Home University of Edinburgh Library Essentials
June 17, 2026
Book Week Scotland – vote for your favourite character
As part of Book Week Scotland the Scottish Book Trust are holding a vote to discover the most loved characters in Scottish fiction. From Begbie to Miss Jean Brodie, from Inspector Rebus to the Gruffalo the choice is vast.
The poll closes at 5pm on Wednesday 26 November 2014 so you still have nearly 3 days left to vote. Make your choice by going to the Scottish Book Trust website.
Find out tomorrow which characters staff at the Main Library Helpdesk voted for.
Rong Flynn & Margaret Redpath, Main Library Helpdesk
The decant is complete
We have finished emptying St Cecilia’s Hall after a great deal of hard work and have left the building in the extremely capable hands of our Project Manager. Now the surveyors can get to grips with the fundamentals of the building so that we know exactly what needs to be done before the serious building work begins. Things look a little sad, but its exciting to think about the transformation which will happen in the next 2 years.
We have all been rehoused in the main Library and the Library Annexe as well as the Reid Concert Hall and Museum, and are getting used to our new locations. Now that the central MIMEd team is in three different locations, we will have to work much harder to arrange our usual coffee and cake ‘meetings’! It feels odd not going to St Cecilia’s every day, but we will get used to it and its great to be at this stage of the project.
Trial access to Italian Dictionaries and Works of Reference from Zanichelli Editore
We have trial access until 22nd December to Italian Dictionaries & Works of Reference from Zanichelli Editore
The dictionaries on trial are:
- Lo Zingarelli
- Il Ragazzini
- Biblioteca Italiana Zanichelli
- I’Inglese Tecnico e Scientifico
- Sinonimi e contrary
- Dizionario Analogico della Lingua Italiana
- L’Inglese dell Economia
- Dizionario gastronomico compatto
Feedback and further info
We are interested to know what you think of this platform and content as your comments influence purchase decisions so please do 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.
Sir Eduardo Paolozzi: Man + Machine
The Centre for Research Collections is showcasing a selection of maquettes from Paolozzi’s major bequest to the University’s Informatics Forum.
A founder of the Pop Art movement, sculptor Sir Eduardo Paolozzi was born in Leith, 1924. After attending classes at the Edinburgh College of Art he went on to shape a considerable career teaching sculpture and ceramics at a number of institutions, whilst establishing his artistic reputation world-wide.
The culmination of an extensive preventative conservation project, the CRC exhibition focuses on Eduardo Paolozzi’s colossal production of plaster maquettes and his obsession with the relationship between mankind and technology. Also on display is Paolozzi’s bronze sculpture of world-famous entertainer Josephine Baker, taking centre-stage in the foyer of the CRC.
The exhibition is free and open to the public until 27 February
Trial access to Sinica Sinoweb
We have trial access to Sinica Sinoweb until the 20th December.
Sinica Sinoweb provides full-text access to the archive of 14 core journals from Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, with the earliest dating back to as early as 1928:
- Chinese Studies
- Chinese-Literature-Philosophy-Institute Bulletin
- History-Philology-Institute Bulletin
- Journal of Chinese Ritual, Theatre and Folklore
- Legein Monthly
- Legein Semi-Annual Journal
- Modern-History-Institute Bulletin
- Newsletter for Modern Chinese History
- Oral History Journal
- Research on Women in Modern Chinese History
- Shih-Huo Monthly
- Taiwan Historical Research
- Taiwan Journal of Anthropology
- Thought and Words
Feedback and further info
We are interested to know what you think of this platform and content as your comments influence purchase decisions so please do 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.
Trial access to Chinese Electronic Periodicals Services (CEPS) and Chinese Electronic Theses and Dissertations Service (CETD)
We have trial access to the Chinese Electronic Periodicals Services (CEPS) and Chinese Electronic Theses and Dissertations Service (CETD) until the 20th December.
The CEPS/CETD database platform provides full-text access to over 4,300 academic journals from China Mainland (2,600) , Taiwan (1,500) and other areas (254), with 2.6 million articles; it also provides full-text access to over 200,000 doctoral theses and masters dissertations from over 58 universities in Chinese speaking regions including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and China Mainland. The collection date is from 1991 onwards.. The database has been indexed both in traditional and simplified Chinese characters.
Feedback and further info
We are interested to know what you think of this platform and content as your comments influence purchase decisions so please do 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.
Trial – OpenEdition Platform
We have trial access to e-book and e-journal content on the OpenEdition platform until the 31st January.
OpenEdition is the umbrella portal for OpenEdition Books, Revues.org, Hypotheses and Calenda, four platforms dedicated to electronic resources in the humanities and social sciences. We have trial access to 84 e-books and over 300 e-journals. The language of the website can be altered to French, Spanish & Italian.
A list of the e-books on trial is here.
Feedback and further info
We are interested to know what you think of this platform and content as your comments influence purchase decisions so please do 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.
Trial – BrowZine
The Library is running a trial of BrowZine until 19th December. BrowZine is a new application that allows you to browse, read and follow thousands of the library’s scholarly journals from your Android and iOS mobile devices. All in a format optimized for your tablet and smartphone! Built to accompany your searching needs, items found in BrowZine can easily be synced up with Zotero, Mendeley, RefWorks, Dropbox or other services to help keep all of your information together in one place.
To learn more, please take a look at this short “BrowZine on Campus” video: http://vimeo.com/75971786?autoplay=1
With BrowZine, you can:
– Browse and read journals: Browse journals by subject, easily review tables of contents, and download full articles
– Create your own bookshelf: Add journals to your personal bookshelf and be notified when new articles are published
– Save and export articles: Save articles for off-line reading or export to services such as DropBox, Mendeley, RefWorks, Zotero, Papers and more
To learn more and start using BrowZine today, visit http://thirdiron.com/download/.
Getting started is easy! From your Android or iOS device, find BrowZine in the Apple App, Google Play or Amazon App store and download it for free. When initially launching BrowZine, select University of Edinburgh from the drop down list. Enter your EASE login. Start exploring BrowZine!
Feedback and further info
We are interested to know what you think of BrowZine as your comments influence purchase decisions so please do 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.
Written in blood
This letter means what it says – “This is written in the blood of William Burke, who was hanged at Edinburgh on 28th of January 1829”. The blood was “taken from his head” after execution. Burke and Hare went on their notorious killing spree in 1827-8 to provide bodies for the booming Anatomy classes in Edinburgh. After his death Burke was publicly dissected and his skeleton is one of the University’s museum highlights. With this latest discovery of a scrap book containing original documents from the trial and execution, we now know we have a little of Burke’s blood too.
Trial – ARAS: The Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism
We have trial access to ARAS: The Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism until the 31st December.
The ARAS archive contains about 17,000 photographic images, each cross-indexed, and accompanied by scholarly commentary. The commentary includes a description of the image with a cultural history that serves to place it in its unique historical and geographical setting. Often it also includes an archetypal commentary that brings the image into focus for its modern psychological and symbolic meaning, as well as a bibliography for related reading and a glossary of technical terms. This online resource will be of interest to students and staff of Edinburgh College of Art, and the Schools of History, Classics and Archaeology, and Literature, Languages and Culture.
Feedback and further info
We are interested to know what you think of this e-resource as your comments influence purchase decisions so please do 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.
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....