Monday, 21 December 2009

Trial of Hispanic American Newspapers & Latin American Newspapers

We have arranged one month's trial of Hispanic American Newspapers & Latin American Newspapers from December 14th to January 14th. Access details are as follows:

DIRECTIONS FOR ACCESS VIA IP AUTHENTICATION:

After logging onto any Internet Service Provider and using any standard web browser (Firefox, Internet Explorer), type the following web address in lower-case letters with no spaces and no “www”:

http://infoweb.newsbank.com

Press ENTER or click OK. A “cookie” will be placed on the workstation the first time you log on (if enabled). *You should “bookmark” this address for future use.*

DIRECTIONS FOR REMOTE ACCESS VIA USERNAME AND PASSWORD:

After logging onto any Internet Service Provider and using any standard web browser (Firefox, Internet Explorer), type the following web address in lower-case letters with no spaces and no “www”:

http://infoweb.newsbank.com

Press ENTER and type the following information when prompted for a username and password:

Username: rf-61251

Password: rf-61251

Press ENTER or click OK. A “cookie” will be placed on the workstation the first time you log on (if enabled). You will not be prompted to type the username and password again. *You should “bookmark” this address for future use.*

Wednesday, 9 December 2009

Online Texts in Western European Literature

We have added a new resource to the e-Library Gateway. Online Texts in Western European Literature is a comprehensive gateway to collections of electronic texts in a range of European languages including: Catalan, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Norwegian, Old Norse and Icelandic, Portuguese, Romanian, Provençal, Spanish and Swedish. The Gateway provides links to each collection which are listed in order of size. It has been created by the Western European Section of the Association of Colleges and Research Libraries.

Friday, 27 November 2009

Thunderstorms sessions: week beginning 30th November

General session: Tuesday 1st December:

How to cite references in your assignments

This thunderstorm will show how to reference the material you find when you use printed sources and the internet.


Location: Thunderwall, Level 1, Hallward Library, 11am

Postgraduate Research session: Thursday 3rd December:

How to disseminate research


This thunderstorm will provide guidance on disseminating your research, including open access publishing.

Location: Thunderwall, Level 1, Hallward Library, 11am

Monday, 23 November 2009

Gallica

Gallica is a digital library of works in the public domaine from the collections of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France and its partner libraries. In addition to Gallia Classique which contains works from the middle ages through to the nineteenth century, there are a number of special collections relating to Voltaire, Proust and Zola. The collections are searchable and there is a facility to assemble your own digital library and tag your documents. A link has been added to the e-Library Gateway

Friday, 20 November 2009

Thunderstorms sessions: week beginning 23rd November

General session: Tuesday 24th November:
How to evaluate print and electronic information
This thunderstorm will provide the skills to judge the quality of the material you find in printed texts and through an internet search.

Location: Thunderwall, Level 1, Hallward Library, 11am

Postgraduate Research session: Thursday 26th November:
How to manage your research
This thunderstorm will provide guidance on managing your research using services such as EndNote and CiteULike

Location: Thunderwall, Level 1, Hallward Library, 11am

Trial of electronic version of (RHS) Bibliography of British and Irish History

From 1 January 2010 the Bibliography of British and Irish History (previously known as the Royal Historical Society Bibliography) will be integrated into the BREPOLiS platform as a subscription service, but a trial version is already available. We have signed up to this trial until 21st December.

In order to access the database, please use the eLibrary Gateway.

Monday, 16 November 2009

Thunderstorms sessions: week beginning 16th November

General session: Tuesday 17th November:
How to find quality information on the Internet
This thunderstorm will provide an introduction on how to search the internet effectively.

Location: Thunderwall, Level 1, Hallward Library, 11am

Postgraduate Research session: Thursday 19th November:
Collaborative research
This thunderstorm will provide guidance on identify services for collaborating with other researchers.

Location: Thunderwall, Level 1, Hallward Library, 11am

Friday, 6 November 2009

Thunderstorms sessions: week beginning 9th November

General session:
Tuesday 10th November: How to find full-text journal articles

This thunderstorm will show how to find and use full-text journal articles.

Location: Thunderwall, Level 1, Hallward Library, 11am

Postgraduate Research session:
Thursday 12th November: How to use Manuscripts and Archives

This thunderstorm will provide guidance on how to find and use material held in Manuscripts and Archives.

Location: Thunderwall, Level 1, Hallward Library, 11am

Irish Newspaper Archives

We have started a one month trial of the Irish Newspaper Archives.

username: Nottingham
Password: Nottingham

There are currently 25 titles, with many more scheduled for digitised. The archives of the Independent titles (Ireland’s Leading National Newspaper) run from its inception in 1904-2002; they will be fully up to date by year end.

