Home University of Edinburgh Library Essentials
April 5, 2026
Zombie Apocalypse (or how to access Library resources off campus)
It’s happened! The Zombie Apocalypse is here and the real question is how do you survive both the zombies and your studies at the same time?
Stay calm … arm yourself with this list: Zombie Apocalypse Guide – How to access resources during a zombie outbreak (or any other event that may affect access to University services)
This guide created by the Library Learning Services team using Resource Lists @ Edinburgh provides handy tips on how library services can be accessed remotely and off campus. It also provides information on how to get the most use from Resource Lists and provides direction towards self-study in the areas of zombie outbreak and survival.
Library Learning Services will be up on the first floor of the Main Libraryfrom 10am-12noon 25th of September to answer all your off-campus and Zombie Apocalypse questions.
Note: if you are not already, you will be prompted to log in to EASE to access subscription content.
//
Stephanie Farley
Library Learning Services Assistant
Reformation Revisited
We were pleased to host a recent visit from the Friends of the Reformation Museum in Geneva at New College Library. The Friends were delighted to be able to view a selection of treasures from the Library’s Special Collections in the Funk Reading Room. These included Andrew Melville’s Bible, an early Greek New Testament, a Bassandyne Bible and a Geneva Bible. Their packed programme for the rest of the day included singing a psalm from the Wode Psalter in Greyfriar’s Kirk.
Christine Love-Rodgers – Academic Support Librarian, Divinity
Finding newspaper content online
![By Charles Henry Alston, 1907-1977, Artist (NARA record: 3569253) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A%22WATCH_YOUR_LOCAL_NEWSPAPER%5E%5E%22_-_NARA_-_535653.jpg)
By Charles Henry Alston, 1907-1977, Artist (NARA record: 3569253) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
- Want to get access to a full-text newspaper article when the newspaper website wants you to pay?
- Want to find out how you can search for newspaper articles about a particular event or story, either historic or current?
- Need to compare how different newspapers are covering a story?
Come along to our Pop-up Library session on Friday 26th September 2014 and find out how you can do all of this and more.
We’ll be on the 1st floor of the Main Library 2-4pm to answer any queries about newspaper searching or show you how to find, access and use the databases and resources the Library has access to that will allow you to search newspapers and get full-text.
So pop up and see us!
Trial – Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History
We
have trial access to the Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History until the 17th October.
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History, edited by Bonnie G. Smith, includes over 650 biographies of influential women and over 600 topical articles covering topics such as geography and history, culture and society, organizations, movements, and gender studies.
Feedback and further info
We are interested to know what you think of this e-book 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.
Art images online
Gandharan fragment
We are pleased to announce 253 more high resolution images for the University’s Art Collection, available on LUNA, and through the collections.ed.ac.uk portal. These were taken by ECA photographer Thomas Morgan over the summer, and amount to roughly 25% of the LUNA collection.
Highlights include improved photographs for the William Johnstone paintings (some of which you can see for yourself in the foyer of the main library) , and lots of sculpture photography. The 1st century AD Gandharan sculpture fragments (find out more), which are among the greatest treasures in the art collection, can now be seen in all their glory, from multiple angles, thanks to Thomas’ hard work.
As ever, the heavy lifting in getting this material out to Library Digital Development was done by the Art Collection team (Neil, Jill and Anna).
Scott Renton- Digital Development
Sage E-books – access resolved
Access has been restored to our Sage e-books.
Cataloguing Norman Dott’s neurosurgical case notes with LHSA
This project is one of two Wellcome Trust funded projects currently underway at Lothian Health Services Archive (LHSA). It involves the detailed cataloguing of over 26,500 individual patient case notes relating to the pioneering Edinburgh neurosurgeon Professor Norman Dott, who established the first Department of Surgical Neurology in Scotland in Ward 20 of the Royal Infirmary and was also Professor of Neurological Surgery at the University of Edinburgh. This project, which has been underway since September 2012, aims to make a large body of records more accessible to researchers that would otherwise be somewhat hard to access due to barriers such as volume of material, specialised medical terminology and issues surrounding patient confidentiality. These barriers have been tackled and overcome by the development of a methodology to catalogue these valuable records to item level, which includes a high level of indexing to enable detailed searches to be carried out while ensuring the protection of confidential patient information. This project is without known precedent in UK archives and it is hoped that the cataloguing methodology will be applied to other large collections of patient case notes in the future.
Four collections of case notes are being catalogued as part the project and span 40 years of Dott’s career between 1920 and 1960. They cover his early work in private practice, the establishment and development of the Department of Surgical Neurology at the Royal Infirmary and his work during the Second World War at the Brain Injuries Unit at Bangour General Hospital. The case notes contain a wealth a material that give a unique insight into the development of the specialism of surgical neurology in Scotland by Dott and his team and into the lives of his patients. While the project was set up and led by the Project Archivist and is being continued at present by the Project Cataloguing Archivist, it has also benefited greatly from contributions from volunteers and interns, both in terms of aiding the cataloguing process and dissemination of the methodology.
Come along to our pop up session tomorrow, Tuesday 23rd September between 10 am and 12 pm to hear more about this innovative cataloguing project.
Cataloguing the HIV/Aids Collections held in LHSA
Our story begins in 2011, when the HIV/AIDS epidemic related records held by Lothian Health Services Archive were awarded an inscription on the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register (the only LHSA collection so far to have the honour). This inscription recognised historical significance and future research potential of the record; which was again recognised by the Welcome Trust in 2012, when they awarded a cataloguing and conservation grant to preserve and make available all 12 collections listed on the inscription.The Project Conservator began in January 2014 and the Archivist came on board in May of the same year.
Some of our promotional post cards
Our pop up session not only highlights the conservation and cataloguing work which has taken place so far, but also showcases the innovative ways in which the project has been managed and expanded beyond it’s original aims and objectives. The records have huge educational potential and this has been tapped into in a range of ways including an established social media programme and plans for an interactive website filled with educational resources to be used in schools across Scotland.
Throughout the project we have also been working in close collaboration with Waverley Care, an HIV/AIDS awareness group working across Edinburgh and the Lothian. It is hoped the two Organisations can work together to put the collections to good use and work to spread the messages contained within the records.
Come down between ten and twelve on the 24th September to hear about our project and see some of the records we hold, including our unrivalled condom collection!
Sage E-books – access issue
We have lost access to a number of e-books published by Sage. This has been reported to the publisher and we hope to have access restored as soon as possible.
This issue is now resolved.
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....