Author Archives: Lee Snook

About Lee Snook

Library Liaison Team

Digitization Projects Registry – US materials

logo

The Digitization Projects Registry is a listing of digitization projects undertaken by libraries, U.S. Government agencies, and non-profit institutions with a goal to increase access to historical U.S. Government publications that were previously only available in print format.

As well as listing key information about each project, a link is included to the digitized content, making access to this information possible to a much wider audience.

You can search or browse for content which is grouped across the following topic areas:

  • Arts & Humanities
  • Business & Economy
  • General Interest
  • Legal & Regulatory
  • Natural Sciences &  Mathematics
  • Social Sciences
  • Technology & Applied Sciences

A selection of links to some of the projects in the Registry are listed below,  to give you a flavour of the kind of content you can discover.

America at War 1941-1945

Everglades Digital Library 

Germany under reconstruction

Public Papers of the Presidents of the Unites States

Get insights and more into Human Rights Law with RightsInfo

rightsinfo-logoThe RightsInfo website was launched in 2015. It makes great use of inforgraphics and social media to share clear and reliable human rights information.  The project is the brainchild of leading barrister Adam Wagner, founder of the acclaimed UK Human Rights Blog.

As explained on RightsInfo 
website:

“Human rights in the UK have an image problem. The public debate is based on misinformation and lack of understanding. Laws and judgments are aimed at specialists. This means that most people are ambivalent or negative towards human rights.

That is where RightsInfo comes in. We believe there is huge potential to do a better job at explaining why human rights matter and how they can change people’s lives. RightsInfo is about using social media to find new ways to talk about and deliver human rights stories and information.”

Take a look at this short video to learn more or have a browse around the site.  You can keep up to date via Twitter and Facebook too.

Introducing the World Treaty Library

WTLThe University has access to the World Treaty Library via Hein Online.  You can access it via the library catalogue or the Electronic Library.

Here is a flavour of this great new resource:

 “Various efforts have been put forth over the past decades to create a universal collection of all the treaties of the world. We have created a solution. Now for the first time, through the cooperation of Tufts University, Brill Publishing, the United Nations, and various others, you will be able to search across all the major treaties in the world in one database.

We are pleased to present HeinOnline’s World Treaty Library. This monumental collection brings together works from Rohn, Dumont, Wiktor, and Martens to create the richest collection of world treaties ever available, covering the time period from 1648 to the present.

All together more than 180,000 treaty records have been identified. Through in-depth indexing of all the treaties and cross citation linking, we have created a powerhouse search tool. Use it to locate treaties using such fields as keyword, country, treaty number, treaty type, party, subject, and many more!”

To find out more about the content coverage and how to search, see the quick reference guide, brochure or training video available via Hein.

Understanding Parliament

Parliamentparliament-uk-logo examines what the Government is doing, makes new laws, holds the power to set taxes and debates the issues of the day. The House of Commons and House of Lords each play an important role in Parliament’s work.

The workings and processes of Parliament can be difficult to understand at first.  However, the Parliament website is full of really useful information, guides, training materials and much more to help you build your knowledge and understanding.

You can find out how law is made, find out which are the key issues for the 2015 Parliament to debate and consider, plan a visit or take an online tour, find out how you engage with Parliament as well as delve into many more aspects of Parliamentary business.

Take some time to explore the Parliamentary website to find out how it can help with your learning or research.  You can also contact various Parliamentary departments and staff contacts direct if you need further assistance.

Looking for some exam practice?

Screenshot of exam papers database

Past exam papers are a great resource if you want to practice your exam technique by trying out some sample questions.  It is also useful to view papers in order to become familiar with their layout and instructions, so that the process is not a mystery on exam day.

A vast selection of past exam papers are available online from the University of Exeter Past Exam Paper Archive.  Just login with your usual IT Services username and password for access.

You can browse the collection by College, Module Code or Title of examination and then select the year you wish to view. Papers from 2004/5 – 2013/13 are available.  You will need the Adobe Reader software to view the exam papers which are PDF files.  This is available on all University IT clusters or can be downloaded for free to personal devices.

The Library wishes all students the very best of luck in their examinations.

 

 

Routledge Social Science: Free to view Monographs in February

Routledge catalogue

During February Routledge Research are making 300 titles from across the Social Sciences available to view online in their entirety for completely free.