Many more historically important titles are scheduled for completion by the year end. Next year the Lawerence Collection will be added which consists of 50,000 photographic images from late Victorian Ireland.

Wednesday, 4 November 2009

Ramus

We have a new journal subscription for Ramus. The first issues will be in the Hallward Library soon.

Monumenta Germaniae Historica

Monumenta Germaniae Historica is now available via the eLibrary Gateway.

This is the free digital version of Monumenta Germaniae Historica. It is a comprehensive series of sources for the study of German history from the end of the Roman Empire to 1500.

Thesaurus Linguae Graecae off-campus

Thesaurus Linguae Graecae is now available off-campus through the eLibrary Gateway.

Bach Digital

A new resource for music staff and students has been added to the e-Library Gateway. Bach Digital is a library of Johann Sebastian Bach's autographed manuscripts and original parts in high-resolution scans. In the Bach-Source catalog you will find information about all of Johann Sebastian Bach's works and their written transmission. The Library also covers other members of the Bach family. The site has been created by the Staatsbibliothek Zu Berlin and the Bach-Archiv Leipzig

Monday, 2 November 2009

Thunderstorms sessions: week beginning 2nd November

Undergraduate session: Tuesday 3rd November:
How to find journal articles
This thunderstorm will show how to use bibliographic electronic databases
Location: Thunderwall, Level 1, Hallward Library, 11am

Postgraduate session: Thursday 5th November:
How to use Special Collections

This thunderstorm will provide guidance on how to find and use material
held in Special Collections
Location: Thunderwall, Level 1, Hallward Library, 11am

Monday, 26 October 2009

Thunderstorms sessions: week beginning 26th October 2009

Undergraduate session: Tuesday 27th October:
How to find Newspapers (including Historic Collections)
This thunderstorm will provide an introduction to finding and using newspapers.
Location: Thunderwall, Level 1, Hallward Library, 11am
Postgraduate session: Thursday 29th October:
Beyond Google: using search engines effectively
This thunderstorm will provide advanced techniques for finding information through search engines.
Location: Thunderwall, Level 1, Hallward Library, 11am

Monday, 19 October 2009

Bridgeman Education: online database trial

We have a short trial of the Bridgeman Education database (from 19th October to November 2nd).

Bridgeman Education provides access to the visual culture of every civilization from Mesopotamia to Mesoamerica and every period from Prehistory to the present across continents and traditions.

For log-in details (Nottingham University staff only please!) email the Arts Team. Please also let us have your comments.

Thunderstorms sessions: week beginning 19th October 2009


Undergraduate session: Tuesday 20th October:

How to find e-books
This thunderstorm will provide an introduction to finding and using eBooks.

Location: Thunderwall, Level 1, Hallward Library, 11am


Postgraduate session: Thursday 22nd October:

How to search for citations
This thunderstorm will show how to search for information using existing citations.

Location: Thunderwall, Level 1, Hallward Library, 11am







Monday, 17 August 2009

New resource: International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest - 1500 to present

The Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest is now available online. It is a comprehensive work covering the history of protest and revolution over the past 500 years – throughout the modern era of mass movements.

Access to this resource is via the eLibrary Gateway.

Friday, 17 July 2009

Trial of image database

The digital provider Eduserv is in negotiation with The Corona Group for a number of their image collections to be made available to the academic community for the first time. The new service has a working title of Edupics.

To gauge interest in any potential agreement University and College staff are invited to view two collections: one specialising in cinema and TV and the other in fine art, history and ancient civilizations. At the moment what we can see is the existing commercial site, with over 200 000 captioned, high quality images. When the service for educational use is up and running the available images will be fully rights-cleared so all staff and students will be able to download images and use them in their academic presentations and dissertations.

The service is planned to grow to include new image channels for many key subject areas.

Edupics will be a subscription-based service, and is available now for a free 30 day trial and evaluation period. For log-in details (Nottingham University staff only please!) email the Arts Team. Please also let us have your comments.

Tuesday, 14 July 2009

New resource: British Periodicals Online

We have a new electronic resource that gives us access to a large collection of important eighteenth- and nineteenth-century periodicals. Go through the eLibrary Gateway to British Periodicals Online, where you will find good-quality digital images of the Cornhill, the Yellow Book, the Westminster Review and many more.

