Author Archives: Susan Abbott

Girls and Boys in Storyland

On 3 April 2012, two exhibitions of early children’s literature will launch at Exeter Central Library and the University of Exeter’s Research Commons, Old Library. Girls and Boys in Storyland is a joint project, funded by South West Regional Library Service (SWRLS) to promote the Special Collections of children’s literature at Exeter Central and the University.

Further information is available on the exhibitions blog: http://girlsandboysinstoryland.wordpress.com/

On 3 April, to celebrate the launch and coincide with the start of the Easter holidays, there will be a drop-in workshop at Exeter Central Library from 10.00-15.00, run by Double Elephant. Come along and take a look at the exhibition, then create a monoprint inspired by one of the illustrations on display. The workshop is a family activity, suitable for children aged 4 and upwards.  There will also be a series of talks and tours of the exhibitions.

For further details about dates and times, and to book a place at one of these, please visit: http://www.girlsandboysinstoryland.eventbrite.co.uk/ .  The exhibitions will give you a chance to see how boys and girls were depicted in rhymes, stories and illustrations from the nineteenth- and early-twentieth centuries. They run until 31 May 2012. Please do visit and spread the word to anyone you think may be interested!

Leaflet Front

Get to Know Your Subject Librarians

Group - Large but croppedIf you need help with finding resources either in the library or online then the person to turn to is your Subject Librarian.

If you are not sure who they are and what they do then you can watch this short video to find out or go to the “Getting Help” page, use the drop down menu to select your subject.  All their contact details are there and they are happy to meet you or answer queries by phone or e-mail.

So don’t struggle, contact your librarian today.

JISC MediaHub Gets Even Better

JISC MediaFuente Georginas 1Hub is a single platform which has hundreds of thousands of video, audio clips and digital images  from many collections like the Royal Geographical Society, ITN , the Getty Museum, Channel 4 News and Wellcome Film.

A complete list of those available is here – Collections inside JISC MediaHub

This collection has recently expanded to include :

The R
oyal Mail Film Classics collection which includes world-famous documentaries such as Night Mail and cinematic experiments such as A Colour Box. The collection covers subjects ranging across transport and communications in Britain and abroad; the home front during the Second World War, British industries, from fishing to mining, the nation’s health – and developments in the Post Office service itself.

Also the Culture Grid Collection which brings together a wide range of collections from independent UK organisations.

Furthermore there have also been a lot of new user features added to this great collection, find out more about these online here.

To access this service go to the Electronic Library,  then using the drop down menu – Choose Resource Type – Audio Visual Resources and find the collection in the list.  For help using the collection there is a .pdf guide or contact your subject Librarian.

iPad Presentation

Presentation
The winner of our LibQual survey competition was today presented with her prize.

Jessica Gardner gave Meimei Wang a new iPad 2 in a brief ceremony in the Main Library today.

Well done Meimei !

Pictured left :  Stephen Mossop [Head of Customer Services], Meimei Wang [INTO student] and Jessica Gardner [Head of Library and Research Support]

Support the Fair VAT Campaign

lns epetition logoUniversities and colleges are obliged to pay VAT at the full standard rate, which is currently 20%, on their subscriptions to electronic academic journals, books, newspapers and magazines.

We believe that they should be treated in the same way for VAT as printed publications. Printed versions of the same resources are zero-rated in the UK; in the rest of Europe VAT is applied at the reduced rate, currently 5%.

This extra VAT burden means that libraries have less to spend on electronic publications making it very difficult for us to move towards e-provision.

Electronic publications are greener, save valuable storage space and offer increased availability for the majority of users.

Sign the e-petition to urge our Government to do one of two things;

  1. Introduce zero-rated VAT on electronic academic publications.
  2. Or, if it is not feasible to add electronic publications to the list of zero-rated goods then to follow other European countries and apply VAT at the reduced rate now and consider reducing this to 0% as soon as possible.

We need 100,000 signatures for the topic to be debated in the House of Commons. Anyone can sign:

• You will need to provide your name, address and email
• You can choose to receive email updates from the government about the e-petition

Sign here http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/28226

Calling All Researchers !

Research Images Comp

Images of Research is an exciting new competition that is open to all postgraduate researchers (MPhil, PhD and professional doctorates).

It aims to be an innovative way to highlight the wide range of research that is taking place at the University of Exeter.

It is an opportunity to look at postgraduate research in a new and exciting way.

There are two main aims of the event:

Welcome to the Library News Blog

Welcome one and all to our Library News Blog.  We have decided to take the plunge into the world of blogging to keep our users informed of current and upcoming events, changes and information about the Library here at the University of Exeter.

Why Now?

Because we feel the library space and its services are changing fast at the moment with the upcoming launch of the Forum.  Whilst we can communicate via Twitter, digital screens and when you come and talk to us we feel sometimes you may need more information than 140 characters and here we can leave this information for you to search when you need to.

We actually do want to hear from you

Honestly we welcome comments and feedback either via this blog, our Twitter account, our Comments Cards or face to face.  Good and bad its great to know – and you could help to contribute to our continual growth and improvement.