Tag Archives: Main Library

Using the Library remotely – accessing material you need

Posted on by
1

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 →

5 recommended Library resources for Africa Week 2019

Posted on by
1

Yesterday, 24th October, was the start of Africa Week 2019 at the University. A chance to celebrate Edinburgh’s connections to the region. There are a number of events taking place to mark Africa Week 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 Africa and Africa related subjects further.

1. C.A.S. collection on 4th floor, Main Library

Have you ever been searching DiscoverEd for a book or journal related to Africa and come across shelfmarks starting C.A.S.? Continue reading →

New books in the Library for Social and Political Science

Posted on by
Reply

Thanks to recommendations from members of staff and requests via RAB from students the Library is continually adding new books to its collections both online and in print. Here are just a (very) small number of the books that have been added to the Library’s collections in semester two, 2018/19 for the School of Social and Political Science and these demonstrate the wide range of subjects being taught, studied and researched within School.

–> Find these and more via DiscoverEd.

Heart: a history by Sandeep Jauhar (shelfmark: QP111.4 Jau.)

Heineken in Africa: a multinational unleashed by Olivier van Beemen ; translated by Bram Posthumus (HD9397.N44 Bee.)

Tangled diagnoses: prenatal testing, women, and risk by Ilana Löwy (e-book).

Pervasive punishment: making sense of mass supervision by Fergus McNeill (shelfmark: HV7419 Macn. Also available as e-book).

Can we all be feminists?: seventeen writers on intersectionality, identity, and finding the right way forward for feminism edited by June Eric-Udorie (shelfmark: HQ1221 Can.)

Energy and geopolitics by Per Högselius (e-book).

Reclaiming Afrikan: queer perspectives on sexual and gender identities curated by Zethu Matebeni (shelfmark: HQ75.16.A35 Rec.) Continue reading →

5 recommended library resources for Africa Week

Posted on by
Reply

Today, 25th October, is the start of Africa Week 2018 at the University. A chance to celebrate the University’s engagement across the African continent. There are a number of events taking place to mark Africa Week 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 Africa and Africa related subjects further.

1. C.A.S. collection on 4th floor, Main Library

Have you ever been searching DiscoverEd for a book or journal related to Africa and come across shelfmarks starting C.A.S.?

C.A.S. simply stands for the Centre of African Studies and there is a substantial collection of books and journals, separate to the general lending collections on the 2nd and 3rd floor of Main Library, that were purchased on behalf of the Centre over many years. The C.A.S. collection can be found on the 4th floor of the Main Library on the South-East side of the floor. This is a really interesting collection of material, mostly published in the 20th century, and includes material published by commercial and academic publishers, government agencies, Unesco, the Centre of African Studies, etc.

The C.A.S. collection is now a closed collection i.e. no newly purchased books are added to this collection, but it’s not the only place you will find books on Africa or African related subjects in the Main Library. There are a large range of books throughout the general lending collections on 2nd and 3rd floor and the HUB area, you will find books relating to Africa at a number of the site libraries as well and there are a considerable number of e-books, e-journals (and print journals) available relating to Africa. Just search DiscoverEd to discover more.

2. University’s archives – Centre for Research Collections

The University of Edinburgh holds world class collections, including rare books, archives and manuscripts, art, historical musical instruments and museum objects. And it is the Centre for Research Collections (CRC) on the 6th floor of the Main Library that is your gateway into these unique collections. Continue reading →

New books in the Library for Social and Political Science

Posted on by
Reply

Thanks to recommendations from members of staff and requests via RAB from students the Library is continually adding new books to its collections both online and in print. Here are just a (very) small number of the books that have been added to the Library’s collections in semester two, 2017/18 for the School of Social and Political Science and these demonstrate the wide range of subjects being taught, studied and researched within School.

–> Find these and more via DiscoverEd.

The politics of borders: sovereignty, security, and the citizen after 9/11 by Matthew Longo (shelfmark: JC323 Lon. Also available as e-book.)

Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Paternalism by Jason Hanna Kalle Grill (e-book).

The unending hunger: tracing women and food insecurity across borders by Megan A. Carney (shelfmark: JV6602 Car.)

Big data, little data, no data: scholarship in the networked world by Christine L. Borgman (e-book).

“Return” in post-colonial writing: a cultural labyrinth edited by Vera Mihailovich-Dickman (shelfmark: PR9085 Ret.)

Havens in a storm: the struggle for global tax regulation by J.C. Sharman (shelfmark: K4464.5 Sha.) Continue reading →

New books in the Library for Social and Political Science

Posted on by
Reply

Thanks to recommendations from members of staff and requests via RAB from students the Library is continually adding new books to its collections both online and in print. Here are just a (very) small number of the books that have been added to the Library’s collections in semester one, 2016/17 for the School of Social and Political Science and these demonstrate the wide range of subjects being taught, studied and researched within School.

–> Find these and more via DiscoverEd.

digital_sociologies_bookcoverThe new Northern Irish politics? by Jonathan Tonge (shelfmark: DA990.U46 Ton.)

International humanitarian law and the changing technology of war edited by Dan Saxon (shelfmark: KZ6471 Int.)

Routledge international handbook of social work education edited by Imogen Taylor, Marion Bogo, Michelle Lefevre and Barbra Teater (e-book).

Digital sociologies edited by Jessie Daniels, Karen Gregory, Tressie McMillan Cottom (shelfmark: HM851 Dig.) Continue reading →

Feedback questions from library welcome sessions

Posted on by
Reply

New Academic Support LibrariansIt was great to meet so many SPS postgraduate students in our Welcome Week workshops on Library Resources. We’ve now put the slides from these sessions up on our subject guide web pages.  We asked you to write any questions you still had about the library on your feedback sheets so we could get back to you. Here’s some of the things you asked :

1. “Are there any free software resources in the library? For example SPSS?”

Yes, the University provides access to SPSS  – see http://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/computing/desktop-personal/software/main-software-deals/spss for more information. A range of other software resources are also available on University desktop machines, such as NVivo.

2. “You mentioned VPN – how and when do we use it for the library?”

VPN, or Virtual Private Network,  is necessary for off campus access to a small number of library databases. In particular some newspaper databases, such as Factiva and Nexis UK, require VPN access for off-campus access. You can find information about the VPN service at <http://www.ed.ac.uk/is/vpn

3.“Is there any reference management system I can download to my computer for free?”

You can download Endnote Online for free. See http://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/help-consultancy/is-skills/catalogue/text-catalogue/endnote-web-intro. You may also be interested in Mendeley and Zotero.

 4.  “I would like to find out more about referencing systems such as Mendeley. Does the University support the desktop version?”

The desktop version of Mendeley is installed on lab PCs throughout the University, although the University doesn’t provide as full a support service for this package as it does for Endnote. If you’d like to find out more about using different bibliographic managers, you may find this comparison table useful.

5. “Is there a floor plan of the Main Library?”

Yes, there are plans for each floor – see the bottom of the page at http://edin.ac/2beNlFw

Christine Love-Rodgers & Caroline Stirling, Academic Support Librarians – Social & Political Science

Here comes the summer!

Posted on by
Reply

The weather may not be able to quite make up its mind whether (!) we are heading into summer or skipping it entirely and going straight to autumn but this Friday, 22 May, is the end of semester 2 and the beginning of the summer vacation period at the University.

Whether you will be staying in Edinburgh and continuing your studies over the summer period or if you will be away from Edinburgh for the summer here are a few things to bear in mind:

1) This summer both the Library Catalogue and Searcher will be replaced by DiscoverEd.

DiscoverEdLogoWoBWeb

Continue reading →