Friday, 10 July 2009

Library Book Suggestions form: new format / address

The Library Book Suggestions form has been amended. It now offers you the option to specify the number of copies required for Ordinary Loan and / or Short Loan (but please note that any Hallward Library DVD requests should always be entered as Short Loan). There is also a tick-box for those who want to have books delivered through the Books Direct service (NB: only those Departments / Schools that currently participate in this scheme are eligible to benefit from this option).

The form can be accessed via this Blog (see right-hand menu of web pages) or via the library website (choose the Using the Library link on the Services menu; the Book Suggestions link is located on the right-hand 'The Service' menu). For those who want to add it directly to their favourites, the URL is: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/is/uon/forms/book-suggestions.php

Monday, 6 July 2009

Codex Sinaiticus

Codex Sinaiticus is now available online at the British Library using Turning the Pages. You can see other sacred texts.

Codex is one of the two earliest Christian Bibles. (The other is the Codex Vaticanus in Rome.) Within its beautifully handwritten Greek text are the earliest surviving copy of the complete New Testament and the earliest and best copies of some of the Jewish scriptures, in the form that they were adopted by the Christian Church. As one of the earliest luxury codices to survive in large part, the Codex forms one of the most important landmarks in the history of the book.

Wednesday, 1 July 2009

ECCO Part 2

The world’s largest digital library of 18th century printed books grows even larger for UK academic community .

Following an agreement between JISC Collections and Gale, part of Cengage Learning, Part 2 of the ambitious digitisation project, Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO), is now available free of charge to all UK academic institutions currently subscribing to ECCO.

With 45,000 new titles selected from the English Short Title Catalogue, ECCO Part 2 adds close to seven million pages to the size of the collection - at no extra cost for subscribing institutions.

The new collection includes 96 new editions of Shakespeare, a unique edition of Allan Ramsay’s ‘Above Nine Hundred Scots Proverbs’ (Glasgow, 1781, from the Bodleian Library) and a new author (Joseph Fox) with his ‘Parish Clerk’s vade mecum’ arising from his work as parish clerk at St. Margaret’s, Westminster. As with Part 1, ECCO Part 2 includes almost 13,000 titles from British Library’s extensive holdings of eighteenth-century material – new additions include ‘A Catalogue of Vocal and Instrumental Music’ engraved, printed and sold by James Blundell in 1781 and a unique copy of ‘The Fairing: or, a Golden Toy’, a small illustrated book for children.

Joanna Innes, Fellow and Tutor in Modern History, Somerville College, Oxford University says, "ECCO is an amazingly rich resource. It puts a magnificent library of eighteenth-century printed material on the desktops of scholars and students. It vastly improves access; allows the scholar to discover new seams of material and gives students unprecedented access to masses of primary source material. And of course it supports new kinds of searching.
It is very well presented and in general easy to use."

First released in 2003 and originally acquired by JISC Collections in 2006, ECCO quickly established itself as the world’s largest digital library of the print book, with over 200,000 volumes of key 18th century works.

Since then, the English Short Title Catalogue has uncovered a wealth of valuable new material and new holdings of previously unavailable titles. The material in ECCO Part 2 includes both new titles that have been added to the ESTC as well as newly reported holdings information.

Scholars can delve into ancient and contemporary times, voyages and discoveries, biographies and memoirs in history and geography. They can also investigate how diseases were treated in medicine, look into science, technology and study other celebrated novelists, poets and playwrights in literature and language.

Those with a passion for social science and fine arts can look into international business, banking, taxation, music, painting, theatres and architecture. While those interested in law can follow its development throughout the British Empire. Institutions familiar with ECCO will find ECCO Part 2 has an increased emphasis on literature, social science and religion. Women’s writing is also well represented with more than 900 new works and editions by over 400 female authors including such influential writers as Mary Wollstonecraft and Elizabeth Inchbald. As with ECCO, most titles are in English, however scholars will also find material in French, German, Latin, Ancient Greek, Italian and Welsh. ECCO Part 2 offers the only copy in all ECCO of ‘Petit Code de la Raison Humaine’, given a London imprint, but probably printed in Paris, and dedicated to Benjamin Franklin (copy from the Library of Congress).

Institutions that already participate in the JISC Collections ECCO agreement will have access to ECCO Part 2 and the new interface on August 1st, 2009 with no further action required on their part.

Monday, 22 June 2009

Hallward Library in Second Life



Tammy Toffee Tigerfish visits level 3 of the Hallward Library in Second Life.

