Home University of Edinburgh Library Essentials
December 17, 2025
Five things ASLs have been doing to help students since lockdown 2020
When coronavirus restrictions began in March 2020, the University of Edinburgh had to close some libraries and change some library services. But Academic Support Librarians haven’t gone away. We may have been working from home, but we’ve been busy helping students to get the best out of the library. So what have we been doing?
- Keeping you updated
From the start of lockdown the Library Academic Support team web editors have maintained the Library Updates page to provide an overview of the library services available to you during coronavirus restrictions.
- Helping you to get the books and journals you need
Coronavirus restrictions made it difficult to access the print library collections for your courses. We listened to what you needed and worked with our Library Acquisitions colleagues to purchase new digital versions of texts you could access remotely. We couldn’t get everything we wanted – sometimes publisher prices were just too high (see this reported in the press) and sometimes what you needed simply wasn’t available as a library e-book. But we worked to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on new digital content to meet student needs.
- Giving help and advice for your dissertation research
We understand that researching your dissertation during coronavirus restrictions is a huge challenge. We’ve offered you help and advice on your library research by email and, if you needed it, a chance to meet online for a chat, with multiple librarian appointments available every week (we’ve met over two hundred students so far this academic year). Plus, we’ve run online Dissertation Festivals in October 2020 and March 2021 with events highlighting the wealth of digital resources available from the library and beyond to support your dissertation research.
- Writing an information literacy online course
We want every student to have the digital skills they need to use online library resources, so they don’t miss out on any of the resources and support that’s available to them. So we’ve written an online course, LibSmart, to help you develop key information literacy skills to navigate the library landscape for your studies and succeed at university.
- Making videos
We’ve delivered over two hundred live information literacy classes to students this academic year, but during coronavirus restrictions we know that you can’t always make it to a class when it’s happening. That’s why we’ve created over a hundred videos, many of them bitesize, so you can find out what you need to know about the library, when you need to know it.
Christine Love-Rodgers, Academic Support Librarian
Semply the Best: A Collection in Need of Some Love
This week’s blog comes from Project Collections Assistants Anna O’Regan, Winona O’Connor and Max Chesnokov who worked with Preventive Conservator Katharine Richardson on a project back in 2019 to survey and clean the Semple Collection, a large rare books collection from the School of Divinity.
Introducing the team
Max, Winona and Anna
What should I do when I can’t get the print book I need from my UoE library?
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Unfortunately, not every print book in our collections is available as an e-book.
So what can you do to source a digital copy of an essential book, when the library print collections are not accessible, e.g. due to Lockdown rules?
Firstly, double check on DiscoverEd for the title you need. You can filter your search results by “online resource” to double check in case there is an ebook there. For more guidance on how to do this, check out the recording of our session ‘How to find online library resources for your studies using DiscoverEd‘.
Then consider whether the Scan & Deliver service could be useful, if you just need one chapter of a print book or 1 journal article.
Consider using the Inter Library Loan service to get digitised journal articles or book chapters.
You can also use the student Request a Book (RAB) service to ask the library to purchase an ebook or another copy of a print book.
You could also try the various online archives of (sometimes ‘out of print’) books. Here is a list, in no particular order:
5: Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB)
7: OAPEN
8: Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
If you need a complete book, consider whether you can purchase a cheap second hand copy yourself, eg using an ethical online bookshop such as wordery https://wordery.com/ or bookshop.org https://uk.bookshop.org/
For more information about open access educational resources and advice, take a look at the University of Edinburgh Open.Ed resource.
You could also explore the digital collections of the British Library and the National Library of Scotland.
If you are feeling very stuck about what to do, please do contact your Academic Support Librarian for help, advice and support.
Jane Furness, Academic Support Librarian
Research Data Training: Semester Two, 2020/21
As we are still facing significant restrictions on movement and in-person events during the whole of semester 2 we have decided to continue offering our RDM (Research Data Management) training courses online only. Details of the upcoming courses are below.
