New! Colonial Law in Africa, 1946-1966

I’m pleased to let you know that the Library has recently purchased Colonial Law in Africa, 1946-1966 from British Online Archives. This database provides access to the African Government Gazettes from 1946 to 1966.

You can access Colonial Law in Africa via the Primary Sources guide, the Databases A-Z list or the African Studies guide. And it will be accessible via DiscoverEd in the near future. Continue reading

New! South Asian Newspapers

Following a number of trials I’m happy to let you know that the Library has purchased access to South Asian Newspapers (1864-1922) from Readex’s World Newspaper Archive. This one-of-a-kind collection provides online access to a select group of South Asian newspapers from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

You can access South Asian Newspapers via the Newspapers, Magazines and other News Sources guide, the Databases A-Z list or DiscoverEd. Continue reading

New! Uganda and Malawi under Colonial Rule, in Government Reports

I’m pleased to let you know that the Library now has access to two more digital primary source collections covering colonial rule in African countries in the 20th century. The two databases are Uganda Under Colonial Rule, in Government Reports, 1903-1961 and Malawi Under Colonial Rule, in Government Reports, 1907-1967 from British Online Archives. Between them they contain 92 documents with over 84,000 pages of original primary source material.

You can access both of these databases via the Digital Primary Source and Archive Collections guide, the Databases A-Z list or the African Studies subject guide. Continue reading

Al-Ahram Digital Archive – on trial

Thanks to a request from a student in Politics & International Relations the Library currently has trial access to the Al-Ahram Digital Archive from EastView. This gives you access to one of the longest-running newspapers in the Middle East.

You can access the Al-Ahram Digital Archive via the E-resources trials page.
Access is available on and off-campus.

Trial access ends 1st October 2021. Continue reading

Dissertation Festival 2020

From 26 October – 6 November the Library is running a virtual Dissertation Festival. The online events taking place during this two week period will highlight what the Library can do for you to help you succeed with your dissertation.

In this blog post I am going to focus on the sessions that might be of particular interest to dissertation students (undergraduates or postgraduates) in the School of Social and Political Science (SPS). However, to find all sessions available and to book on take a look at the Dissertation guide. Continue reading

New! Kenya and Zimbabwe under colonial rule, in Government reports

I’m happy to let you know that the Library now has access to two digital primary source collections covering colonial rule in African countries in the 20th century. The two databases are Kenya under colonial rule, in Government reports, 1907-1964 and Zimbabwe under colonial rule, in Government reports, 1897-1980. Between them they contain 290 documents with over 158,000 pages of original primary source material.

You can access both of these databases via the Digital Primary Source and Archive Collections guide, the Databases A-Z list or the African Studies subject guide. Continue reading

New! British Labour Party and Independent Labour Party Papers

I’m happy to let you know that the Library now has access to 3 British Online Archive digital collections of primary source documents relating to British political history in the 20th century:

  • British Labour Party Papers, 1906-1968
  • British Labour Party Papers, 1968-1994
  • Independent Labour Party Records, 1893-1960.

You can access all 3 databases via the Digital Primary Source and Archive Collections guide, the Databases A-Z list and the Politics and International Relations subject guide. Continue reading

New! African Newspapers, Series 1 1800-1922

I’m pleased to let you know that the Library had recently purchased the digital primary source database African Newspapers, Series 1 1800-1922 part of the World Newspaper Archive from Readex. This gives you unique access to a fully searchable collection of historical newspapers from Africa.

You can access the African Newspapers, Series 1 1800-1922 via the Newspapers, Magazines and Other News Sources guide. Or you can access it via the Databases A-Z list. Individual newspaper titles will also be added to DiscoverEd in the near future. Continue reading

New! LGBT Magazine Archive

I’m happy to let you know that the Library now has access to the LGBT Magazine Archive from ProQuest until 31st December 2021. This primary source database is a searchable archive of major periodicals devoted to LGBT+ interests, dating from the 1950s through to recent years.

You can access the LGBT Magazine Archive via the Newspapers, Magazines and Other News Sources guide. Or you can access it via the Databases A-Z list. Individual magazine titles will be added to DiscoverEd this week. Continue reading

The Library in the time of Covid-19

Not sure what Library resources, services and support are available to you at this unusual time? You can always keep up to date with all of this via our Library Covid-19 site but we’d like to highlight some key areas in this blog post.

Temporary access to e-books and other e-resources
E-books and books in general
Requesting a chapter from a book or journal article for personal use
Digital primary source and archive collections
Returning library books


Temporary access to e-books and other e-resources

The Library is already in a strong position when it comes to online resources and digital collections. We have around 1.4 million e-books, 185,000 e-journals, 700 licensed databases, 84,000 streaming videos and 6,000 scanned book chapters and journal articles. The majority of this content can be accessed via DiscoverEd and your subject guides. Continue reading