The "March of Time" Archives

HBO Archives is making complete episodes from The March of Time newsreel and documentary series, produced from 1935 to 1967, available for online viewing at its stock footage portal.
The award-winning series, produced by Time Inc., contains original footage shot in the 1930s through 1960s, with historic footage dating back to 1913. HBO Archives, launched in 2002, reintroduced The March of Time in 2007 and has been re-cataloging, restoring and transferring the original 35mm films to HD video. HBO Archives has also been developing additional The March of Time productions.

Direct to The March of Time Collection
NB: To view online you must register (takes about 2 minutes). Viewing the online video appears to be free.

Foreign Relations of the United States: new website for documentation

The Department of State is pleased to announce the official unveiling of the Office of the Historian’s new website: www.history.state.gov.

The new website boasts greater accessibility and searching within the Foreign Relations of the United States documentary series. It currently offers both textual and facsimile copies of Foreign Relations volumes from the Kennedy Administration through the Nixon-Ford administration. The Office plans to continue to digitize older volumes and eventually house all of the Foreign Relations volumes on its website. The website also contains updated sections on the history of the Department of State, biographies of notable diplomats, and an in-depth timeline of United States diplomatic milestones. The Office’s educational curriculum guides are also downloadable from the website. The Office hopes that through its enhanced presentation and organization, the new website will become the preeminent online resource for U.S. diplomatic history.

Friday, 19 June 2009

University of Nottingham collections receive 'Designation' status

University of Nottingham collections receive 'Designation' status

They offer insights into the mind of one of the twentieth century’s greatest authors and a glimpse into the family history and intrigue of some of Britain’s most influential aristocratic families. Now three collections in The University of Nottingham’s Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections have been recognised by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA).

Representatives of the MLA visited the University this week to tour the extensive archives housed on King’s Meadow Campus, and to present a plaque noting the Designation status of the University’s DH Lawrence, Portland of Welbeck and Newcastle of Clumber collections.

The MLA’s Designation Scheme identifies the pre-eminent collections of national and international importance held in England's non-national museums, libraries and archives, based on their quality and significance. These inspiring collections represent a vital part of our national cultural and artistic heritage. The Scheme was launched in 1997 and now recognises 125 collections held in museums, libraries and archives.

Read the full story here.

Friday, 12 June 2009

Avalon Project

The Avalon Project is the name of Yale Law School's digital library of Documents relating to Law, History and Diplomacy.

The project contains online electronic copies of documents dating back over the past two thousand years and so it possible to study the original text of not only famous documents such as the Magna Carta and the United States Bill of Rights, but also the text of less well known but significant documents which mark turning points in the history of law and rights, including those pertaining to Slavery, the Nuremberg Trials, the Cold War, Vietnam and 9/11.

Full details and access to the documents can be found at: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/default.asp

Monday, 1 June 2009

Annual library book recall for Academic Staff and Research Postgraduates

All library books due on 30th June 2009 must be returned or renewed during the month of June. Online renewals may be carried out on UNLOC at http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/unloc

BFI InView - Moving Images in the Public Sphere

This is a new web-based learning resource that has been funded by JISC. It provides a selection of material drawn from the rich film and television collections of the BFI National Archive, working with partner organisations. Users are able to access over 600 hours of full-length film and video material, search a database that provides descriptions and key technical information about each title, plus related documents, and essays by curators and experts putting the material in context. The project will continue to add new material and enhance the design and functionality of the website over the coming few months and you should check this site regularly to see what’s new. InView has been led by the BFI in collaboration with the following partners, who have given permission for material to be distributed to users:

The National Archives
Parliamentary Broadcasting Unit
BBC
Open Media

For more information and access to the collections, go to: https://www.bfi.org.uk/inview/

Thursday, 21 May 2009

Institute of Museum and Library Services: Digital Collections and Content

IMLS: Digital Collections and Content contains descriptions and access to a wealth of digital resources developed by IMLS grantees. Examples of what you will find here include: cookbooks from MSU's Feeding America, theater posters from Colorado State University, prints of samurai fighting demons from the Japanese Prints collection at the UCLA Hammer Museum, war posters from Minnesota's A Summons to Comradeship.
There's also a link to the Civil Rights Digital Library based at the University of Georgia which features 30 hours of imagery captured by Atlanta's WSB and Albany TV station WALB taken between 1948 and 1982. The Web site also is a portal: It links users to 75 other civil-rights-related sites. They range from WGBH in Boston to Emory University, from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History to the Nashville (Tenn.) Public Library.