For undergraduate and taught masters students we have a new course called Data Mindfulness: Making the most of your dissertation, which can be enroled on via Learn on MyEd. Alternatively the videos and workbook are available on our training page.
Our online, self-paced RDM training course, Research Data MANTRA, has also been undergoing a significant update, which will be the subject of a future blog post – it is openly accessible at https://mantra.edina.ac.uk.
Full details about each course are on our training webpage https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/research-support/research-data-service/training
| Workshop | Audience | Date | Time | Booking Link |
| Writing A Data Management Plan for Your Research (RDS002) | Research Staff | 24th March 2021 | 09:30 – 11:30 | https://www.events.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?event=book&scheduleId=44117 |
| Writing A Data Management Plan for Your Research (RDS002) | All Staff & PGR’s | 13th April 2021 | 10:00 – 12:00 | https://www.events.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?event=book&scheduleID=44862 |
| Working with Personal and Sensitive Data (RDS003) | Research Staff | 15th April 2021 | 09:30 – 11:30 | https://www.events.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?event=book&scheduleId=44118 |
| Realising the Benefits of Good Research Data Management (RDS001) | All Staff & PGR’s | 21 & 22 April 2021 | 13:30 – 15:00 | Part 1 – https://www.events.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?event=book&scheduleID=44856
Part 2 – ttps://www.events.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?event=book&scheduleID=44861 |
| Edinburgh DataVault: supporting users archiving their research data (RDS008) | Support staff | 22nd April 2021 | 10:30 – 12:00 | https://www.events.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?event=showEventDetails&scheduleId=44924 |
| Working with Personal and Sensitive Data (RDS003) | All Staff & PGR’s | 26th April 2021 | 14:00 – 16:00 | https://www.events.ed.ac.uk/index.cfm?event=book&scheduleID=44863 |
| Realising the Benefits of Good Research Data Management (RDS001) | Research Staff | 04 & 05 May 2021 | 13:30 – 15:00 | Contact IAD directly https://www.ed.ac.uk/institute-academic-development |
The following courses will not run during semester 2, but we plan to relaunch them as soon possible. In the meantime if you need any support just get in touch with us via data-support@ed.ac.uk and we’ll be happy to help.
- Data Cleaning with OpenRefine (RDS004)
- Handling Data Using SPSS (RDS005)
- Assessing Disclosure Risk in Quantitative Data (RDS006)
- Assessing Data Quality in Quantitative Data (RDS007)
- Introduction to Visualising Data in ArcGIS (RDS011)
- Introduction to Visualising Data in QGIS (RDS012)
A final note, the Research Data Management and Sharing MOOC which we launched with the University of North Carolina in 2016 has enjoyed its most successful period during the pandemic, with people wanting to reskill for the digital world. Over 2,700 learners have successfully completed the 5 week course and passed assessments, with over 25,000 people engaging with the highly rated course since the beginning.
—
Kerry Miller
Research Data Support Officer
Library and University Collections
SSSA in 70 Objects : The reflections of the windows in the stairwell of 29 George Square
Response: Louise Scollay, Archive and Library Assistant, SSSA
I have always had a love affair with these windows, or moreso the scene they project on to the wall.
When I studied at the School, when the Celtic and Scottish Studies Department was housed in 27-29 George Square, I would go from the Library into the 29 to pick up a recorder, or get something from the student pigeon holes and I would catch sight of the reflection and shadow play on the wall and be captivated. A bit like Alice Through The Looking Glass , you almost felt you could step through. (Or had I taken my classes on liminality too literally?)
Circa 2011
When I returned to 29 George Square as Archive & Library Assistant , in 2017, I was captivated once more.
To be honest it takes me ages to climb all the stairs from the ground floor to my office on the third floor, but it takes even longer when the journey looks like this. My phone is full of these images.
I love how depending on the season, or the time of day, we get a different image painted across the wall.
The different panes of glass are beautiful!
Face to Face services at SSSA have been closed since March 2020 and staff have only had limited access to the building. I have missed a lot of things about the service and the building, but I have really missed watching these shadows and lights grow and shrink on the canvas of the wall over the year.
