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Dissertation Festival March 2021
Dissertation Festival : Mon 8 March – Fri 19 March 2021
- Do you want to find out more about the library resources available to support your dissertation question?
- Are you interested in learning how to manage the bibliographic and research data you’ve found?
Join us in a fortnight of online events and find out what the Library can do for you to help you succeed with your dissertation.
- Make your dissertation something special : find out about the fantastic collections available at the Centre for Research Collections
- Discover the full range of digital resources that you can access via the University
- Take the first steps to learn new skills in managing your bibliographic references and your research data
Find out more at : https://edinburgh-uk.libguides.com/dissertation
For more programme details see : https://edinburgh-uk.libguides.com/dissertation
Click & Collect service goes live!
The Click & Collect service is now available to all University staff and students. A maximum of 3 items can be requested at any one time.
Full details of how to request and collect items are provided on the Click & Collect web page.
You must request the item(s) you want through DiscoverEd, and you must pre-book a time to collect the item(s).
Webinars for your dissertation research!
Discovering ProQuest Primary Sources:
The Library is excited to offer you the opportunity to join the ProQuest training team for a series of seminars exploring our extensive Primary Source collection. In each 30-min tutorial, you will take a deep dive into key ProQuest resources and will learn the best search strategies, tips and tricks for getting the most relevant results for your research projects.
See upcoming events or explore the full schedule here:
https://go.proquest.com/primary-sources-training-2021
Discovering Primary Sources: Who was Sally Hemings?
Date/Time: 27th January – 11am GMT
Duration: 30 min
This session will concentrate on Sally Hemings, once an enslaved woman owned by Thomas Jefferson, and use Black Historical newspapers to investigate her story.
Historical Newspapers used for this webinar include: Atlanta Daily World, The Baltimore Afro-American, Chicago Defender, Los Angeles Sentinel, New York Amsterdam News, Norfolk Journal and Guide, Philadelphia Tribune, and Pittsburgh Courier.
Register here
Discovering Primary Sources: Reclaim the Night
Date/Time: 16th February – 11am GMT
Duration: 30 min
This session will concentrate on Reclaim the Night, a movement begun in 1977 as a response to the Yorkshire Ripper murders.
Historical Newspapers used for this webinar include: The Guardian and The Observer, The New York Times, The Times of India, and other newspaper archives held offered by ProQuest.
Register here
Discovering Primary Sources: Decolonisation in Parliamentary Sources
Date/Time: 10th March – 11am GMT
Duration: 30 min
This session will delve into United Kingdom Parliamentary Papers and illustrate search strategies to find resources related to colonial history, specifically to do with the Atlantic Charter and decolonisation of Ghana.
Primary Sources used for this webinar include: all collections available in United Kingdom Parliamentary Papers.
Register here
Discovering Primary Sources: Birth Control in Periodicals
Date/Time: 31st March – 11am GMT
Duration: 30 min
This session will delve into how birth control has been used and discussed in periodicals since the early 20th century.
Primary Sources used for this webinar include: Periodical Archives Online, Periodical Index Online, the Vogue Archive, and Women’s Magazine Archive.
Register here
These seminars are free to attend. To book your place, please register via the links above or on this page:
https://go.proquest.com/primary-sources-training-2021
Not every book can be an ebook
It is a sad fact universally acknowledged that unfortunately, not every print book in our collections or out there in the world is actually available as an ebook! So what can you do to source a digital copy of an essential book, when the library print collections are not accessible due to Lockdown rules?
Firstly, double check on DiscoverEd for the title you need. You can filter your search results by “online resource”.
Then consider whether the Scan & Deliver service could be useful, if you just need one chapter.
Consider using the Inter Library Loan service to get digitised journal articles or book chapters.
If you need a complete book, consider whether you can purchase a cheap second hand copy, eg using abebooks or another out of print book seller.
You could also try the various online archives of (usually out of print) books. Here is a list, in no particular order:
5: Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB)
7: OAPEN
8: Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
For more information about open access educational resources and advice, take a look at the University of Edinburgh Open.Ed resource.
You could also explore the digital collections of the British Library and the National Library of Scotland.
If you are feeling very stuck please do contact your Academic Support Librarian for help.
New Scan & Deliver service
Scan & Deliver Service
- The new Scan & Deliver Service will provide online access to scanned book chapters and journal articles within copyright limits, where these are not already available online.
- Extracts from print items at the Main Library, UCF and site libraries will be available for request.
- The service launched on Monday 18 January at 9.00am.
- Scan & Deliver requests will be placed via DiscoverEd. Please do not contact EdHelp to make Scan & Deliver requests.
- This digital service can be accessed by all staff and students whether they are in Edinburgh or not.
- Full information about how to use the service is available on the library website.
Dissertation resources and help
Planning your dissertation?