To search the available collections, go to: http://imlsdcc.grainger.uiuc.edu/

Images of medieval manuscripts: Digital Scriptorium / CORSAIR

There are two databases that contain a wide range of digital images of medieval and renaissance manuscripts. They are:

The Digital Scriptorium is an image database of medieval and renaissance manuscripts that unites scattered resources from many institutions into an international tool for teaching and scholarly research. It bridges the gap between a diverse user community and the limited resources of libraries by means of sample imaging and extensive rather than intensive cataloguing.

Go to: http://www.scriptorium.columbia.edu/

CORSAIR: Thousands of digital images from The Pierpont Morgan Library’s renowned collection of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts are now available in CORSAIR. The collection spans some ten centuries of Western illumination, and contains manuscripts from all the major schools, including some of the great masterpieces of medieval manuscript art. The images and accompanying descriptions are the product of an extraordinary collaboration between the Library and the Index of Christian Art to photograph, digitize, and describe all significant illustrations within the Morgan’s medieval and Renaissance manuscripts. CORSAIR currently offers more than twenty thousand medieval images, and the number is constantly growing.

Go to: http://utu.morganlibrary.org/index.htm

Monday, 18 May 2009

Open Access publishing and dissemination

Concise guidance is now available for researchers wishing to take advantage of the Nottingham Central Fund to assist with the costs associated with open access publishing. It is available online. The guide is available from the Research Innovation Services web site.

Wednesday, 13 May 2009

New Electronic Resources added to eLibrary Gateway

Les Signets de la Bibliothèque nationale de France - Bookmarks from the National Library of France

An annotated selection of internet resources, useful for French language and cultural studies, chosen by librarians of the National Library of France.

The resources can be searched alphabetically or by theme. They cover a wide range of subjects including: philosophy and religion, social sciences, law, science and technology, arts, language and literature, history and geography. General works such as dictionaries and encyclopaedias etc. are also covered.

Lexilogos

Lexilogos is a key resource for language students. It provides access to a comprehensive set of tools for the study of world languages including French, German, Spanish, Russian and many other national and regional languages. Resources available include on-line dictionaries (mono-lingual and bi-lingual), encyclopaedias, translation sites, maps and atlases. There is also a multi-lingual keyboard facility which allows you to type a range of scripts including the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Monday, 11 May 2009

Ancient petitions, Henry III - James I

This website, part of the National Archives Documents Online service, provides free access to over 17,000 digital images of ancient petitions in the National Archives.

These petitions date from the reign of Henry III (1216-1272) to James I (1603-25), with concentrations in the reigns of Edward I (1272-1307), Edward II (1307-1327) and Edward III (1327-1377). Petitions represent appeals for the righting of wrongs and for favours from the king, but additionally reveal social, political and linguistic information.

The website allows this extensive collection to be searched by name, place, occupation, date and keywords, images may be downloaded.

The resource was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council under the Resource Enhancement Scheme.

Tuesday, 5 May 2009

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers

Chronicling America allows you to search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1910 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

At present it is possible to view newspaper pages from 1880 to 1910 from the following states: California, District of Columbia, Florida, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.

Ultimately, over a period of approximately 20 years, NDNP will create a national, digital resource of historically significant newspapers from all the states and U.S. territories published between 1836 and 1922. This searchable database will be permanently maintained at the Library of Congress (LC) and be freely accessible via the Internet. An accompanying national newspaper directory of bibliographic and holdings information on the website will direct users to newspaper titles available in all types of formats.

For further details and to search either the full-text papers or the Newspaper Directory, go to: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

Tuesday, 28 April 2009

SCOPUS

We now have access to SCOPUS, via UNLOC and the eLibrary Gateway.

Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database. It covers over 16,000 peer-reviewed journals from more than 4,000 publishers and over 1200 open access journals.

The subjects covered inlcude: Life Sciences, 3,400 titles; Health Sciences, 5,300 titles (including 100% coverage of Medline titles); Physical Sciences, 5,500 titles; Social Sciences, 2,850 titles.

Friday, 24 April 2009

World Digital Library

The World Digital Library has just been launched. Over time, it will make available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from cultures around the world, including manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, archi­tectural drawings, and other significant cultural materials. The objectives of the World Digital Library are to promote international and inter-cultural understanding and awareness, provide resources to educators, expand non-English and non-Western content on the Internet, and to contribute to scholarly research.

To see what's available, go to: http://www.wdl.org/en/

Thursday, 9 April 2009

Library of Congress on YouTube

The Library of Congress has begun to make its multimedia resources available via YouTube:

"We are starting with more than 70 videos, arranged in the following playlists: 2008 National Book Festival author presentations, the Books and Beyond author series, Journeys and Crossings (a series of curator discussions), “Westinghouse” industrial films from 1904, scholar discussions from the John W. Kluge Center, and the earliest movies made by Thomas Edison, including the first moving image ever made (curiously enough, a sneeze by a man named Fred Ott)."

