Home University of Edinburgh Library Essentials
June 19, 2026
Trials ending this weekend
Last chance to try out these databases!
From Alexander Press we have 3 databases on trial until Sunday 13th July.
Anthropology Online
Anthropology Online provides a wide range of written ethnographies, field notes, seminar texts,memoirs, and contemporary studies, covering human behaviour the world over. It includes complete works of key practitioners and theorists alike through the discipline.
Ethnographic Video Online Series 1 and Series 2 are a multi-volume resource providing 1,200 hours of documentaries, primary-source footage, and select feature films for the visual study of human culture and behaviour. Publishing partners include Documentary Educational Resources (DER), Royal Anthropology Institute (RAI), and BBC. It is global in coverage with footage from every continent and hundreds of cultures. For further information on this resource go to SPS Librarian blog.
From CNKI we have 4 databases on trial until Saturday12th July.
China Core Newspapers Full-text Database covers 544 titles of core newspapers officially published in mainland China since year 2000.
China Reference Works Online contains 4,000 reference works from 200 publishers, including dictionaries, handbooks, encyclopedias, atlas, chronicles, manuals etc.
China Statistical Yearbooks Database contains full coverage of all officially published yearbooks and other statistical materials.
CNKI e-resources on trial
China Yearbooks Full-text Database this includes 2,161 titles of yearbooks since 1912, 480 of which being central level and 1,151 local titles, with original display and browsing features.
From ProQuest we have 19 databases on trial until Sunday 13th July.
ProQuest History Vault provides access to millions of pages of cross-searchable, full-text/full-image documents including articles, correspondence, government records, and more documenting the most widely studied topics in 18th-century through 20th-century American history. The databases we are currently trialling are Black Freedom 1, Black Freedom 2, Immigration, Law and Society since the Civil War, NAACP 1- 6, Plantations 1, Politics and Society 1960-1975, Slavery and the Law, US Military Intelligence Reports 1911-1944, Vietnam War, Women’s Rights 1, Women’s Rights 2 and World War II. 
Our final ProQuest database on trial is the Digital National Security Archive. Created in collaboration with the National Security Archive, this database is the most comprehensive collection available of significant primary documents central to U.S. foreign and military policy since 1945.
Feedback and further info
We are interested to know what you think of these databases 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.
New staff member: Stuart Macdonald
Library & University Collections has great pleasure in welcoming a new member of staff to its ranks. We welcome Stuart Macdonald to the position of Research Data Management Service Coordinator, as a 1-year secondment for the current post-holder. Stuart will continue the work of developing the research data services provided by Information Services at the University of Edinburgh. Stuart will be working for three quarters of his time on the programme, and the remaining quarter in his current role as Associate Data Librarian for EDINA and the Data Library.
Stuart has recently returned from a six month secondment at Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research as Data Services Librarian where he co-ordinated the successful Data Seal of Approval trusted repository application for CISER Data Archive as well as modernized archival process and practice.
When not working as service coordinator, Stuart will be working towards gaining the Data Seal of Approval for DataShare, the University’s open data repository.
On the role of service coordinator, Stuart says “This is a marvellous opportunity to be at the heart of research data management activities here at the University and to continue the great work that has already been put in place”
Welcome to the new Research Data Management Service Coordinator: Stuart Macdonald
We welcome Stuart Macdonald to the position of Research Data Management Service Coordinator, as a 1-year secondment for the current post-holder. Stuart will continue the work of developing the research data services provided by Information Services at the University of Edinburgh. Stuart will be working for three quarters of his time on the programme, and the remaining quarter in his current role as Associate Data Librarian for EDINA and the Data Library.
Stuart has recently returned from a six month secondment at Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research as Data Services Librarian where he co-ordinated the successful Data Seal of Approval trusted repository application for CISER Data Archive as well as modernized archival process and practice.
When not working as service coordinator, Stuart will be working towards gaining the Data Seal of Approval for DataShare, the University’s open data repository.
On the role of service coordinator, Stuart says “This is a marvellous opportunity to be at the heart of research data management activities here at the University and to continue the great work that has already been put in place”
University Press Scholarship Online
We have extended our e-book deal with University Press Scholarship Online to provide access to over 14,000 key titles across over 25 subject areas in the humanities, social sciences, sciences, medicine, and law.
These can be browsed at the link above by choosing a subject area and then selecting the show full text option. Newly published titles will also continue to be added to the library catalogue through regular updates.
Congratulations to our Divinity Graduates and Dr Rowan Williams
New College Library staff would like to congratulate all the Divinity students who will be graduating today, Friday 4 July, and wish them well for the future.
Celebrating with them will be Dr Rowan Williams, formerly Archbishop of Canterbury, who will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree on Friday 4 July. We have a selection of Dr Williams’ publications on display in the entrance to New College Library. To see more of Dr William’s extensive publications, have a look at the resource list we have created using the Talis Aspire Resource list system.