The IAD Study Hub has a handy section on dissertation planning: https://www.ed.ac.uk/institute-academic-development/study-hub/learning-resources/dissertations
The Academic Support Librarians have published a Dissertations LibGuide .
Look out for news coming soon on the library webpages and twitter about the next library Dissertations Festival, which is scheduled for March 2021, and will be an online fortnight of events and webinars to help you with your dissertation research.
You can find examples of previously published Edinburgh University dissertations and theses on the Edinburgh Research Archive (ERA): see https://era.ed.ac.uk/
You can get more guidance and learn more about referencing and citations from our Referencing Libguide, and from self-enroling on the LibSmart course on Learn.
You can search our dissertations databases for UK and international full text dissertations and theses here.
Important news about Semester 2 Library service 2021
Now that we are back in Lockdown due to the increasing Covid infection rate, the University Information Services Group has reviewed the opening of libraries across all campuses, and planned a revised opening programme.
The changes to the opening hours for our libraries have now been published at https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/library-museum-gallery/library-services-update-2020-21
ECA Library at Evolution House and the Art & Architecture Library at Minto House will close at 5.00pm on Friday 8th January 2021 and will remain closed until further notice. Only the Main Library (George Square) and the Medical and Veterinary Libraries will remain open for access to pre-booked study spaces, from Monday 11th January. Browsing and borrowing has been suspended. Please remember that the main message is STAY AT HOME, & STUDY FROM HOME.
The Library have launched a new Scan & Deliver service, which went live at 9.00am on Monday 18th January. This service will operate from DiscoverEd and all staff and students will be able to request scans from print books in our library collections that are not available as ebooks.
Students! Your chance to win £500!
The Centre for Research Collections in the Main Library is offering a prize of £500 to the student with the best collection of printed books or other written materials.
David Laing Book Collecting Prize: For the most enthusiastic student collector:
If you are a current student of the University of Edinburgh, and collect books (loosely defined; see below*), you should consider submitting an essay about your collection, to be in with a chance of winning £500 to spend on your collection.
The David Laing Student Book Collecting Prize is intended to encourage collecting by undergraduates and graduate students of the University by recognising a collection formed by a student. The winner will be decided based on the interest, originality, thoughtfulness and creativity of the collection and vision, enthusiasm and persistence of the collector. The age, size and monetary value of the collection will not be relevant criteria.
The collection must consist of not less than ten items with a theme. These may be printed or handwritten books, ephemera or any other written material.
The prize will be:
- A payment of £500 to the winner
- An allowance of £250 to choose a book for the University of Edinburgh’s Special Collections, to be selected with Special Collections staff
- Membership of the Friends of Edinburgh University Library.
- Entry to the national student book collecting prize, sponsored by the Antiquarian Booksellers Association.
- The winner will also be given the possibility of exhibiting a selection of his or her collection in the Centre for Research Collections.
The prize is offered in honour of David Laing (1793 -1878), the distinguished antiquarian, collector and librarian who bequeathed his important collection of manuscripts and other materials to the University of Edinburgh in 1878.
Applications for 2020-21 are now open – the closing date is 9.00am, Monday 18th January 2021. To apply please see the separate guidance document and application form.
Go to https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/library-museum-gallery/cultural-heritage-collections/crc/david-laing-prize for more info!
* What is a book?
For the purposes of the prize, a collection must have at its core physical material with writing on it, in some form, and the text must be significant to the reason it has been collected. The material may be printed, or handwritten, on any physical medium. It may be supplemented with material in other formats.
Examples:
Included: books; printed ephemera; written manuscripts; objects which use text to convey a message, e.g. packaging, signs, games.
Excluded: art which consists solely of images; objects without text, or where it is incidental to the interest of the object to the collection
Digital Scholarship LibGuide published
The Academic Support Librarian team recently published a new guide to digital scholarship and digital humanities, to assist all students in understanding and navigating this area of investigation.
You can access the guide here.
Online exhibitions and fairs launch the festive season!
Tuesday 1st December 2020:
Today sees the launch online of the Visual Arts Scotland virtual exhibition, F L O W, their first online VAS Members’ winter show, running online throughout December 2020 and January 2021. Exhibitors include artist’s book makers who have appeared in exhibitions at ECA Library, and/or who have artist’s books in our ECA Library Artists’ Books Collection, for example Entropie Books, by Barbara Morton, and works by Karen Gabbitas, an ECA Alumna, and Susie Leiper, a former RSA Open annual ECA Library Award winner.
In addition, the traditional University of Edinburgh Christmas Charity Craft Fair is going virtual between 1st and 20th December. Many ECA students and graduates are involved, as well as our talented and creative University staff.
Visit our virtual exhibition hall at www.christmasfair.sps.ed.ac.uk, where you can find gifts big and small to make Christmas extra special!
This year, the Fair is in support of Edinburgh and Lothians Health Foundation, helping in the fight against Covid-19.