Category Archives: Library
New research students: getting started
FAQ: I am a new research student and the next induction week is some time away. What do I need to know now?
First of all – welcome to the University of Northampton! There are plenty of people here to help you get started with your research – your supervisor of course, but also a number of people in the Graduate School and the Library. If you have any questions, please don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Your top priority will be to make sure that you can access the university computer network and the various services that it offers. The checklist for new research students elsewhere on the Research Support Hub (this blog) describes what you need to do to achieve this.
Now that you have all the right login details you should be able to find all the key information you need about being a research student at Northampton.
University ISBNs
Did you know that the University of Northampton is registered as a publisher for the purposes of allocating ISBNs to monographs produced by members of the University?
Some of the books we have published include:
- From Priory Cottage to Park Campus: The story of occupational therapy education in Northampton by Jane Evans
- Look at me and Smile: Short stories and personal reflections from patients, service users and carers by Linda Lilley and Sue Allen
- Love British Books 2013 by Paul Middleton and Carolyn Puzzovio
- Winter growing fields: landscape and estrangement by Andrew Langford
Read on to find out how you can apply for an ISBN for your work.
PGR student induction: Making the most of the library
Thank you to all the new research students who worked so hard in today’s session in the library.
Given how many tools we covered in the morning, I thought it might be helpful to provide a list of these, with links, so you can revisit them later at your leisure. You’ll see that there are a few extra tools that were mentioned today but not explored.
We started by looking at university and external resources:
Conference: Research Data Management in Art and Design
Rachel Jillions of the University of the Arts London has just sent through details of this conference which might be of interest to researchers in Art and Design.
Research Data Management in Art and Design
Thursday 11th December
10:00-16:00
University of the Arts London is holding a one day conference on Research Data Management in Art and Design – ‘Where are we now?’
The conference will be an opportunity to learn about how data management is being addressed in the unique fields of Art and Design from the perspectives of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, University Research and Data Managers, and the Researchers themselves.
LLS Advisory Panel – new members wanted
LLS is reconvening this important group and it would be great to have representation from research students. The group meets online via a NILE forum so you can contribute as and when it suits you.
You don’t even have to contribute to every discussion – just add your opinions on things that matter to you. Only by hearing from research students can LLS ensure its services are meeting your needs.
Chris Powis, Head of Library and Learning Services, explains:
Researcher ‘help desks’ – Autumn 2014
This term’s dates and times are as follows: 
Avenue campus (in the library):
- Wednesday 29th October 10am – 12pm
- Monday 10th November 10am – 12pm
- Wednesday 26th November 2.30 – 4.30pm (Update 20/11/14: Please note change of time)
- Monday 9th December 2 – 4pm
Park campus (in the library):
- Thursday 16th October 2 – 4pm
- Tuesday 4th November 10am – 12pm
- Wednesday 19th November 10am – 12pm
- Tuesday 2nd December 2pm – 4pm
- Monday 15th December 10am – 12pm
New resource for marketing: WARC
The library has just purchased WARC, a database of brand case studies, campaign videos, articles and trends.
Over 8500 WARC case studies can be searched by industry sector, country, region, campaign objective, media and more. Articles and research papers are grouped into 80+ topics ranging from alcoholic drinks to utilities and WARC guides include company profiles, best practice articles and briefings on communications and branding.
Revamped A-Z list of databases
Those of you who prefer to access the library’s electronic databases directly via their native interfaces may be interested to know that the library’s A-Z list of databases has had something of a makeover.
The original alphabetically arranged list is still there, but now you can filter the list by resource name. There is also a new ‘Subjects & categories‘ classification so it is easier to find the most appropriate resources for your discipline.
New FOI exemption for research information
Phil Oakman, the University Records Manager, has just drawn my attention to the new research exemption in the Freedom of Information Act which came into force on 1st October.
The Act states:
“Information obtained in the course of, or derived from, a programme of research is exempt information if:
10 ways that PhD students can use Twitter
Here’s an interesting blog post from the University of Warwick…
To find out what other research students are discussing then try searching Twitter for one of these hashtags: #phdchat; #phdadvice; #phd; #acwri; #phdforum or #gradchat.
If you haven’t used Twitter before then there is plenty of help to get you started.
Image credit: By David Ferreira [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
UON Graduate School Blog 