Did you know…? – Extensive online access to publications from the British Academy

Posted on May 17, 2021 by jennastor

We thought you might be interested in additional e-resources from the British Academy that have been made available through our subscription to University Press Scholarship Online (UPSO). Recently expanded content includes 207 publications, spanning subjects in the humanities and social sciences, with new items being added as they are published.

Access to this electronic collection of books, essays and journals includes the series Proceedings of the British Academy, lectures delivered at the British Academy, available online from 2002 onwards.

The Library also has earlier and current print copies of this journal on Floor 2 of The Sir Duncan Rice Library and at other locations.

Picture of male student reading from his computer

Access to UPSO is via the Find Databases tab in Primo. Once you are on the UPSO platform, please look for the Sign in via your Institution option.

Details of other collections that remain available on a temporary basis can be found on our designated Library page, which we update regularly.

In addition to highlighting expanded content available via our Library subscriptions, please see here a list of relevant and appropriate Open Access e-resources.

Please email us with any questions you may have as we are always happy to help!
subjectteam@abdn.ac.uk

Jenna Storey, jennifer.storey@abdn.ac.uk

Important: e-books on the Dawsonera platform – some changes

Posted on July 28, 2020 by eleni boro

The supplier Dawson Books has ceased trading and electronic books on their Dawsonera platform will be switched off on Friday 31 July. We are working to provide access to the content via alternative suppliers and minimise disruption but there may be some temporary loss of access to titles while ebooks are switched from one platform to another.

Dawsonera

Unfortunately, it is not possible to transfer any notes you have made within e-books on Dawsonera. To retain annotations these must be downloaded before Friday 31 July:

Use Primo to find and link to the relevant title in Dawsonera
Look for the Notes tab (on the left – there are tabs for Contents, Search and Notes)
Click Export then Export notes
Your notes will be exported as a text file with a .rtf file extension
Save in an appropriate location for later use.

Library staff will update links within Primo and the new reading list service. If you have any difficulties or queries, please contact Susan McCourt (s.mccourt@abdn.ac.uk)

Comet SWAN

Posted on May 27, 2020 by eleni boro

Many thanks to Gerald Rehmann for picture of SWAN.

Comet-hunters and stargazers alike have had plenty to talk about this month. The brightest newcomer Comet SWAN has a tail of at least 18 million km long and was discovered by amateur astronomer Michael Mattiazzo from Australia. But he was not looking up at the time – Comet SWAN was spotted online, by studying images from the Solar Wind ANisotropies (SWAN) instrument aboard SOHO, ESA/NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.

Comet SWAN is expected to reach perihelion (its closest point to the Sun) on 27 May. Look for it near the constellation Perseus as it may still be visible through binoculars.

You can still read about the comet’s performance and visibility in the UK. If you missed out on Comet SWAN, there are two more coming our way: Comet LEMMON and Comet NEOWISE will be visible by the naked eye in July. To learn more about these comets, http://astro.vanbuitenen.nl/comets is a good place to start.

If you’re frequently looking for the position of a group of Solar System objects, you can create a quick access page that updates just the data you need. Bookmark it or add it to your phone’s home screen and get fresh data with one click.

We also have access to some e-books that can help you with your observations:

‘Comets and their origin: the tools to decipher a comet’ by Uwe Meierhenrich (2015)
‘Make Time for the Stars: Fitting Astronomy into Your Busy Life’ by Antony Cooke (2009)

Access to these resources is via Primo; remember to sign in using your University of Aberdeen username and password.

For more information visit the following pages:

https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/
https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/comet-c-2020-f8-swan-visible-how-to-see-it/
https://theskylive.com/quickaccess-create

Jenna Storey, jennifer.storey@abdn.ac.uk

Information Skills workshops for PhD researchers: now open for booking

Posted on October 4, 2019 by eleni boro

As you begin, or continue your PhD it is important that you feel confident that you are locating and managing all the literature and information you require to achieve your research aims.

