We have extended the opening hours at The Sir Duncan Rice Library so that we will now stay open until midnight from Monday to Thursday, and on Sundays.
Here are the current opening hours for The Sir Duncan Rice Library:
Details of opening hours for all our libraries are available on the library website.
Here’s an outline of what help is available from the Library and IT Services for those of you working on your thesis.
You can access three large databases of theses through Primo:
For further information and more theses databases, please see this guidance document created by Library staff.
University of Aberdeen theses are also available in the Digital Collections section of Primo. There are both Research and Taught Course theses.
Our Find it Fast! Wiki is packed with material to help with your information skills, from planning your search to referencing. There are specific sections for Taught Postgraduates and Postgraduate Researchers.
Library staff will be running live Q&A sessions for PGR students next week on 21 & 24 June. Please do come along and our team will be happy to provide guidance and short demonstrations based on your needs. Sign up on the Course Booking site.
Remember we are here to support you throughout your studies, so please do get in touch (library@abdn.ac.uk) if you would like some help.
The IT Services Team have created the Working with Long Documents section on Toolkit, which has plenty of handy videos and guides to help you with creating and manipulating long documents in MS Word.
The IT Services Training and Documentation team are also running sessions on 16 June:
You can sign up on the Course Booking pages. Even if the session is full, it is worth getting on the waiting list as you may still be able to attend.
Best of luck to all those of you working on your thesis!
We’ve made some important changes in response to new Covid-19 restrictions in mainland Scotland. Please take some time to review the changes before you visit.
We recognise the enormous value of the Library to our students and are working extremely hard to offer you Library services during this challenging time. Please help us by taking care to understand the rules and only visiting in person if you have an essential need. Please check the updated FAQ later on Monday 11 January, and email library@abdn.ac.uk if you cannot find answers to your questions.
If you have queries or comments specifically about our COVID-19 measures, please get in touch with coronavirus@abdn.ac.uk.
As University of Aberdeen students are now spread far and wide, some of you may be missing your University city and region. VisitAberdeenshire have created a wonderful online project called #ABDNwillwait. Through the website you can explore some of the highlights of the region, from virtual castle tours to local recipes! Something to enjoy before you can return in person, or arrive for the first time in the Granite City.
One particular highlight is The Ballad of Blue, Granite and Green, winner of the Sound of the North-east competition. It was created by Benjamin McMillan, an Aberdeen Music graduate, and Paul Anderson, an honorary research fellow of the University’s Elphinstone Institute.
To listen to the full piece, please visit https://www.visitabdn.com/abdnwillwait/music.
You can find out more about the story behind the composition in this University news article and this newspaper article.
Our picture at the top of this post is of Dunnottar Castle, former home to one of the most powerful families in Scotland and inspiration for Disney’s Brave. University of Aberdeen graduate Gordon Cameron is a technical advisor at Pixar Animation Studios, who created the film.
In a previous post, we told you about accessing e-resources off-campus. In this post, we would like to draw your attention to OnePetro, an important database of technical literature for the oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) industry.
The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), who own the OnePetro database, have an authentication (login) system based on the IP address of the user’s PC. Signing in is very straightforward when users are on-campus using University networked PCs. However, it is a 2-step process when off-campus, as users are required to come into the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) first so that their personal device will look as if it is campus-based.
Please follow the guidance on the Remote Access section of Toolkit – select the Remote VDI link in the ‘Guides’ section. Once you have logged in to the VDI, navigate to ‘Library Resources’, and from there to Primo.
Library staff have created a very useful guide on accessing and using OnePetro.
Please note that via the VDI you can also access classroom software associated with your login details and your H: drive.
Susan McCourt, Elaine Fitzgerald, Lena Papadakou
©Kenneth Moyle Licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Worried about library books being due back?
We can reassure you that you don’t need to worry about returning your library books during the lockdown period.
Your books will be automatically renewed while the library buildings are closed.
So, holding on to your books for now will not incur fines or stop you from graduating.
Returning books would probably involve non-essential travel, which doesn’t comply with Scottish Government guidance.
We’ll get in touch via University email to update you once the situation changes.
If you have any questions, please contact library staff, who will be happy to help, or check out our website for the latest information on your Library services.
The Library Service will soon be holding a sale of books that have been withdrawn from library stock. These are books that are duplicates of items in our collection or donations that are not required.
The sale will be held on Floor 1 of The Sir Duncan Rice Library for one week, from Monday February 10 until Sunday February 16.