To see what's available, go to: http://www.youtube.com/user/LibraryOfCongress

British Periodicals Online: e-journal collection

British Periodicals Online is now available. British Periodicals traces the development and growth of the periodical press in Britain from its origins in the seventeenth century through to the Victorian 'age of periodicals' and beyond. On completion this unique digital archive will consist of more than 460 periodical runs published from the 1680s to the 1930s, comprising six million keyword-searchable pages and forming an unrivalled record of more than two centuries of British history and culture.

Among the periodicals in included in British Periodicals are titles founded, edited or regularly contributed to by a host of important figures - Walter Bagehot, Aubrey Beardsley, Annie Besant, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Frances Power Cobbe, William Cobbett, Daniel Defoe, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Henry Fielding, Ford Madox Ford, Oliver Goldsmith, Leigh Hunt, Jerome K. Jerome, Samuel Johnson, Sir Roger L'Estrange, G. H. Lewes, Harriet Martineau, Edward Moore, John Morley, John Henry Newman, Margaret Oliphant, W. M. Rossetti, Sir Richard Steele and Tobias Smollett to name but a few. In addition to providing access to the original periodical versions of landmark texts like De Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, Carlyle's Sartor Resartus, Cobbett's Rural Rides, Bagehot's The English Constitution, Gaskell's North and South and Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, the collection offers new ways of exploring the inaccessible, neglected or forgotten writings that formed their original contexts. A wide array of different types of periodical are represented, from magisterial quarterlies and scholarly and professional organs through to coterie art periodicals, penny weeklies and illustrated family magazines.

Access to this resource is via the eLibrary Gateway.

Friday, 3 April 2009

Google / Bodleian Library: freely available public domain content

Google has announced the completion of their partnership with the Bodleian Library. “The bulk of the available public domain content” from the Bodleian Library is now freely available via Google Book Search, part of the five year book-scanning deal between Google and the Bodleian. Most of the books are from the 19th century. When found, the Bodleian books also offer downloadable PDF versions, meaning printed copies can be made via print-on-demand services such as Lulu.
As yet, the online Bodleian pre-1920 Catalogue does not link to Google Book Search results. So users of the Catalogue will have to open a new browser window and copy and paste to see if a book is on Google Book Search. What exact percentage of the pre-1920 Catalogue is actually available on Google is rather hazy, though. The original goal was to (non-destructively) scan one million books from the Bodleian. But the recent official Google blog post talks rather vaguely of somewhat less than that — “many hundreds of thousands”. Google Book Search is currently said to hold records for about 7 million books, with about 2.5 million of those offering viewable pages.

Thursday, 2 April 2009

National Security Archive

An independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University, the Archive collects and publishes declassified documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The Archive also serves as a repository of government records on a wide range of topics pertaining to the national security, foreign, intelligence, and economic policies of the United States.

The Archive obtains its materials through a variety of methods, including the Freedom of Information act, Mandatory Declassification Review, presidential paper collections, congressional records, and court testimony. Archive staff members systematically track U.S. government agencies and federal records repositories for documents that either have never been released before, or that help to shed light on the decision-making process of the U.S. government and provide the historical context underlying those decisions.

To see the range of documents available, go to:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/index.html

Wednesday, 25 March 2009

Irish Women Poets of the Romantic Period

Irish Women Poets of the Romantic Period is now available online through Alexander Street Press.

Irish Women Poets of the Romantic Period includes more than 80 volumes of poetry by approximately 50 Irish women writing between 1768 and 1842. Compiled and edited by Stephen Behrendt of the University of Nebraska, the database also offers numerous biographical and critical essays prepared by leading scholars specifically for the project. New content is added to the collection on a regular basis. It currently contains over 10,000 pages of poetry.

Irish Women Poets of the Romantic Period corrects a glaring omission in the literary history of the British Isles—and of Romanticism generally. Comprising more than eighty volumes of poetry by Irish women writing between 1768 and 1842, the database enables researchers to delve more deeply than ever into this significant, but largely underappreciated, body of work.

Most of the texts in the database exist in print in fewer than five libraries in the world, often locked away within archives. For nearly two centuries, the distinctive voices of such poets as Henrietta Battier, I. S. Anna Liddiard, Adelaide O’Keeffe, Elizabeth Ryves, and Melesina Trench have remained practically unheard. Irish Women Poets of the Romantic Period allows these women to speak to a new generation of students and scholars.