Content includes:

Asian and Middle East Studies

  1. Asian History
  2. Central Asian, Russian & Eastern European Studies
  3. Chinese Studies
  4. Middle East Studies
  5. South Asian Studies

Business

  1. Marketing
  2. Organizational Studies
  3. Public and Consumer Studies
  4. Management
  5. Corporate Studies

Economics

  1. Economic Theory & Philosophy
  2. Environmental Economics
  3. History of Economic Thought
  4. Industrial Economics
  5. International Economics

Law

  1. Human Rights Law
  2. International Law
  3. Legal Theory
  4. Socio-Legal Studies
  5. Criminal Law and Criminology
  6. European Law

Military and Strategic Studies

  1. Critical Security
  2. International Security
  3. Security Studies
  4. Terrorism and Political Violence
  5. War and Conflict Studies

Politics

  1. Comparative Politics
  2. European Politics
  3. International Political Economy
  4. Political Philosophy
  5. Politics & International Relations

 

Use  the Routledge catalogue to find out more about the titles available to you.

Using this catalogue you can:

  • View all titles in their entirety for Free by clicking the blue View Inside this Book button located on every book detail page.
  • Bring up the full details for every book, including blurbs, table of contents, author bios and reviews
  • Save books to your booklist and email to friends or colleagues or save as a spreadsheet for your reference
 
Remember all titles are free to view just for the month of February so make the most of them.

 

Ready Text moves to Forum Library

Forum_EntranceOn the 1st June 2012, the Ready Text Collection  which has been temporarily housed in the Law library in the Amory Building , will move to the Forum Library.  It will be available in the Express Collections area which is accessed from the main entrance, to the left of the Library Reception Desk. 

The Temporary Reserve Collections supporting Law and Arabic will also move into the Express collections area. 

 Books will be unavailable for a short period only as they transfer between libraries.  The move has been scheduled for after the examination period in order to minimise disruption.

Law Library Move

lawThe Lasok Law Library is moving to the new Forum Library during 29th May – 6th June 2012.  This move has been timed to coincide with the end of the Law examination period which means that law collections will remain available to law students in Amory for the duration of their exams.

The Law Library will remain open throughout the moves and can continue to be used as study space.  However, owing to the disruption of the collection moves, it is recommended that students or staff who require quiet or silent study or research space, use an alternative study space location, during this period.

Law materials will be unavailable for a short transit period only as it moves between libraries. Law staff and students will be able to borrow additional loan items and reference copies during the transfer period, if they need to secure continued access to a particular item during the move period.  Staff and students should speak with Law library staff in Amory in order to make these arrangements.

This represents a major change for users of the Law Library so if you have any questions about the move, please get in touch with , the Law Librarian, for more information or to arrange a tour of the new Lasok Law library.

A new website is being created to support law staff and students which will bring together information about the new physical Law Library arrangements, as well as the breadth of legal material that is available to users online.  A range of tours and training opportunities will also be scheduled for existing and new staff and studentsfor the new academic session.

 The vacated Law Library space in the Amory Building is being refurbished over the summer as part of a £1 million investment in the Amory Building which will include a new study centre on the ground floor, refurbished seminar rooms, an upgrade to the Parker Moot Room and new premises for the Law School.

History, English and Geography Reading Lists top the charts!

The Library’s Reading List team work closely with Colleges, with the aim of providing simple access to the resources student need via their ELE modules.
The digitised lists are produced using smart reading list software called Talis Aspire and provide quick web links to:

  • E-books
  • Digitised chapters and articles (where legal)
  • Catalogue references to printed resources

We are just emerging from our pilot phase, and have the aim of digitising all reading lists within ELE so that every students has the opportunity to access their key resources in this way.

Our reading list supplier, Talis Aspire,  has recently implemented statistical monitoring on our Reading List software and we are delighted that these highlight University of Exeter lists as achieving the  highest hit rate worldwide relative to the size of our reading list collection – no mean feat!

Humanities and Life Sciences lists form the top five lists for Exeter, all have been used over a 1000 times since January this year and HIH1410 – Understanding the Medieval & Early Modern Worlds  takes top place with a hugely impressive 3,123 visits since January.

From 1/01/12 – 20/03/12, the top 5 chart is:

HIH1410 – Understanding the Medieval & Early Modern Worlds – History – 3,123 visits
HIH3502 – Popular Rebellion in England 1381-1549 – History – 2,009 visits
EAS2083 – The Shock of the New – English – 1,525 visits
GEO3126 – The Geography of Monsters: Science, Society and Environmental Risk – Geography – 1,524 visits
HIH3595 – Sexuality in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Britain – History – 1,484 visits

If you are a module leader and would like the library to digitise your lists, please get in touch with your subject librarian for more information.

As you will appreciate, there are peaks in demand for this service around the start of each term, so get your list in early to guarantee your list will be ready for the new term.

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Today, the Encyclopaedia Britannica has announced that after 244 years, it will discontinue the 32-volume printed edition once its current inventory is gone.  But do not worry, they promise that ” the encyclopedia will live on – in bigger, more numerous, and more vibrant digital forms”.eb

Find out more about the change from the Britannica Blog or try out Britannica Online, which is entirely free for a full week beginning today.