Home University of Edinburgh Library Essentials
March 5, 2026
EPSRC Expectations Awareness Survey
As many of you will already know EPSRC set out its research data management (RDM) expectations for institutions in receipt of EPSRC grant funding in May 2011, this included the development of an institutional ‘Roadmap’. EPSRC assessment of compliance with these expectations will begin on 1 May 2015 for research outputs published on or after that date.
In order to comply with EPSRC expectations and to implement the University’s RDM Policy, the University of Edinburgh has invested significantly in RDM services, infrastructure (incl. storage and security) and support as detailed in the University of Edinburgh’s RDM Roadmap.
In an effort to gauge the University of Edinburgh’s ‘readiness’ in relation to EPSRC’s RDM expectations, we are conducting a short survey of EPSRC grant holders.
The survey aims to find out more about researcher awareness of those expectations concerning the management and provision of access to EPSRC-funded research data as detailed in the EPSRC Policy Framework on Research Data.
We aim to conduct follow-up interviews with EPSRC grant holders who are willing to talk through these issues in a bit more detail to help shape the development of the RDM services at the University of Edinburgh.
We will endeavour to make available some of our findings shortly. In the meantime, if you want to use or refer to our survey we have posted a ‘demo’version below:
https://edinburgh.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/epsrc-expectations-awareness-demo
Should you decide to make use of our survey, let us know, as we can potentially share our data with each other to benchmark our progress.
(As an aside Oxford University have crafted a useful data decision tree for EPSRC-funded researchers at Oxford)
Regards
Stuart Macdonald
RDM Services Coordinator
stuart.macdonald@ed.ac.uk
Upadate: A link to the findings can be found at: https://libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk/datablog/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/EPSRC-RDM-Expectations-Awareness-Survey-Findings.pdf
Science on a Plate: an evolution
I have been based in the Digital Imaging Unit, digitising the Roslin Glass Plate Slide Collection, since October last year as part of the ‘Science on a Plate’ project, funded by the Wellcome Trust’s Research Resources scheme. Recently, I became intrigued by the history of the glass plate slide itself so I decided to carry out a little research of my own.
Curious to discover where glass plate slides are positioned on the timeline of photography; what chemistry and techniques were involved in their making; and the role they played, I began with searching online and delving into some books on the history of photography.
The slides in the Roslin Collection date, loosely, between the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. This leads me to think that the majority of the slides are dry plate, gelatin-coated, slides as this was the most popular process used during that time period. Other processes, however, may have also crept in to the collection because different techniques and methods may have overlapped.
The slides are all positive, transparent images, with the nature of the images spanning; documentary photography, maps, statistics, instructions, illustrations, portraits, images taken from publications… the list goes on. Physically, the slides are all 3×3 inches in width and diameter, with a depth of roughly 3-6 millimetres. There are 3465 of them!
To give a little context, these slides might also be referred to as lantern slides. This is a term that relates to the fact that, early on, magic lanterns would be used to project similar looking slides. Magic Lantern (and Sciopticon) projectors had been used long before the invention of photography to project images painted on glass.
Roslin glass slide (or lantern slide). Illustration of two llamas standing on a rocky ledge.
It was not until 1840 that the inventors of the daguerreotype began using magic lantern projectors in an attempt to project their photographic images for better viewing. The dull and foggy nature of the daguerreotype, however, did not lend itself well to the projection of light.
Next came the creation of the wet plate negative in 1851 by the Englishman, Frederick Scott Archer. This process involved coating glass plates with a collodian chemical and exposing light onto the glass while the chemical was still wet. This allowed for shorter exposure times when taking photographs. Previously, daguerreotypes (1839-1850’s) and calotypes (1841-1850’s) would require long exposures, often over one minute, forcing those being photographed to remain still in order to avoid blurring within the image. This is why daguerreotypes and calotypes often look posed and overly considered as compositions.
Calotype by Hill and Adamson, 1840’s
Accordingly, the colllodian wet plates gave a bit more flexibility when composing photographs. If, however, using the wet glass plate outwith the studio, photographers would have been required to carry processing chemicals and a portable darkroom as the wet plates would need developing immediately after exposure.
