Explore St Luke’s Library Competition – Prize Winner!

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This has been a big week for prize-giving in the Library – what a pleasure! Not only did Athicha Siriboonlamom, winner of the Library Quality Survey prize draw, collect her iPad at the Forum Library (full story here) but over at St Luke’s Library we were pleased to be able to meet the prize winner of our ‘Explore St Luke’s Library’ Competition.

This competition  involved identifying various mystery views around the Library and matching them to nearby book holdings. Our winner was Stephen Eftekhari, a postgraduate student in Education who said the competition was challenging but enjoyable. Stephen is a regular user of St Luke’s Library so his prize – a £25 voucher to spend in Waitrose which is handily located just across the road from St Luke’s Campus – should come in very handy! Well done Stephen!

Stephen was presented with his voucher by Roxanne Crabb, Forum Library supervisor (pictured) and Rachel Oakes, St Luke’s Library Supervisor.

Prize winner Stephen Eftekhari with Library Supervisor Roxanne Crabb

Although the competition is now finished, St Luke’s Library is still a great place to explore, and you don’t need to be registered on a St Luke’s-based course to use the facilities. So if you’ve never visited before why not take the opportunity to study there this term? Just a short walk from the city centre, St Luke’s Library offers:

  • Over 180 study spaces
  • A 24/7 swipe accessible PC cluster and study room
  • Bookable group rooms
  • AccessAbility Room
  • Designated quiet study space
  • A kitchen-style breakout area
  • A wide range of resources with specialisms in Education, Sports Sciences and Medicine
  • All set in a beautiful green campus environment with far reaching views across the city!

Find out more including opening times and how to get there on the St Luke’s Library webpages.

Library Quality Survey – Prize Winner!

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Athicha Siriboonlamom took part in the recent Library Quality Survey, and was very glad she did – she was selected in a random draw, and was the lucky winner of the iPad !

Aticha Siriboonlamom with her prize

Athicha, a postgraduate student in the Graduate School of Education and a frequent user of St Lukes library, was presented with her prize by Library Champions Sophie Hunter, Josephine Hornsey and Andrew Eckert.  Library Champions are a vital team of student volunteers who liaise with and promote the Library, as well as influencing Library purchasing in their subject area.

Aticha with Library Champions Sophie Hunter, Josephine Hornsey and Andrew Eckert.

In her own words, Athicha summed up how she felt about the Library:  “St Lukes Library saved my life, especially when I had to complete my assignments and I couldn’t work at home.   The Library staff are really friendly and helpful.”

The Library was very grateful to everyone who completed the survey, which offers us the chance to really appreciate what our customers want most from us.  We are now working hard to make improvements, based on what you told us.  A summary of the results is available here.

Congratulations, Athicha – we hope you enjoy your new iPad!

Library Quality Survey 2012 – Results Available

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917 students and staff completed Exeter’s Library Quality Survey during November 2012.

The Library would like to extend its sincere thanks to all those who took part in this very important survey, and especially to those who took the time to leave some very detailed and useful comments for us to ponder over.

Your views really are very important to us, and we try hard to respond to requests and suggestions whenever we can.  This survey has given us an opportunity to understand, in depth, how our customers feel about the quality of the services we offer, and an opportunity for us to understand where we need to channel our efforts and resources to best meet their needs.

Through the Survey we have been able to identify:

What do you want most?

The ‘Top 5’ areas you consider most important are, in descending order:

  1. L5         The main texts and readings I need for my work.
  2. IC1       Making electronic resources accessible from my home or office.
  3. IC8       Print and/or electronic journal collections I require for my work.
  4. L2         Ease of use of electronic resources.
  5. IC4       The electronic information resources I need.

We’ve listened, and here are just some of the things we’re doing:

