Using the Library remotely – accessing material you need

Posted on February 25, 2021 by spslibrarian

With many of you currently not in Edinburgh and access to our Library’s print collections severely restricted, knowing the options for accessing material that isn’t available online or that the Library doesn’t have in its collections has become increasingly important.

While the Covid-19 pandemic has reduced the number of options available to you, there are still possibilities existing that you can take advantage of.

Check DiscoverEd
Request a Book (RaB)
Scan & Deliver
Click & Collect
Inter-Library Loans (ILLs)
National Library of Scotland and other libraries
Open Access (free stuff)

Check DiscoverEd

It’s really important that you check if the Library has the item or material you are looking for in its collections, whether online or in print. Searching Google or Google Scholar will not give you this information (even if you have set up Google Scholar for full text access). DiscoverEd will show you what we (the Library) have. Continue reading →

Using the Library remotely – DiscoverEd

Posted on February 23, 2021 by spslibrarian

With many of you currently not in Edinburgh and access to our Library’s print collections severely restricted, being able to access books, journals and other materials online has become even more important.

Knowing how to find and access the e-books and e-journals (and more) available to you at the Library is often where people first go wrong. While Google and Google Scholar are good search tools they are not going to show you what the Library has access to and they often put barriers in your way for accessing material.

DiscoverEd should be your starting point

DiscoverEd (http://discovered.ed.ac.uk) is the main place to search for and access online material (and print) available to you at the Library. It tells you what e-books, e-journals, e-journal articles, etc., you have access to and provides links to access them. These links are embedded to tell the resource that you are from University of Edinburgh so access in most cases is direct with your University username and password (and you don’t have to enter this again if you are already signed in).

So some hints and tips and things to know when using DiscoverEd.

Sign In
Too many search results?
Don’t ignore information that is there to help
Broadening your search in DiscoverEd
Build a more complex search (or a more specific search)
Going beyond DiscoverEd
What access is there to print items in Library collections or if the Library doesn’t have the item at all? Continue reading →

The Library in the time of Covid-19

Posted on April 30, 2020 by spslibrarian

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 →

Universal Database of Ukrainian Periodicals – on trial

Posted on April 16, 2020 by spslibrarian

Thanks to a request from a student in SPS the Library currently has trial access to the Universal Database of Ukrainian Periodicals (UDB-UKR) from EastView. The world’s first database of newspapers and magazines of Ukraine, it includes publications in Russian, Ukrainian and English.

You can access the Universal Database for Ukrainian Periodicals from the E-resources trials page.
Access is available on and off-campus.

Trial access ends 15th May 2020. Continue reading →

5 recommended library resources for LGBT+ History Month

Posted on February 28, 2018 by spslibrarian

February has seen the celebration of LGBT+ History Month in the UK and you may have enjoyed one of the many fantastic events put on by the University’s Staff Pride Network or the University’s Students’ Association. LGBT+ History Month may be near the end but I wanted to highlight just some of the library resources available to staff and students of the University that will allow you to study and research LGBT+ history further.

1. Books, journals, articles, etc.

The Main Library is co-hosting a ‘micro-exhibition’ with student groups Project Myopia and LiberatEd with a pop-up book display on the ground floor this week. A LGBT+ History Month Resource List has also been put together to highlight the wide range of LGBT+ books available at the University Library. This is just a selection of titles available at the Library and you can use DiscoverEd to find more.

You can also use DiscoverEd to search for and find a large range of journal articles and journals on LGBT+ related research. Or you can go further in your research by using some of the bibliographic databases the Library has access to that will allow you to search for journal articles, abstracts, book reviews, book chapters, reports and proceedings, etc.

2. What to watch?

You can use some of the Library’s moving image and video streaming databases to search for and view films, documentaries, news programmes, interviews, plays, TV programmes, etc. Continue reading →

British Politics

Posted on January 26, 2016 by spslibrarian

The Library has recently purchased back issue access to the e-journal British Politics. This now ensures that the Library has full access to this e-journal from 2006 (vol. 1) onwards.

Published by Palgrave Macmillan, British Politics is a peer-reviewed academic journal designed to promote research in British political studies. It incorporates a range of research papers and review articles from all theoretical perspectives, and on all aspects of British politics.

The Library already had access to several years of this journal via other e-journal collections, however, this purchase ensures the Library has full and permanent access to this e-journal from it’s first volume and issue onwards.

You can access British Politics via DiscoverEd.

Caroline Stirling – Academic Support Librarian for Social and Political Science

Get fresh with Taylor & Francis journals

Posted on March 23, 2015 by spslibrarian

The Library currently has trial access to over 140 “young” journal titles (between 3 and 7 years old) via the Taylor & Francis Fresh Collection. You can access this collection via the E-resources trials page at www.ed.ac.uk/is/databases-trials and the individual journal titles will be added to the E-journals A-Z list.

Taylor & Francis are showcasing their newest titles in the Fresh Collection including Africa Review, African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, Celebrity Studies, Contemporary Italian Politics, Critical African Studies, Global Discourse, International Critical Thought, Journal of Development Effectiveness, Migration and Development, Resilience: International Policies, Practices and Discourses and South Asian Diaspora.

You can access a full list of the titles from all subject areas at Fresh Collection Title List (pdf).

Trial access is available until 31st December 2015. We would welcome feedback on these resources as this helps with making the decision on whether individual journal titles should be considered for subscription or not.

Caroline Stirling – Academic Support Librarian for Social and Political Science

Top 5 library resources for Social Work

Posted on March 17, 2015 by spslibrarian

Today is #WorldSocialWorkDay! We thought we’d give you a taster of social work resources available to students and staff here at the University of Edinburgh Library.

1. Have you seen Social Services Abstracts? This database provides bibliographic coverage of current research focused on social work, human services and related areas, including social welfare, social policy and community development. The database abstracts and indexes thousands of serials publications and includes abstracts of journal articles and dissertations and citations to book reviews.

Coverage includes community and mental health services; crisis intervention; the family and social welfare; gerontology; poverty and homelessness; professional issues in social work; social services in addiction; social work education; social work practice; violence, abuse, neglect.

You can access this and other relevant databases at databases for social work.

Continue reading →

SPS Librarian Top 5 blog posts 2014 – no. 5

Posted on December 15, 2014 by spslibrarian

As exams are almost over and semester one nears its end we are reposting our Top 5 blog posts from this year, every day in the final week of semester.

At number 5, oddly enough is another Top 5, this time Top 5 women’s studies library resources.

Caroline Stirling – Academic Support Librarian for Social and Political Science

SPS Librarian

Academic Support Librarians for staff & students in the School of Social and Political Science blogging on Library resources, services and skills.

Tag Archives: e-journals

Using the Library remotely – DiscoverEd

DiscoverEd should be your starting point

Universal Database of Ukrainian Periodicals – on trial

British Politics