Photography remained a rather laborious procedure until the invention of the dry plate slide. In 1871, Richard Leach Maddox discovered that coating glass with silver bromide within a layer of gelatin would give more efficient photographic results; speedier and with a longer shelf life. The burden of hauling around chemicals and a darkroom was removed because the developing could be done at a later date by a specialist. In light of this photography became more accessible, opening up the practice to amateur photographers. Only the camera (camera models were becoming smaller and more portable over time) and the dry plates themselves were needed. Dry glass plates could be produced on mass, ready to use on the job. The act of taking a photograph therefore became less time-consuming, causing a change in the style of photographs being produced. This can be seen in the Roslin Glass Plate Slide Collection. On viewing many of the slides the camera seems to be there as a spectator, very much in the moment, giving the viewer a sense of what it mean to ‘be there’ – a relatively new phenomenon.
Roslin glass slide. A street hawker with his horse drawn cart standing next to a couple of children in Buenos Aires, Argentina in the late 19th or early 20th century.
Roslin glass slide. A group of men eating breakfast in their camp on the plains in [Argentina or Uruguay] in the early 20th century.
Roslin glass slide. Men using a machine to press hay in [South Africa] in the early 20th century.
Of all the various glass plate processes, the dry, gelatin-based plate had the longest run of success. It was not until the 1930’s when it was reduced to history with the introduction of nitrate film negatives and, namely the 35mm Kodachrome.
These slides were catalogued as part of the ‘Towards Dolly’ project and the Roslin Slide Collection can be viewed here.
Some useful reading:
Frizot, Michel, The New History of Photography (1994), Chapter 5
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/landscape/lanternhistory.html
http://archives.syr.edu/exhibits/glassplate_about.html
http://www.nfsa.gov.au/research/papers/2012/05/10/preserving-20th-century-glass-cinema-slides/
John
Project Photographer: Science on a Plate.
New Open Access Journal of Undergraduate Research
The first issue of a new open access journal dedicated to undergraduate research in the area of sociolinguistic variation has been published on the library-supported journal hosting service.
The journal, Lifespans & Styles: Undergraduate Working Papers on Intraspeaker Variation includes research designed, implemented, and written by advanced undergraduate students. These peer-reviewed papers are the result of dissertations, project-based seminars, and other research-led learning.
Although focused on the rather narrow subfield of within-speaker linguistic variation, the papers in this first issue span topics as diverse as gay identity, Received Pronunciation, vocal fry, and dog-directed speech.
For further information about Lifespans & Styles please contact:lifespans.styles@ed.ac.uk
Follow the journal on Twitter @lifespansstyles
To find out more about how the Library can help you to publish an open access journal, please contact: library.learning@ed.ac.uk
Angela Laurins, Library Learning Services Manager
Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology now on trial
New on trial for University of Edinburgh users from 3 March to 31 March is the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology.
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology is the replacement for the Dictionary of Hymnology produced by John Julian in 1892, with a supplement in 1907.
It is an essential reference resource for scholars of global hymnody, with information on the hymns of many countries and languages, and a strong emphasis on the historical as well as the contemporary. It includes articles on individual hymns, authors from many countries, hymnals, organisations, and themes, as well as information on hymn tunes and their composers. Covering a multitude of hymn traditions from around the world, it is ecumenical and international.
You can access the trial via the link at : http://www.ed.ac.uk/is/databases-trials. Please give us your feedback as this is a key part of making a case to subscribe to resources like this.
Christine Love-Rodgers, Academic Support Librarian – School of Divinity
International Women’s Day 2015: Make it Happen
On Sunday 8th March 2015 International Women’s Day (IWD) will be celebrated worldwide. IWD has been observed since the early 1900s and has been sponsored by the United Nations (UN) since 1975. It is an important occasion for promoting women’s issues and rights, especially in developing countries.
This year’s theme is Make it Happen and there are many events happening at the University this year to mark IWD 2015.