  • More Core Texts:
    • New £350k annual investment to greatly enhance core teaching collections, including an additional 7000+ e-books, 1100+ print books and 5 large online databases – so far!
  • Student-Friendly Loan Rules:
    • Revised loan period and fines policies for Express Collections and DVD collections, making them more student-friendly.  Express Collections will also be enhanced with more copies of core texts shortly.
  • Student-led Purchasing Policies:
    • ‘I want one of these!’ book suggestion scheme, and College-based ‘Library Champions’ (we’ve purchased everything recommended).
  • New Digitised Reading Lists:
    • New Digitised Reading Lists service direct into ELE modules, providing ‘one-stop-shop’ access to resources
  • More Study Space:
    • Your Forum Library now provides 750 seats (up from the original 400), rising to 1000 at peak exam time. This includes 90 silent study seats, 150 quiet study/individual study seats, 115 computers, 4 assistive study rooms, a new library courtyard, large comfy social learning spaces and 150 additional seasonal seats during exam times. All this adjacent to the full Forum facilities including the Student Service Centre, seminar rooms and cafe.
    • The phenomenal popularity of the Forum Library means that, even though there are now about twice as many study seats available than ever before, space remains at a premium at busy times.  In response, we will be adding even more seats shortly!
    • Opened in September 2012, the new Amory Study Centre offers a mix of quiet, group and silent study spaces, which together with the Sanctuary provides an additional 432 study spaces for Streatham Campus.
    • £10 million investment in the Exchange at Tremough has extended library and learning spaces with extended 24/7 opening.

Quiet Study Area in the Amory Study Centre

For a more in-depth look at survey results please see our webpages.

A Handy Hint to Help… Keep track of your Library Borrowing

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“Is there any way I can get a list of items from the Library I’ve previously borrowed and returned?”

This is a question Library staff hear quite a lot, and the answer is, yes there is: it’s called My Reading History. The bad news is it’s not automatic, it’s something you need to opt into. This is due to data protection issues. However, your borrowing history will be recorded from the moment you opt in onwards, so the sooner you do this the more useful it becomes.

How do I opt in?

  • To opt in, all you need to do is log-in to your Library record online, either via the Library tab on MyExeter or by clicking the patron record button on top right of the Library Catalogue screen.
  • Once you are logged in you will see five buttons to the right of the box with your name and details. Click on the one marked ‘My Reading History.’
  • If you have not already opted in to the scheme you will be informed that you have now reading history currently available and should see a box marked ‘opt in.’ Click on this.
  • Once you have opted in, logging in using the above method  and clicking on the ‘My Reading History’ button will bring up a list of all the items you have borrowed since you opted in. Clicking on the title of any of them will automatically link through to the full bibliographic details of that item as shown in the Library catalogue – this can be useful for last minute reference checking!
Click on the screenshot to view a larger version
  • Once you have a few titles collected in your Reading History list various options will become available to you, such as ‘Export Reading History’ which will allow you to email the list of references to yourself, or save them to a file.

If you have further questions about ‘My Reading History’ or would like a demonstration of how to opt in then please speak to a member of Library staff who will be happy to help you.

Having trouble with referencing your essays?

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Many students are unfamiliar with the conventions used to put in references in their essays. We know that it can confusing so here are some places you can look for help.

Try the online tutorial on referencing available under the Student resources tab at the top of ELE (the section on Undergraduate skills ).

The Library’s subject librarians can help you too. Have a look at the subject pages on the home page – each subject has a section on Information skills with details of all the main systems. Don’t forget that each College or discipline has its own preferred form of referencing so make sure you know which it is. You can find out more from your College handbook.

Although the rules look complicated to start with you can use computer programs and databases to help make life easier. When you find articles on our databases you will usually find all the information you need for your references and many of them provide ready-made citations.

It is a good idea to keep track of your references as you go along to save problems later. Try using referencing software to help you. One of the most popular services is EndNote, which is available on all the PC clusters, and EndNote Web, a free web version which you can sign up to online. The subject pages include details of EndNote and EndNote Web as well as some of the free sites, like Mendeley and Zotero if you want to try them out.

Library purchase request scheme

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A big thank you to everyone who has put in a suggestion to the Library ‘I want one of these’ scheme.  The following titles, suggested by you, are just a few of those that have been ordered this month!  If you are a student on a taught course and the library does not currently have a title you need for your course then please go to our Online form at IWOOT

 

Broaden your Library Horizons with SCONUL

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Calling all University Staff and Postgraduates!

Would it help your research to be able to access and even borrow books from other higher education libraries across the UK and Ireland?  Did you know a scheme exists to allow you to do this?

The Society of College, National and University Libraries or SCONUL aims to promote awareness of academic libraries and our role in supporting research and teaching As part of this they help foster collaboration and encourage reciprocal borrowing rights between member libraries.

What does this mean for you?

Members of staff or postgraduate student at the University of Exeter are entitled to apply for free SCONUL access to the Libraries of any other institutions who, like us, are also part of the scheme. This can get you through the door of institutions that are not open to public and in many cases SCONUL visitors are also allowed to enroll and borrow a limited number of books.

How do I get access?