From Monday 10/2 to Wednesday 12/2 inclusive, the sale will only be available to University of Aberdeen students and staff. Please show your University ID card at purchase.
The sale will not start until 9 a.m. each day and 11 a.m. on Sunday, once staff begin work at the Information Centre on Floor 1 of The Sir Duncan Rice Library. You will not be able to purchase any books before the above times.
The cost of the books will be:
There will be books available from across a whole range of subjects, and at those prices it is certainly worth coming and having a look to see what bargains you may be able to get.
Did you know that we will be running open tours of The Sir Duncan Rice Library over the next week? These will be for all students, new and old. This is to make sure that as many people as possible get the chance to learn about the Library.
From Monday the 16th of September until Friday the 20th of September, come and meet staff on the ground floor of the library at 10am or 2pm. There is no need to book a place and each tour group will contain a maximum of ten people.
There will be more than one tour taking place at a time and they will last approximately 30 minutes. The tours by our friendly staff will introduce you to not only the beautiful building, but also the services and resources available from the library. We will also tell you:
Please note that there will be no tours taking place at the weekends, but staff working then will still be happy to answer any questions you may have about the Library Service.
Please speak with staff in the Taylor and Medical Libraries for help in finding your way round their collections and spaces.
We look forward to showing you around, and also take this opportunity to wish you all good luck with the year ahead.
Elaine Fitzgerald, e.fitzgerald@abdn.ac.uk
Did you know that we will be running open tours of The Sir Duncan Rice Library over the next 2 weeks? These will be for all students, new and old. This is to make sure that as many people as possible get the chance to learn about the Library.
From Monday the 9th of September until Friday the 20th of September, come and meet staff on the ground floor of the library at 10am or 2pm. There is no need to book a place and each tour group will contain a maximum of ten people.
There will be more than one tour taking place at a time and they will last approximately 30 minutes. The tours by our friendly staff will introduce you to not only the beautiful building, but also the services and resources available from the library. We will also tell you:
Please note that there will be no tours taking place at the weekends, but staff working then will still be happy to answer any questions you may have about the Library Service.
Please speak with staff in the Taylor and Medical Libraries for help in finding your way round their collections and spaces.
We look forward to showing you around, and also take this opportunity to wish you all good luck with the year ahead.
Elaine Fitzgerald, e.fitzgerald@abdn.ac.uk
As the new academic year begins and the campuses fill with new and returning students, Library staff would like to wish everyone all the very best for the coming year at the University of Aberdeen.
Read on to learn (or remind yourself) of some of the ways in which the Library is here to help you.
Library Tours
Following on from our already fully booked Library Tours, which will take place on September 2 and 3, we will be running additional short tours of The Sir Duncan Rice Library starting on Wednesday September 4 and running until Friday September 20 for all students, new and old.
Come and meet staff on the ground floor of the library at 10am or 2pm, there is no need to book. There will be no tours taking place at the weekends, but staff working then will still be happy to answer any questions you may have about the Library Service.
Speak with staff in the Taylor and Medical Libraries for help in finding your way round their collections and spaces.
Locating Library Resources
You can search Primo, to find out what materials the Library has on the shelves and online. Primo is the first place to begin any searching you may be doing for books, ebooks, journal articles or any of the other high-quality resources available to you. Also, be sure to check out our Primo Library Guide, as well as our short videos on using Primo
Getting help in our libraries
Library staff are here to help you locate the materials you need or answer any questions you may have about our service.
Staff are available Monday-Friday, 09.00-17.00, in each of our three libraries to help in person. There is a reduced service at all three sites outwith these hours, but staff are still available to help.
For general enquiries within The Sir Duncan Rice Library about our services please speak with staff at the Information Centre on Floor 1.
For more subject-specific assistance in The Sir Duncan Rice Library you will find staff with knowledge of the collections on Floors 4-6. They will either be based at the clearly marked Information Points, or they will be available to help in the Enquiry Offices which are located right beside them. More details on staff help available here.
The Taylor Library and the Medical Library also have very knowledgeable staff happy to field any enquiries you may have about their collections. Please come and speak to them.
We are here to help you find the library materials you need throughout your time here at the University of Aberdeen and are ready and waiting for your questions. And don’t ever be embarrassed to ask us a question because you think it might be a silly question. There are no silly questions, only questions, and we love to hear them all.
Remember to visit our website, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook, as well as keep up to date with any Library news on this blog.
Ewan Grant, e.grant@abdn.ac.uk
Elaine Fitzgerald, e.fitzgerald@abdn.ac.uk
InfoLinks 