The University’s annual International Women’s Day Lecture takes place on Friday 6th March and this year welcomes guest speaker Professor Anneila Sargent. Make it Happen – Women into Science will draw from Professor Sargent’s own experiences to discuss the challenges many women may face when entering a career in science. More information and how to book can be found at http://www.ed.ac.uk/news/2015/anneilia-sargent-170215 Read More
New books for Social and Political Science: February 2015
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 small number of the books that have been added to the Library’s collections in February 2015 for Social and Political Science.
Industrializing organisms : introducing evolutionary history edited by Susan R. Schrepfer and Philip Scranton (shelfmark: S494.5.B563 Ind.)
Mind Change : how digital technologies are leaving their mark on our brains by Susan Greenfield (shelfmark: BF311 Gre.) Read More
Trials – New E-Resources on Trial
These new trials are now available…
Access Latin America from Newsbank is on trial until 27th March. Access Latin America provides indepth coverage of local and regional issues and events via news sources from South America, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and U.S. territories. These daily and weekly newspapers, wire services and broadcast transcripts chronicle local issues and events at their source and provide revealing local perspectives on national and international issues.
Annual Review of Linguistics – this new e-journal is on trial for the whole of 2015. It will cover significant developments in the field of linguistics, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and their interfaces. Reviews will synthesize advances in linguistic theory, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, language change, biology and evolution of language, typology, as well as applications of linguistics in many domains.
Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange from Gale Cengage is on trial until 25th March. It features primary source collections related to international relations between Asian countries and the West during the 19th century. These invaluable documents—many never before available—include government reports, diplomatic correspondences, periodicals, newspapers, treaties, trade agreements, NGO papers, and more. Documents are sourced from The National Archives, Kew; The National Archives, United States; and other collections.
British Theatre, Music and the Arts from Gale Cengage is on trial until 25th March. It features a wide range of primary sources related to the arts in the nineteenth century, from playbills and scripts to operas and complete scores. These rare documents, many of them never before available, are sourced from the British Library and other institutions. Curation is by experts in British arts history. Covering more than a century, and encompassing both the Georgian and Victorian theatre.
Caribbean Newspapers, Series 1, 1718-1876 from the American Antiquarian Society and Readex is on trial until 27th March. Caribbean Newspapers, 1718-1876—the largest online collection of 18th- and 19th-century newspapers published in this region—will provide a comprehensive primary resource for studying the development of Western society and international relations within this important group of islands. This unique resource will prove essential for researching colonial history, the Atlantic slave trade, international commerce, New World slavery and U.S. relations with the region as far back as the early 18th century
The Encyclopedia of Political Thought is on trial until 25th March- see full information about this e-resource over at the SPS Blog.
Foreign Broadcast Information Services (FBIS) Daily Reports: Latin America, 1974-1996 from Readex is on trial until 27th March. As the United States’ principal historical record of political open source intelligence for more than half a century, the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Report is an indispensable source for insights into decades of turbulent world history. The original mission of the FBIS was to monitor, record, transcribe and translate intercepted radio broadcasts from foreign governments, official news services, and clandestine broadcasts from occupied territories. Accordingly, it provides a wealth of information from all countries outside of the U.S.—from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe – only the Latin American module is available for this trial but we already have access to other modules.
Latin American Newspapers, Series 1 and 2, 1805-1922 from Readex is on trial until 27th March. This newspaper package offers unprecedented coverage of the people, issues and events that shaped this vital region during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Featuring titles from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela and a dozen other countries, these resources provide a wide range of viewpoints from diverse Latin American cultures. Together, both series of Latin American Newspapers chronicles the evolution of Latin America over two centuries through eyewitness reporting, editorials, legislative information, letters, poetry, advertisements, obituaries and other items.
Photography: The World Through the Lens from Gale Cengage is on trial until 25th March. Including images from Britain, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, Photography: The World through the Lens assembles collections of photographs, photograph albums, photographically illustrated books and texts on the early history of photography from libraries and archives from across the globe.
Feedback and further info
We are interested to know what you think of these e-resources as your comments influence purchase decisions so please fill out our feedback form.
A list of all trials currently available to University of Edinburgh staff and students can be found on our trials webpage.