  • You need to apply online via the SCONUL access webpage
  • Select your user category (e.g. Part Time Postgraduate) from the drop down list, then select ‘University of Exeter’ as your home institution.
  • The site will then display which Universities you are eligible to access. Click on ‘see results as a list’ to scroll through the drop down list, or click on the map tab and enter a postcode to search for accessible institutions in a particular area.
  • When you have found the details of an institution you want to visit click on ‘Apply for Access’ then fill in and submit the online form.
  • You will then receive two emails: the first is a “Library Access Application Notification” email confirming that your application is being processed. The second email should approve your request and welcome you to the SCONUL scheme.
  • Print out the second email and take this, along with your Exeter UniCard to each institution you have been approved to visit and staff there will enroll you.
  • The small print: you must abide by the regulations of any library you join under SCONUL Access. Please be aware they may not allow you to borrow from all of their collections (e.g. loan of periodicals or short loan items may not be possible). Additionally during the busiest periods – such as summer exam time – some institutions may restrict access to SCONUL users so it is worth checking with in advance them before travelling.

What about a full-time Undergraduates?

Borrowing access from other Libraries is unfortunately restricted to the following categories: University staff, postgraduates (taught or research) and students who are officially registered as part-time or distance learning students. However full-time undergraduates are entitled to apply for a Reference Only SCONUL card which could still give you vising access to many Libraries which would not otherwise be open to you. Please apply for a Reference card online, using the same procedure outlined above.

We hope many of you will want to take advantage of the SCONUL Access scheme and enjoy the  wider research opportunities it presents.

Where will your SCONUL travels take you?

 

Look how much we raised!

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Towards the end of last year the Library teamed up with the University’s RAG (Raising and Giving) society to help raise money for a number of local and international good causes including Isaac’s House, Devon Rape Crisis Service, Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children, Force Cancer Charity, Exeter Community Action, The Eddystone Trust and Cancer Research UK. On the Friday of RAG week we gave Library users the chance to donate any fines on their account to RAG charities rather than paying them in the usual way.

Thanks to the generosity of Exeter University Staff and Students we raised a grand total of £353.65 for RAG. Library Customer Services manager, Kathy Baro, was pleased to pass this amount to RAG Committee members during a handover at the Forum Library.

The Library’s Kathy Baro with committee members from RAG

Thanks to all who contributed by donating fines to RAG’s array of worthy causes.

For more information on future RAG fundraising ventures do check out their webpages.

Library funds students to travel

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The Library is delighted to announce that after a successful first round of Travel Bursary applications, we have offered funding to 19 students to enable them to visit other libraries and archives. All visits are in support of final year projects/dissertations: students were asked to apply, giving details of why the visit would benefit their studies and showing the support of a member of academic staff. The successful students are from all our campuses (Exeter and Cornwall) and are studying a range of subject areas, including History, English, Law, Politics, Geography and Sport & Health Sciences.

Applications are now invited from all eligible students for the current round of funding: the next deadline is Friday 1st March.

For further details, including what the bursary covers and how to apply, please see our Travel Bursaries webpage.

Mass Observation Online

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Mass Observation was founded in 1937 by three young men to study the everyday lives of ordinary people in Britain. It sought to bridge the gap between how the media represented public opinion and what ordinary people actually felt and thought. A team of observers recorded people’s behaviour and a panel of volunteer writers either kept diaries or replied to open-ended questionnaires. The material collected forms an important picture of everyday life, popular culture and ordinary people’s actions, attitudes and opinions from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Mass Observation Online includes file reports, photos, diaries, personal letters, surveys and more.

Topic collections include: the September 1946 exhibition held at the Victoria & Albert Museum “Britain Can Make It”; Household Budgeting; Capital Punishment; Dreams; Drinking Habits; Famous Persons; Film; Gambling; Juvenile Delinquency; Korea; Peace & the Public; Posters; Radio Listening; Reading Habits; Religion; Smoking Habits; Victory Celebrations; and World Outlook.

The most famous of the diaries in the archive is Nella Last’s War which was first published in 1981 and gained national recognition following its adaptation for TV in 2006 as Housewife, 49, by Victoria Wood.

The Mass Observation archive is kept at the University of Sussex but most of the material is available to you via Mass Observation Online via the Electronic Library and the library catalogue.

The content of this archive is extensive, the level of description enthralling and it will fascinate scholars across the disciplines as well as the plain old curious amongst us.

Don’t forget that if you need help using this resource or any other library resources then your Subject Librarian will be happy to help. Find out more on our Subject Guides page.