the Collaborate room)

This session is aimed directly at PhD and PGR students, and takes the form of a one hour session featuring top tips on how to conduct complex research and construct your projects. We also look at some of the key resources you will need and signpost some bespoke materials that may be useful for students at this level.

Come along if… you’re a PhD students starting in January 2022 at the School of Law.

Media Hopper, aka UoE YouTube!

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If you’ve attended any of the induction sessions we’ve run in the past few weeks, you’ll have heard us mention Media Hopper (and specifically the Law Librarian Media Hopper Channel) many times as part of our introductory material.

Okay, but what is it?

Vector graphic image of a computer monitor which has a video play screen visible in the centre-left. Several smaller rectangles are displayed to the right of the main box on-screen, indicating a playlist or videos queued up.

‘Video stream’ image by febrianes86 via Pixabay

Media Hopper is like the University’s own version of Youtube. It’s an online storage repository and player for videos, and it means we can upload videos and recordings that you can watch to find out about more about library services, subscription databases, and many other resources. If you study online you may be used to watching videos or pre-recorded lectures that have been made for you on your course; the great thing about Media Hopper is that it’s not just for your coursework, it can be for other things too!

What does the Library use it for then?

Loads of things! We upload recordings of sessions, promotional videos for our online information skills course, and demonstrations of databases. We can also create playlists which link together useful videos on popular themes. For example, on the Law Librarian channel we have the following:

  • Recordings of the introductory sessions we offer for UG, PG and PhD students
  • Westlaw demonstration (with more databases demos to come)
  • Using Legal Databases training
  • Using news databases
  • Simple search in DiscoverEd
  • Referencing help, including demonstrations of the latest version of Endnote.

Sounds great! But do you have a video for….?

If there’s something you think we should make a video about, why not contact us to let us know. We take requests! Email us on law.librarian@ed.ac.uk with your suggestions. We want the resources we make to be as useful as possible, so all ideas are welcome.

Visit the Law Library… virtually!

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students exiting the Law Library building in Old College quad

Law Library exterior, Old College

As the semester gets going you may be keen to visit our beautiful Law Library at Old College to find materials, use a study space, or generally just soak up the atmosphere.

However we know that after the past year some students may be anxious about coming on to campus, and may be worried about what to expect. In order to help with that we’ve prepared a short Sway as a guide to the Law Library. It includes information on what’s in the collections, photos of the library, and links to other helpful resources you may want to use. You can find it here:

Law Library Library Orientation Guide

We’ve made different guides for each of our site libraries which you can find on the Library Orientation Guide page on our website. You’ll also find a guide to Using the Library Online, which we think will be helpful for our online or distance students, or those who are self-isolating or in quarantine.

Other preparations for visiting campus may include looking at maps ahead of time. Did you know we’ve got an interactive campus map? If you visit the Maps page and use the key to select the Layers tab, and then click the eye icon to make Libraries and Study Spaces visible, you can see all our locations across the city! We’ve highlighted the Law Library icon in the image below in pink.

Map of the central part of campus, with buildings highlighted in a variety of colours. Several black circles featuring white book icons are visible on the screen, to indicate the location of libraries.

We look forward to seeing you on campus soon!

Note: The Microsoft Sway platform uses moving images in their templates, and each of the above Sways use one moving image at the top of the page. If you require the information in an alternative format please contact us by email: law.librarian@ed.ac.uk.

Training: Welcome to the Library!

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A pair of converse trainers stand on wooden boards, in front of a door mat which says 'welcome on board'. There are silver coloured bolts on the floor next to the mat which imply that this person is standing on a dock.

Image from PXfuel, licensed for re-use

It’s almost the start of the new academic year which means it’s one of the busiest times of year for Academic Support Librarians. We offer a range of introductory training sessions for students joining the university, and we have some bespoke sessions arranged for each level of study in the School of Law.

14th September: Postgraduate (online) – Using the University Library

22nd September: Undergraduate: Using the University Library

23rd September: Postgraduate (all) – Using the University Library

29th September: PhD – Sources, Materials & Bibliographies

These training events will all be run online using the Collaborate platform, and are often very popular. To find out more and register please use the MyEd Events Booking system and enter the titles above in the search box. Alternatively watch out for direct booking links being circulated via the UG, PG or PhD offices. We will also record these sessions and upload them to our Media Hopper Channel after the event.

When the semester begins we’ll offer one-to-one appointments which you can use to get additional advice to support your studies. These are also available to book via the MyEd Events Booking system, just search for “Literature search clinic” and select the Law specific event, or search for “Law” and select provider group “IS Library and University Collections” to find all our Law related training.

If you have any questions about these or any other training you’d like, please contact us by email: law.librarian@ed.ac.uk. We look forward to welcoming you (or welcoming you back) soon!

‘Using the Library’ sessions, and catching up

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We’re now in week three of semester one, and by this point we’ve been able to conduct introductory ‘Using the Library’ presentations for undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD level students. If you weren’t able to attend the sessions at the time you will be able to catch up by watching the videos which we’ve uploaded to our Media Hopper Channel, here:

Law Librarian Resources Media Hopper Channel

Screen grab of the Law Librarian Media Hopper front page.

Screen grab of the Law Librarian Media Hopper front page.

If you click in to the video that interests you you will also find the slides used for our presentation by clicking on the ‘attachments’ tab.

We intend to continue to upload useful videos on our channel throughout the year, including training and walkthroughs of using our databases, DiscoverEd, Referencing for Law, using reference managers, and any other relevant pieces of training or help we can offer. If you’ve got anything you’d like to see us include please let us know by leaving a comment or emailing law.librarian@ed.ac.uk.