Home University of Edinburgh Library Essentials
January 26, 2026
New Click and Collect Service- Main Library and UCF
A new Click & Collect Service has been launched!
Click & Collect means that staff and students can now request to borrow materials from the Main Library (ML) and University Collections Facility (UCF). This is one of the ways that the University Library is making the print collections available.
Items included are those in the standard, short and reserve collections at ML and UCF. There may be delays in obtaining some material as there are book handling procedures that need to be followed to ensure that staff and borrowers are kept safe.
So how do you use the service? Here are the basics….
Ordering: You place the request through DiscoverEd- make sure you are logged in so you can see the request button on the item record. Up to 3 items can be requested at any one time.
Collection: You will get an email once your item is ready- so check your university email account as notices will be sent there. The email will tell you how to book a collection slot- currently that will be between 10.15 am- 3.45 pm Monday to Friday, or 1.15 pm- 3.45 pm on Saturday or Sunday. Items will be held for 8 days from the date email confirmation is sent.
No doubt there are many other questions you have so there is a webpage with lots of FAQs and advice:
SSSA @ 70
In 2021 the School of Scottish Studies Archives celebrates our 70th Anniversary and we look forward to sharing exciting content, news and events with you this year.
We are also eager to hear from you, if you have any memories of The School of Scottish Studies, which you would like to share with us.
You can email us at scottish.studies.archives@ed.ac.uk and you can also find us on twitter: www.twitter.com/eu_SSSA.
We will be adding more to the blog soon, so please bookmark our URL or subscribe via email to receive new posts straight to your inbox.
For more information about The School of Scottish Studies collections, you can visit www.ed.ac.uk/is/sssa
Charles Lyell’s World Online funded
We are delighted to announce that we will shortly be receiving a generous donation from the International Association of Sedimentologists to fully fund the design and development of a new website: Charles Lyell’s World Online.
Daryl Green FSA FSAScot, Head of Special Collections, writes “This gift will allow us, over the next two years, to develop an online resource of digital photographs of the archives and notebooks, alongside transcriptions, indexes and catalogues, interpretation and contextual content so that anyone, from seasoned researcher to the merely curious, can easily navigate and discover the richness of the Lyell archives.
Thank you to the IAS Bureau and members for sharing our vision for making the Lyell archives accessible.”
The International Association of Sedimentologists is a Not for Profit Organisation, known for academic publishing and supporting students field and lab work, conferences and other public events.
To learn more about our new funding priorities to help us accelerate our digitisation and online plans please contact David McClay, Philanthropy Manager, Library & University Collections david.mcclay@ed.ac.uk
Future Science E-Journals – new subscription
We have signed up to the new Future Science Group Journals ‘Read & Publish’ Transitional Agreement 2021-2022. This agreement offers read access to 20 hybrid journals along with immediate open access publishing in these titles and FSG’s 15 fully open access titles for all authors at participating institutions, for all article types, for a fixed fee.
Future Science Group publishes 35 STM journals across three imprints: Future Medicine Ltd, Future Science Ltd and Newlands Press Ltd. Journals cover basic and clinical areas of biomedicine, and the portfolio includes titles such as BioTechniques, Future Oncology, Nanomedicine, Epigenomics, Immunotherapy, Bioanalysis, and Regenerative Medicine.
A title list can be found at https://www.futuremedicine.com/action/showPublications?pubType=journal and https://www.future-science.com/action/showPublications?pubType=journal all available titles have been added to DiscoverEd.
Introducing Charles Lyell’s World Online events
We’d like to invite you to our Introducing Charles Lyell’s World Online event, running on Tuesday 9th and 16th. Hear from Library staff and guests why Lyell and his archives are so important and how we plan to share them. This will include hosting high quality images on our new website Charles Lyell’s World Online.
For the question and answer part we are pleased to receive questions in advance (email: protocol.office@ed.ac.uk) or during the event. If we are unable to answer all questions during the events we will post answers on this blog.
Looking ahead the fuller potential of the Lyell notebooks and archives are about to be realised, we look forward to sharing these ambitions and progress with you.
To book [ctrl + click to follow link]
Introducing Charles Lyell’s World Online Tickets, Multiple Dates | Eventbrite
If you have any issues booking or have any other questions please contact David Mcclay, Philanthropy Manager, Library & University Collections at david.mcclay@ed.ac.uk
Lyell notebooks
Dissertation Festival: Monday 8th – Friday 19th March 2021
- Do you want to find out more about the library resources available to support your dissertation question?
- Are you interested in learning how to manage the bibliographic and research data you’ve found?
