Category Archives: Library
Resource trial: Photographic Youth Music Culture Archive
The Library has just arranged trial access to the Photographic Youth Music Culture Archive (PYMCA). This extensive resource comprises over 100,000 images of social history and youth culture covering ” fashion, music, art, design, travel, genres, social issues, lifestyles, sports, nightlife, environments, humour and much much more…”. It also includes text based materials.
The free trial lasts until the end of November.
Meeting funders’ open access requirements – your views needed
Would you like to be submitted to the next REF?
Are you likely to bid for Research Council funding?
If the answer to either of those questions is ‘Yes’ then you may already know that you will be expected to publish your research articles, and maybe even your data, in an ‘open access’ manner (HEFCE, RCUK) .
But do you know how to go about doing this? Do you have any concerns about it? Do you need any help?
Data Protection and research data: Q&A
FAQ: How can I be sure that my research does not contravene Data protection law?
JISC Legal have just published a useful set of questions and answers on Data Protection and research data. Beginning with “What is ‘personal data’?”, the 24 questions cover topics such as “What are the basic rules for processing ‘personal data’?”, “What is a Subject Access Request?” and “Can I store my data in the Cloud?”.
If you are working with any type of personal data then these Q&As could be worth a look.
New resource: Business Source Premier
Business Source Premier is one of the leading databases for business subjects. A competitor product to ABI Global, it has both peer reviewed and trade journals; industry reports; company profiles, SWOT analyses and country economic reports.
Significantly, it provides access to the Harvard Business Review (not available from ABI Global) and McKinsey Quarterly.
We currently have trial access to Business Source Premier, but the library is planning to purchase the database later this year. Login arrangements will be the same.
You can access Business Source Premier via the library’s A-Z list of databases and using your regular university login. It is supplied by EBSCO so you will need to select it from their list.
Journal Citation Reports – 2013 data now available
Thomson Reuters have just released a new version of Journal Citation Reports (JCR), now including 2013 citation data. Please do take a look to see how your preferred journals have fared over the last year.
JCR lists impact factors and other bibliometrics for journals in the sciences and social sciences. For further information about the service please see my previous post.
You can access Journal Citation Reports via the A-Z list of databases, a university login is required.
Photo credit: HeppDesigns
New Education resources
Hannah Rose, Academic Librarian for Education, tells me that the British Education Index has just moved to the EBSCO platform. In addition, we also now have access to three other resources as part of our subscription:
- Child Development & Adolescent Studies
- Education Abstracts
- Educational Administration Abstracts
The new resources can be found in NELSON, or directly through the A-Z list of databases.
Researchers needing help with finding resources in Education subjects can contact Hannah directly; for other specialist subjects please contact your School’s Academic Librarian.
Searching for open access articles
FAQ: I am creating an online resource and would like to ensure that my reading list comprises only texts that are open access (OA). Where can I find suitable content?
There are plenty of open access articles and papers out there, if you know where to look. In the list below I have focused on text based materials rather than other resource types.
General repository search (all subjects):
- CORE – harvests a large number of repositories, claiming to index over 20 million articles.
- OAIster – now run by WorldCat – includes 30 million records, including text, audio, video, images and datasets.
- Digital Commons Network – has a colourful subject wheel to facilitate browsing; indexes repositories supported by Digital Commons software.
- OpenDOAR repository search and Registry of Open Access Repositories – OpenDOAR and ROAR are both registries of repositories; they each have a Google Custom Search box to enable searching of content.
Hugh Kearns’ books for researchers now in the library!
Earlier in the year the Graduate School were given the opportunity to host a day of workshops for Research Students and Supervisors called “The Seven Secrets of Successful Research Students”, led by Australian researcher developer, Hugh Kearns. Hugh regularly lectures at universities across the world, including Oxford, Harvard and Stanford and has published a number of books on the subject of completing a doctorate.
Two of his books will shortly be available in the University Library – “Seven Secrets of Highly Successful Research Students” and “Turbocharge your Writing”. Both books are packed full of tips and valuable recommendations, to help research students progress through their research degree.
Research active: Library and Learning Services conference
Featuring a keynote address from Professor Charles Oppenheim, recently appointed Visiting Professor to LLS, the second biennial LLS conference will showcase the research activity that underpins our services. It will be packed with new ideas to inform teaching and learning pedagogy and to facilitate engagement with innovative technologies.
Recognising that people have many other calls on their time, this year we’d like to encourage academic colleagues to attend either part or all of the day.
‘Help desk’ dates
New term, new dates for your diary:
At Avenue Library:
- Tuesday 6th May, 10am-12noon
- Thursday 22nd May, 2-4pm
- Friday 13th June, 10am-12noon
- Tuesday 24th June 10am-12noon
At Park Library:
- Friday 2nd May, 10am-12noon
- Monday 12th May, 2-4pm
- Tuesday 3rd June, 10am-12noon
- Thursday 19th June, 2-4pm
These sessions are intended to be ‘drop-in’ opportunities for any researcher to chat with the LLS research support team. Of course if you’d prefer to see us at any other time then just get in touch with either Miggie or Nick to arrange a suitable date.
Photo credit: HeppDesigns
UON Graduate School Blog 