Europeana Tech Conference, Paris, Feb 2015
The Europeana Tech conference took place in Paris on February 12-13, 2015. A fascinating event, developers and strategists from institutions all over Europe got the chance to exchange ideas about cultural content in a digital world. Keynotes from the likes of Chris Welty (Google Research), Dan Cohen (DPLA), Tim Sharratt (Trove), George Oates (Good, Form and Spectacle) and Seb Chan (Cooper Hewitt) really focused the mind on different approaches to searching, discovery, and dealing with large scale digitisation projects, while more technical sessions on APIs and interoperability gave us food for thought on improving our own processes. Our contribution was a poster on our metadata game “Tag It! Find It!” which you can find over at librarylabs. It got some positive responses, which was heartening, given some of the sophisticated tools challenging for attention!
I cannot possibly do justice to the information overload, but should you wish to find out more, there’s a summary here. If you’re logged into EASE, you should be able to see it, but mail me at scott.renton@ed.ac.uk if you have any difficulty accessing it. Also, there is a more technical post at librarylabs.
Scott Renton- Digital Development
Think a Europeana Tech developer got loose with a marker pen. Liberty!
Clean up your sax
I am a Preventive Conservation Masters student at Northumbria University, and as part of my course, I am fortunate to be able to put theory into practice for six weeks at The University of Edinburgh. Being a musician, and wanting to work with interesting composite objects, I was hankering after a chance to work with musical instruments. Having studied at Edinburgh Uni for the last 5 years, I knew it housed an amazing musical instrument collection and I relished an opportunity to go back! I have spent most of my first two weeks working with Jonathan Santa Maria Bouquet, the musical instruments conservator, and have had the task of cleaning a beautiful silver plated saxophone by Selmer for the upcoming Out of the Blue exhibition in the Main Library.
Having been taught repeatedly the reasons why metals and water should not mix, I was surprised when I was shown that the preliminary cleaning phase was water-based. However, I soon learnt that as long as each small area is dried carefully after the wet treatment, the water poses little threat. The abrasive agent used is calcium carbonate (precipitated chalk), which is mixed into water, and applied as a fine dispersion in the
water – not as a paste – using cotton wool swabs and cotton rags. The idea is that the calcium carbonate is harder than the tarnish yet softer than the metal. It is still possible to scratch the silver so it is important to be gentle, and to use plenty of water, which seems counter-intuitive but really works.
After working over the entire metal surface using this wet method, drying as I went, I used a microfibre cloth to remove any chalky residue and lastly a silver polishing cloth (which is impregnated with a sulphur scavenger which breaks down the tarnish chemically rather than physically) to get the hard-to-reach and stubborn areas clear of tarnish. The reason for such a thorough clean is that the last stage of the cleaning plan is a coat of microcrystalline wax for protection from re-tarnishing, under which you do not want to trap any dirt or tarnish. These treatments should mean that not only will the saxophone look fabulous on display, but that it will not need cleaning again (if kept in the right conditions) for a long time.
The Saxophone mid-way through cleaning
Other tasks so far have included wrapping musical instruments for long term storage, and starting out on an Integrated Pest Management system project with Emma Davey, which has involved visiting the National Trust Scotland offices to hear Preventive Conservator Mel Houston’s approaches to the challenges of monitoring insect pests over their numerous collection sites.
All in all a varied and exciting couple of weeks. Exactly what I came here for! More to come later in my placement, when I’ll be dealing with strings…
Post by Harriet Braine, Preventive Conservator Student Placement
St Cecilia’s Hall in the News!
The St Cecilia’s Hall Project is in the news, thanks to our grant of £100,000 from Edinburgh World Heritage!
See online story here: http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/facelift-for-concert-hall-with-no-equal-in-paris-or-london.119359358
Collections
Hill and Adamson Collection: an insight into Edinburgh’s past
My name is Phoebe Kirkland, I am an MSc East Asian Studies student, and for...
Cataloguing the private papers of Archibald Hunter Campbell: A Journey Through Correspondence
My name is Pauline Vincent, I am a student in my last year of a...
Projects
Cataloguing the private papers of Archibald Hunter Campbell: A Journey Through Correspondence
My name is Pauline Vincent, I am a student in my last year of a...
Archival Provenance Research Project: Lishan’s Experience
Presentation My name is Lishan Zou, I am a fourth year History and Politics student....