Join us in a fortnight of online events and find out what the Library can do for you to help you succeed with your dissertation.
- Make your dissertation something special : find out about the fantastic collections available at the Centre for Research Collections
- Discover the full range of digital resources that you can access via the University
- Take the first steps to learn new skills in managing your bibliographic references and your research data
We know that in Law your dissertation period starts later in Semester Two, but it’s never too early to start planning and see what resources are out there! We’ll also be recording many live sessions which will be available to watch back at a time that suits you.
Find out more at: https://edinburgh-uk.libguides.com/dissertation
For more information about how the library can support your dissertation or research project, contact us by emailing law.librarian@ed.ac.uk, or book a one-to-one appointment with us using the MyEd booking system: search for ‘law’ and find the listing for ‘literature search clinic’.
Forward planning is important! (Image from pexels on pixabay)
Thompson Dunlop Conservation internship at St Cecilia’s Hall 2019
Article written by Riccardo Angeloni in 2019
One from the archives this week! In this article we’ll transport you back to July 2019 (months before Covid-19 even existed, imagine that!) and hear from Riccardo Angeloni, a Thompson Dunlop Conservation Intern at St Cecilia’s Hall….
Throughout the month of July 2019, I had the chance to work and study as an intern at St Cecilia’s Hall. I was welcomed by professional and friendly staff and spent the first few days learning about the main principles of collection care. This internship was an opportunity to put in practice a lot of theories and techniques that until then, I had only seen on paper.
What is a Legal Deposit Library?
When speaking to students who live in Edinburgh library staff tell them that they can join the National Library of Scotland (NLS).
At the minute that’s not strictly true – as the NLS along with all other libraries are under restrictions. But why do we say it would be good to consider joining when we have so much in our own libraries?
The main reason is that the NLS is a Legal Deposit Library – but what does that mean?
The NLS is one of six Legal Deposit Libraries in the UK. A Legal Deposit Library is governed by specific legislation:
• The Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003
• Irish Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000
• Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print) Regulations 2013
This legislation allows these six libraries to claim a copy of any work published in the UK and Ireland, either in print or electronically as identified under the legislation. This includes more than just books and journal articles- but also newspapers and some content from the worldwide web.
So you can just imagine what they have on their shelves and servers! If you are interested in finding out more go to the information pages on the NLS:
https://www.nls.uk/about-us/legal-deposit
For law in particular, this has a great significance in Scotland. The National Library of Scotland was founded from the collection of the Faculty of Advocates’ Library, a private members’ organisation which is still considered to have one of the finest collections of Scottish Law material in existence.
From its formal opening in 1689, the Advocates Library in Edinburgh rapidly developed into the finest library in Scotland. Following the introduction of the Library’s legal deposit privilege in 1710, its book collection grew at an ever-increasing rate.
The Advocates Library gradually came to be seen as Scotland’s national library in all but name. In 1925, an Act of Parliament formally established the National Library of Scoland. The Faculty of Advocates then gifted its collection — with the exception of legal material — to the country.
We have such a wonderful opportunity for access to rare and unusual material from having both the Advocates’ and NLS collections just around the corner from our campus, and so we highly recommend students take advantage of the resources they have available.
Data Safe Haven new remote access feature
Working from home
The Research Data Service team is pleased to announce the availability of a new remote access feature of the University of Edinburgh Data Safe Haven (DSH). In response to the changing working practices due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the DSH technical team in ITI Research Services has completed a significant work package to develop secure remote access arrangements for the environment. A secure third party solution that allows remote access to the DSH server will allow users to remotely access data from end-point devices that sit outside of the University network. The solution provides enhanced security beyond that provided by the VPN connection used for normal remote working. At present our remote access facility is being used by our existing research projects. For new projects this facility will be discussed on a project by project basis. The solution was confirmed at our ISO 27001 certification surveillance visit in November.
Cuna Ekmekcioglu
Data Safe Haven Manager
Library & University Collections
Discovering ProQuest Primary Sources
Looking for primary sources and historical documents for your dissertation or research project? Interested in finding out more about how to search some of the primary source databases you have access to at the Library? Looking to use archive newspapers for your research?
ProQuest are giving our students and staff the opportunity to join their training team for a series of seminars exploring their extensive Primary Source collections, which you have access to from the Library. In each 30-minute tutorial, you will take a deep dive into key ProQuest resources and will learn the best search strategies, tips and tricks for getting the most relevant results for your research projects. This is a really great opportunity to learn from the experts how to use these fantastic resources and find relevant material for you. Read More
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