In the past year the overgrown garden has been cut back, but when I was in recently to do a collections check, I was pleased to see that the shadows and reflections still are something to behold. It almost looks like water, like you could dive in!
Images © Louise Scollay
Is there an ‘object’ related to the School of Scottish Studies that you would like to write about or respond to? It could be a recording, an image, a manuscript or something else!
We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us at scottish.studie.archives (at) ed.ac.uk
Welcome to the Academic Support Librarians blog!
Pixabay License. Free for commercial use. No attribution required
Welcome to the Academic Support Librarians blog! You can find out more about the Library Academic Support team here.
We’ll be using this blog to highlight our generic information literacy activity, events and projects. We already have several great ASL blogs for individual Schools, but this will be a blog for every member of the ASL team. Above all we’re aiming to tell the story of the work our team does to support students and staff at the University of Edinburgh.
Literature search clinics: one-to-one sessions
Do you need help with your research? Have you got yourself into a muddle using legal resources online? Do you just need to know what you need to know?
Book a one-to-one meeting with one of the Law Librarians to discuss your research issues or library problems. In previous one-to-ones we’ve helped students with:
- search strategies
- using our subscription databases
- finding international case law
- finding historical Scots material online (specifically the Institutional Writers)
- referencing (specifically using OSCOLA)
- setting up news alerts for cases or legislation
We arrange appointments once a fortnight using the MyEd booking system. 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. Future dates include:
- 18th March (currently booked)
- 6th April
- 22nd April
- 3rd May
- 20th May
We release appointments approximately three weeks before the meeting, and all meetings are currently held online via Microsoft Teams with links sent out the week before the appointment. If you cannot see an available meeting slot that suits you please email law.librarian@ed.ac.uk and we will arrange an appointment to suit.
Chris Potter, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the Team
It is a pleasure to bring the SSSA blog into the world and given that this is our 70th Anniversary it would seem that introductions are long overdue.
Fran Baseby, CRC Services Manager
I am responsible for services that provide access to collections at the School of Scottish Studies Archive & Library, and the Centre for Research Collections. This includes our online enquiries, collections-based teaching, and virtual and physical access to collections. I love that my job enables people to access the collections and experience the immense heritage that they include. Listening to a sound recording or sitting in front of a manuscript creates a unique connection between us as individuals and our collective histories.
Colin Gateley, Audio Visual Resources Technician. Digital Library
I started here in 2006 digitising audio for the Tobar an Dualchais project and now I mostly work on the archive’s photo collection. I like the variety of work – digitising photographs, image processing, video editing, and other AV work. And the collection is such a treasure trove – a sometimes surprising record of former lives and culture.
Elliot Holmes, Archive & Library Assistant
II am one of the Archives and Library Assistants with the SSSA and have been with the team since early 2020. I have particular interest in Welsh and Scottish folklore and I have written about folklore and the field for my undergraduate as well as my MSc in Information Management and Preservation. For the 70th Anniversary, I will be focusing on LGBT+ collections and developing representation and LGBT+ voices in the archive. One of the things I love about our archive and collections is the sheer amount of oral history and invaluable accounts from a wide range of voices, of which I hope to take even further this year.
Cathlin Macaulay, Curator
I have been working at the School of Scottish Studies for the past twenty years or so, mainly in the Sound Archive, though more recently I have had the opportunity to become more familiar with the Photographic Archive. As Curator I help to care for the archives, to enable people to find material, to make connections and to contextualise the collections.The Archives are full of voices, each with a different story to tell, a different song, a different tune. With its rich variety of knowledge and artistry, the SSSA is a place of continual exploration.
Stuart Robinson, Audio-Visual Digitisation Technician
II am an Audio-Visual Digitisation Technician for the School. I have been digitising the collections here for over 10 years, I also manage our digital file storage and contribute to our databases and technical systems. I came from a background working in community radio and commercial recording after studying Electrical Engineering.I enjoy working with and maintaining the fragile legacy audio and video carriers and the various devices that allow us to play them and transfer them to new (and hopefully) future-proof formats to ensure they can be accessed safely for many years to come. As a musician I also particularly enjoy hearing performances of traditional music and songs.