The Library Service is here to support your research so we will be running a series of Information Skills Workshops starting at the end of October 2019. The workshops’ aim is to help you understand the resources available to you as researchers here at the University of Aberdeen, and how to get the best out of them. Read on for further information on the workshops.

29, 30 & 31 October
Literature searching – Part 1: Planning, Primo and Google

5, 6 & 7 November
Literature searching – Part 2: Databases

12, 13 & 14 November
Literature searching – Part 3: Managing References with RefWorks

Across the three parts, we will look at:

Planning your search
Looking for books: using Primo and E-books
Databases of academic literature
Getting the best out of Google
Managing your references with RefWorks
Formatting Word documents with in-text citations and bibliographies

Feedback from those who have previously attended these sessions has been positive and highlights how after attending, students felt better equipped to find and manage the materials they need for research. One quote from a previous attendee nicely sums up what we are aiming for with these sessions:

“I will definitely be searching smarter than before”

Our aim is that after you attend, you will also leave feeling this way.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The sessions focusing on the management of references is not suitable for research postgraduates in the School of Law, as the software used does not support the OSCOLA referencing style required for legal theses.

To find out more, and to book onto the different workshops please visit www.abdn.ac.uk/coursebooking and look for Information Skills classes. Please note that we will be offering three sessions on each part, with the Tuesday & Thursday sessions lasting 2 hours and the Wednesday sessions lasting 3 hours.

In the meantime, do not forget that Library staff are always here to help with any information needs that you may have. Visit our website for further information on our services. We look forward to seeing you at the workshops!

Library Skills workshops to help you ‘Find it Fast!’

Posted on October 3, 2019 by eleni boro

fif front slide cropped.fw

We believe that you should be spending the majority of your time reading materials and not looking for them, so we have a range of workshops to help you learn how to get your hands on the best books, articles, reports and other information in the shortest time possible.

Our Find it Fast! workshops will be running between October 15 and November 7 to help all undergraduate and taught postgraduate students navigate the library landscape, which can at times seem filled with so much choice.

The workshops are held over lunch time in The Sir Duncan Rice Library and are a great introduction to the resources we provide and the ways in which you can make best use of them. They cover:

using Primo, our online resource discovery tool for locating physical and electronic resources
how to search for the hundreds of thousands of electronic books which we have access to
using the many online databases which we subscribe to. They contain important resources which you cannot find by searching in Google!
how to manage your references using RefWorks
getting the best out of Google

Invest one hour of your time over lunch to learn tips and techniques that will repay you with time saved when searching for the materials you need for your assignments and exams.

To find out more and to view the full list of Find it Fast! workshops on offer please go to www.abdn.ac.uk/coursebooking and search for Library Information Skills courses.

Search our digital collections using ‘Find Databases’ on Primo

Posted on September 30, 2019 by eleni boro

Primo will tell you about the hundreds of thousands of digital resources available through the University and will link you to one of over 200 different online academic databases to let you read the material that you’re interested in.

Did you know, though, that if you go straight to the website of specific academic databases you can perform even more powerful searches, often looking across every word contained in every item within that collection? A simple search in Primo is the best place to start a piece of research but using the Find Databases option is the next step, improving the quality of any academic research that you do.

These databases often focus on specific subject areas, meaning that your searching becomes more focused and efficient, saving you time looking and giving you more time to read and write. See below for details of how to use the Find Databases feature in Primo to link straight to digital collections best suited to your area of study.

Use the Find Databases option at the top of Primo. Please remember to log in with your username and password.

You can search for specific databases or you can filter by subject area. It is also possible to browse an alphabetical listing of all databases available.

Once you have identified an academic database that you wish to search, simply click on its name to link out to it. You may be asked to log in again.

Please note that it is not possible to search across multiple databases at once using the Find Databases option. You must link out to each database that you are interested in and search them individually. This method will allow you to perform the most powerful searches available to you.

