Tag Archives: online

Walk-In Users service

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Did you know that the Library offers a Walk-In Users service, which allows members of the public to access electronic resources where licensing conditions permit? There are dedicated computer terminals located on Floor 1 and 2 of the Sir Duncan Rice Library.  There is no access off-campus.

This service is only available when library staff are on duty and you are expected to do the searching yourself. Printing is not possible so bring your own memory stick to download material within copyright regulations.

What you can do What you cannot do Who can use the service
The resources may be used for educational purposes only Use for commercial or business purposes is strictly forbidden Anyone who is not currently a registered student or employee of the University
Information may be saved to a memory stick Printing is not possible This can be a member of the public, a teacher or senior pupil from a local school
Within copyright law it is permissible to download 1 article from a journal issue or 1 chapter from a book Multiple downloading is illegal and is carefully monitored by the database provider An honorary or ex-member of University staff who has no University network access
Pass on the information to other users
Access other areas of the university network

How to use this service

To register for the service, please visit The Sir Duncan Rice Library. You will need to provide photographic ID e.g. passport and verification of your address e.g. utility bill.  You will be asked to read and sign Terms and Conditions and complete a registration form.  An access pass will be issued and this, along with the membership, is renewable.

To use the service, please go to the Information Desk on the First Floor to sign in and you will be issued with a Smartcard to operate the dedicated Walk-In Users PCs.

What is available?

Access to many of the Library’s extensive range of full-text and bibliographic databases is available. Availability and access varies and please be aware that access is subject to strict licensing permissions and copyright law.  The databases and e-journals are organised under the following headings:

  • Cross Disciplinary
  • Business, Law and Social Sciences
  • Humanities
  • Sciences

Help screens are available and many of the resources have tutorials.

Please follow the link detailed below for brief tips to use in conjunction with the tutorials on how to make the most out of them, along with full details of Terms and Conditions:

http://www.abdn.ac.uk/library/using-libraries/the-sir-duncan-rice-library-338.php#panel356

This link also provides details of the various suppliers and a brief summary of what they provide.

Any questions about this service should be directed to:

Email: library@abdn.ac.uk or Tel.: 01224 273330

Mhorag Watson, mhorag.watson@abdn.ac.uk

 

 

Library Skills workshops to help you Find it Fast!

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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.

These are our Find it Fast! workshops, and they will be running between October 16 and November 8 to help all undergraduate and taught postgraduate students navigate the library landscape, which can at times seem filled with so much choice.

They 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.

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.

Information Skills workshops for PhD researchers still open for booking

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The Library is here to help all postgraduate researchers as they begin, or continue their in-depth research with a series of Information Skills Workshops designed to their needs. With so much academic literature available through the University of Aberdeen, these workshops will give you the confidence and skills to locate and manage the materials you need.

The workshops will take place in April 2018 and will 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. For further information and to book a place, visit
www.abdn.ac.uk/coursebooking and look for Library Information Skills classes.

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

  • Literature searching – Part 1: Getting started (16th & 17th of April)
  • Literature searching – Part 2: Using databases (18th of April)
  • Literature searching – Part 3: Managing your references using RefWorks* (19th of April)

Across the 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

 *IMPORTANT NOTE: The workshop focusing on the management of references (Part 3) 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.

We look forward to seeing you at the workshops.

Literary treasures online from the British Library

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Here’s an amazing new treasure trove for literature lovers from the British Library, via the Guardian: 1,200 of its “greatest literary treasures” online in what is expected to become the biggest digital English literature resource, from the earliest known writing of Charlotte Brontë, a charmingly illustrated short story the Villette author penned for her little sister Anne, to Jane Austen’s wry recording of an acquaintance’s dismissal of Pride and Prejudice as “downright nonsense.

Enjoy!