Louise Scollay, Archive & Library Assistant
I’ve been Archive & Library Assistant since SSSA opened the public service in 2017, but my history with the School goes back further as I studied there for my Scottish Ethnology degree and graduated in 2011.
It is an absolute joy working at the front-facing services of SSSA; I love seeing people connect and engage with our collections, particularly our sound archive, it’s like watching someone open a treasure chest! It’s hard to choose favourites amongst the collection, but I have a deep connection to our material from Shetland.
Kirsty Stewart, Archivist
I am Kirsty Stewart (Ciorstag ‘sa Ghàidhlig) and I’ve been the archivist for the School of Scottish Studies Archives, one day a week, since we re-opened in 2017. I have a degree in Gaelic Studies from Aberdeen University and did my postgraduate in Archival Studies in University College Dublin, next door to our old friends at the Irish Folklore Archive.
Initially my role was to re-establish the search room service and since then have focussed on managing the needs of our library/special collections and the manuscripts, in particular our administrative records, which tell the story of our 70 year history. One of my favourite things about SSSA is hearing different accents through recordings or their transcripts, these diverse voices that tell the story of our nation.
This year is our 70th Anniversary and we look forward to sharing events and content with you. If you would like to be kept up to date with our posts then please subscribe to get new posts straight to your inbox. You can find the subscribe box at the bottom of the page.
You can also follow us on twitter too https://twitter.com/EU_SSSA
New Resources
Throughout the year the Law Librarians purchase new materials – sometimes following requests, and other times to ensure that new editions of established and key texts are available to staff and students. This part of our work has been especially busy this last year as learning and teaching has gone online!
Requests are received from students, staff and colleagues from across the Law School. Some are related to specific courses, but many are to support the research undertaken by staff and students.
We thought we would take this opportunity to let you know about a few of the new items we have recently ordered and received in:
- Routledge Handbook of Critical Criminology (2018)
- Principle and pragmatism in Roman law (2020)
- Commercial Trusts (D’Angelo, 2014)
- High Crimes and Misdemeanors: A History of Impeachment in the Age of Trump (2019)
- Necessary evil: how to fix finance by saving human rights (2018)
- Shareholder Activism and the Law: The Future of Us Corporate Governance (2020)
- Law Enforcement in the Age of Black Lives Matter : Policing Black and Brown Bodies (2018)
- Copy This Book! : What Data Tells Us about Copyright and the Public Good (2021)
- The Internal Market 2. 0 (2020)
- Llm Dissertation : How to Maximise Marks for Your Practice Focused Dissertation. (2018)
- Records of the Kurds: territory, revolt and nationalism, 1831-1979. (2015)
This last item is a 13 volume set comprising of around 9000 pages, making it an incredibly helpful resource on the topic of the history of the Kurdish people. Having access to this material makes Edinburgh one of a select number of universities who give access to their students and staff to this unique resource.
Staff and students can place requests directly using the online forms available on the Library webpages.
If we cannot purchase the item (may be it is an older edition, out of stock, or not available in the online format you want) then we recommend you use the Interlibrary Loan Request Service which allows us to try to source access from other libraries or academic institutions.
If you would like us to consider a subscription, or you want to discuss your request further you can email us in the usual way using law.librarian@ed.ac.uk.
Happy reading!
Spotlight on Secret Files from World Wars to Cold Wars
Are you interested in British intelligence, foreign policy, international relations, and military history in the 20th century? Then Secret Files from World Wars to Cold Wars: Intelligence, Strategy and Diplomacy may be just what you’re looking for.
Secret Files from World Wars to Cold Wars provides access to British government secret intelligence and foreign policy files from 1873 to 1953, with the majority of files dating from the 1930s and 1940s.
You can access Secret Files from World Wars to Cold Wars via the Databases A-Z list or Digital Primary Source and Archive Collections guide. Read More
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....