Along with the poetic texts are biographical and critical essays contributed by the foremost scholars in the field. Specially commissioned by Alexander Street, the essays provide valuable historical context and insightful literary analysis for student and professor alike. For some of the poets, the essays will be the only substantial scholarly assessments available. This combination of primary source content and original scholarly commentary—fully indexed and searchable together—makes Irish Women Poets of the Romantic Period an authoritative resource for anyone studying the history and literature of Ireland and Great Britain.

The collection is part of the Alexander Street Literature package, which enables researchers to explore the rich literary heritage of diverse cultures from across the globe.

Tuesday, 17 March 2009

BBC Archive

The BBC archive is now freely available to all. It contains themed collections of radio and TV programmes, documents and photographs covering the past 70 years. The collections include: Witnessing the Holocaust, Cuba and the Cold War, Genesis of Doctor Who, Music from the Mersey. It is being updated and enhanced on a regular basis.

Friday, 13 March 2009

Cambridge Histories Online

From today our 30 day trial to Cambridge Histories Online is now active.

To access the site, please click on Cambridge Histories Online.

Username: neil.smyth@nottingham.ac.uk
Password: neil.smyth

A unique online historical reference compendium, Cambridge Histories Online brings the world renowned Cambridge Histories texts to life.

This vast collection of leading scholarly content covers a diverse range of topics, containing over 250 volumes and equating to around 196,000 pages of unrivalled scholarship.

This established and essential component of the academic research library is now easily accessible online for the first time.

The Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives, 1960 to 1974: online database trial

Electronic publisher Alexander Street Press [has] announced the release of The Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives, 1960 to 1974, the first online collection of primary sources to document the key events, trends, and movements—as well as the look and feel of everyday life—in 1960s America.
The collection includes a wide range of interviews—with the Beatles, the Weathermen, commune members, and women beat writers—as well as memoirs and diaries from Vietnam War veterans, civil rights workers, feminists, and regular people caught up in the times. Included are autobiographies of Abbie Hoffman, Medgar Evers, Bill Graham, and Roger Mudd; Civil Rights Commission hearing transcripts; and books documenting the Sixties, such as Like a Rolling Stone, by Greil Marcus.

To Access the Free Trial Go To:http://asp6new.alexanderstreet.com/sixt/
Then, run a search, you’ll be asked for a login and password when you’re ready to access the content.
Login: bringback
Password: thesixties
The free trial is available until March 31, 2009

Monday, 9 March 2009

JURN: search engine for Arts & Humanities e-journals

JURN is a free academic search-engine, enabling keyword searching of the contents of more than 2,000 ejournals in the arts and humanities. Indexed journals are all hand-picked, and are selected because they offer at least some full-text content for free. Journals offering only tables-of-contents and/or abstracts are not indexed. JURN also searches: a great many fine-arts and literary online magazines; a small number of selected full-text conference proceedings; and free book chapters from selected university presses. JURN runs via a Google Custom Search, and thus offers users all the standard Google search modifiers. The service is free of advertising.

The address for the service is: http://jurn.org

Eating, drinking and noise in libraries

There is now a Q card for Eating, drinking and noise in libraries.

The Q card is available in the Hallward Library and online.

Friday, 27 February 2009

Cinema Image Gallery: online database trial



We have a one-month trial to the Cinema Image Gallery database, hosted by H.W.Wilson.
The Cinema Image Gallery is one of the world's finest and most comprehensive online collections of still images from movies, television and the entertainment industry. It presents the history of movie-making, still images of films in production, directors working on-set with the stars, set, costume and production design, as well as, hair and make-up shots and rare behind-the-scenes material. Cinema Image Gallery also offers an extensive TV stills archive, covering comedies, dramas, series, TV movies, game shows and thousands of pictures of the stars in this medium.

Cinema Image Gallery includes over 150,000 superior-quality images, along with a treasure-trove of over 4,000 poster art and lobby cards used to promote the movies.
Access to this resource is via the eLibrary Gateway.

Thursday, 26 February 2009

Medieval Studies: new web-based resources

Linguistic Atlas of Early Middle English, 1150-1325 (LAEME). LAEME aims to present information about the variation in space and time of linguistic forms found in early Middle English texts. We take early Middle English to cover the period ca. 1150-1325.

Go to http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/ihd/laeme1/laeme1.html for full details.