Christine Love-Rodgers, Academic Support Librarian – Divinity
Discovering the Orient
Detail of portrait showing a group of women washing clothes in a river. This miniature comes from a collection of portraits (Tasawir), which originate from India and date to the mid-19th century. Although many of the images in the oriental manuscripts collection tend to relate to religion or mythology, this portrait is interesting as it provides a fascinating insight into the life of ordinary people, during the rule of the British Raj.
On the 2nd June, I was lucky enough to begin employment as the Employ.ed Digital Collections intern for the CRC. Although I begin with a little trepidation – like most people when they start a new job, I spent the night before worrying that I’d be really bad at it or that no one would like me – I am now in my fifth week and enjoying it immensely: I don’t really want to leave! Read More
A Famous Economist and His Library Collection
Jamie, our Marketing and Outreach Intern, gives an update on his progress.
I have passed the halfway point of my internship here at CRC; I feel like time is flying by too quickly but at the same time feel like I have been here and part of the team much longer than four weeks. I’ve started to get really stuck into my work as the Marketing and Outreach Intern preparing presentations, writing reports, doing research amongst other things. Although busy the majority of time with those things I still enjoy the pleasure of dipping my toes into some of the collections and discovering some very interesting pieces on my way. As part of my university degree I study Economics (yes students do actually study sometimes), and I am sure many of you are aware of Adam Smith; for those of you who are not there’s no need to worry as I’ll give you a little background information.
Adam Smith (1723-1790) is often referred to as ‘the father of modern economics’. He was the author of ‘The Wealth of Nations’ which is one of his most well-known works and is one of the first books regarding modern economics. He studied at the University of Glasgow and Balliol College, Oxford before giving lectures at the University of Edinburgh. Read More
Top five Canadian library resources for Canada Day
It’s Canada Day! We thought we’d give you a taster of Canadian library resources here at the University of Edinburgh. The University of Edinburgh Library has one of the largest Canadian collections in the UK.
1. Have you seen the America: History and Life database? This bibliographic database for US and Canadian history covers the history of the United States and Canada comprises almost 400,000 bibliographic entries and covers over 2,000 journals.
2. The letter F … is where you’ll find books on Canadian history in the University of Edinburgh Main Library. That’s on Floor 2, folks. Canada starts at F1001, up to F1200 where we’re into Latin America.
3. Find e-journals like the Journal of Canadian Studies by searching the online library catalogue or e-journals web pages.
4. You can read all about it in Canadian daily newspapers The Globe and Mail and National Post – available online via newspaper database Factiva.
5. You’ll find e-books for Canadian Studies on the library catalogue – like this one, the Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature.
Need more? Have a look at the Subject Guide to Canadian Studies – our very own one-stop shop for Canadian Studies library resources at the University of Edinburgh.
Christine Love-Rodgers – Academic Support Librarian – Social & Political Science
50 Years of Sociology at Edinburgh: Professor Tom Burns
In 1964 the Sociology department at University of Edinburgh was founded by Tom Burns. A prominent sociologist and one of the first sociologists to be elected to a Fellowship of the British Academy, Professor Burns worked at the University until his retirement in 1981.
The Centre for Research Collections at the University Library holds Professor Burns papers. Although these are currently uncatalogued and require some extensive conservation work, I was allowed a sneak peak at a box of offprints that is part of his collection of papers (Tom Burns offprints: Accession no. E2002.6).
The City as Looking Glass by Tom Burns in Prospect (1960)
Happy Graduation Day!
Today we have lots of celebrations as a number of alumni, colleagues and friends celebrate graduations.
Among them are Graham Dey who was Welfare Officer and music guru at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) for over 20 years and helped many students. Graham is a great supporter of the ECA archive and provided much advice on events and people at ECA during from the 1980s to the 2000s. Here is a caricature of him from the ECA Student Handbook 1993! (With thanks to the artist, Neil Kempsell).
I also met jeweller Sheila Fleet O.B.E. and her family. Sheila is receiving an honorary degree today and we had a great chat over items in the archive, including photographs where we spotted her and members of the family when at the College. Within the group eight of the family had graduated from the College. Here is Sheila and her sisters Connie, Dorothy and Leila, who studied at ECA, on the staircase in the main building.
Sheila also brought along her College scarf. I had never seen one, so was very excited when she brought it out of her bag!
And last but not least our own Emma Smith, who works as Exhibitions Assistant within the Centre For Research Collections. She graduated today with First Class Honours. We’re so proud!!
Congratulations to all! We hope you’ve had a fantastic day!
Rachel Hosker, ECA Archivist
Collections
Hill and Adamson Collection: an insight into Edinburgh’s past
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Cataloguing the private papers of Archibald Hunter Campbell: A Journey Through Correspondence
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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....