For further guidance on using Primo please see our short videos on its various features. For guidance on accessing online resources, particularly when off campus, please see our Library Guide on Accessing Electronic Information and the Toolkit’s section on Remote Access.

Ewan Grant, e.grant@abdn.ac.uk

VLeBooks: changes to platform

Posted on June 14, 2019 by eleni boro

VleBooks

Askews & Holts Library Services have designed a new online reader for their enhanced VLeBooks platform; this will be launched this summer. There are many great new features available with the new reader including highlighting, advanced note options, improved accessibility and, the reader will be mobile-responsive.

Important note:
The migration will take place in August and even though our access is not affected by this change, users are required to export any notes stored on the current reader, otherwise these notes will be lost. Users on the current platform are asked to export their notes by Friday 12^th July. Bookshelves will also be reset and users are kindly asked to record details of any titles they may wish to add onto their new bookshelf.

Search our digital collections using Find Databases on Primo

Posted on February 13, 2019 by ewanag

Use the Find Databases option at the top of Primo. Please remember to login with your username and password.

You can search for specific databases or you can filter by subject area. It is also possible to browse an alphabetical listing of all databases available.

Once you have identified an academic database that you wish to search simply click on its name to link out to it. You may be asked to log in again.

Please note that it is not possible to search across multiple databases at once using this Find Databases option. You must link out to each database that you are interested in and search them individually. This method will allow you to perform the most powerful searches available to you.

Ewan Grant, e.grant@abdn.ac.uk

PhD Literature Searching workshops open for booking

Posted on January 30, 2019 by ewanag

As you begin, or continue, your PhD it is important that you feel confident that you are locating and managing all the literature and information you require to achieve your research aims. For researchers like yourself the University’s Library Service is here to support you.

We are running a short series of Information Skills Workshops in February 2019 which will help you understand the library resources available to you as researchers here at the University of Aberdeen, and how to get the best out of them. Read on for further information on the workshops. To book workshops visit www.abdn.ac.uk/coursebooking and look for Library Information Skills classes.

There are three workshops on offer, each lasting two hours:

Literature searching – Part 1: Getting started
Literature searching – Part 2: Using databases
Literature searching – Part 3: Managing your references using RefWorks

Across the three workshops we will look at:

Planning your search
Looking for books: using Primo and E-books
Databases of academic literature
Getting the best out of Google
Managing your references with RefWorks
Formatting Word documents with in-text citations and bibliographies

Feedback from those who have previously attended these sessions have been positive and they highlight how after attending they felt better equipped to find and manage the materials they need for research. One quote from a previous attendee nicely sums up what we are aiming for with these sessions:

“I will definitely be searching smarter than before”

Our aim is that after you attend you will also leave feeling this way.

To find out more, and to book onto the different workshops please visit www.abdn.ac.uk/coursebooking and look for Information Skills classes. We look forward to seeing you at the workshops.

In the meantime, do not forget that Library staff are always here to help with any information needs that you may have. Visit our website for further information on our services.

Library Skills workshops to help you Find it Fast!

Posted on January 15, 2019 by eleni boro

fif front slide cropped.fw

These are our Find it Fast! workshops, and they will be running between January 22 and February 6 to help all undergraduate and taught postgraduate students navigate the library landscape, which can at times seem filled with so much choice.

The workshops are held over lunch time in The Sir Duncan Rice Library and are a great introduction to the resources we provide, and the ways in which you can make best use of them. They cover:

using Primo, our online resource discovery tool for locating physical and electronic resources
how to search for the hundreds of thousands of electronic books which we have access to
using Google cleverly to get you to the information you need more quickly
using the many online databases which we subscribe to. They contain important resources which you just cannot find by searching in Google!
how to manage your references correctly when writing assignments to ensure that you do not fall into the trap of plagiarism

Invest one hour of your time over lunch to learn tips and techniques that will repay you with time saved when searching for the materials you need for assignments and exams.