Catalogue of Digitized Medieval Manuscripts. The Catalogue of Digitized Medieval Manuscripts offers a simple and straightforward means to discover medieval manuscripts available on the web. Very much a work in progress, the database will initially provide links to hundreds of manuscripts, which we expect quickly to grow to thousands. Basic information about the manuscripts is fully searchable, and users can also browse through the complete contents of the database. As the project develops, a richer body of information for each manuscript, and the texts in these codices, will be provided, where available.

The address for this resource is:
http://manuscripts.cmrs.ucla.edu/

20th Century British History Essay Prize

Oxford Journals (of OUP) are inviting entries to their Twentieth Century British History’s annual Essay Prize. The aim of the TCBH Essay Prize is to encourage a high standard of scholarship amongst postgraduate research students. The competition is open to anyone currently registered for a higher research degree, or who completed one no earlier than October 2008.

The author of the winning essay will receive:

Please feel free to pass this message on to your colleagues and students.

The closing date for submissions is 15 October 2009. Full details and an Essay Prize entry form can be located at: http://www.oxfordjournals.org/page/3456/6

Friday, 20 February 2009

Grove Encyclopedia of Classical Art and Grove Art Online

We were asked to purchase the electronic version of the Grove Encyclopedia of Classical Art.

We already have access to Grove Art Online, including the Grove Encyclopedia of Classical Art, which Oxford University Press have confirmed.

The Grove Encyclopedia of Classical Art and Architecture in print is a spin-off title from the Grove Dictionary of Art (in print). The content of the Encyclopedia is basically all extracted from the Grove Dictionary of Art (34 volumes). The additional 100 entries on recent archaeological discoveries, newly commissioned for the Encyclopedia have been incorporated into Grove Art Online as content updates, although they are not identified on the site as anything other than Grove Art content.

We could purchase the encyclopedia to increase the visibility of the content but the content is available in our existing collections.

The UK Research Reserve

UKRR is developing an imaginative solution to storing and securing the knowledge in low use printed research journals.

In this digital age, the print copy of important research journals becomes little used as the journal is read online. UKRR enables Higher Education Libraries to collaborate in sharing the burden of print storage. Items no longer on the shelves need not reflect a shrinking collection. Guaranteed access is available through British Library Document Supply services and reading rooms.

The space saving achieved by de-duplicating extra copies of journals is put to use providing up to date facilities for learning and teaching and research.

The Research Reserve is a collaborative collection of low use print research journals stored and managed jointly by HE institutions and The British Library.

UKRR is a membership organisation. We welcome all Higher Education Institutions to collaborate in preserving low use print journals for research.

The UK Research Reserve (UKRR) is a Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) funded initiative, in partnership with the British Library and HE institutions, led by Imperial College, London.

Blackwell: Reserve Online and Collect Instore

Did you know that the University Park campus bookshop, Blackwell, allows you to see online which books they have in stock – and to reserve them for collection?

Click here for more information.

Classified: The Secret History of the Personal Column by Harry Cocks



Dr Harry Cocks, a lecturer in the School of History, has just published a book telling the story of how we finally learned to love the personal ad.

Classified — The Secret History of the Personal Column unearths the hidden history of the modern personal ad and the internet profile — from the ‘lonely soldiers’ of the First World War, to the single typists looking for love in the 1920s, through to the swingers of the 1960s and the social networking sites and chat rooms of the 21st century.

Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Random House Books

ISBN-10: 1847945007
ISBN-13: 978-1847945006

Thursday, 19 February 2009

The Burney Newspaper Collection



We now have access to The Burney Newspaper Collection, under a JISC Collections agreement until 31st December 2013.


  • 1 million newspaper pages Newspapers,

  • newsbooks, Acts of Parliament, addresses, broadsides, pamphlets, proclamations

  • the most comprehensive collection of early English newspapers

  • titles from London, British Isles, and colonies

Access here.


Please note that access to the combined collections in British Newspapers 1600 -1900 is currently only valid until 31st December 2010 when the current agreement for the 19th Century British Library Newspapers expires.


Tuesday, 10 February 2009

Television & New Media

We have a new journal subscription for Television & New Media, which was arranged last summer.

The first volume has arrived in the Hallward Library: Vol. 10, No. 1. We currently have electronic access from 2000: volume: 1 issue: 1.

Monday, 9 February 2009

Heresy in Medieval France by Claire Taylor



Heresy in Medieval France explores the origins and spread of popular heresy in western Europe from a new regional perspective, that of the medieval duchy of Aquitaine.

Part I concerns the origins of ‘heresy’ reported there in c.1000. Through extensive engagement with the historiography of this subject, it argues that whilst Aquitaine could have given rise to indigenous forms of dissent that clerics might misrepresent as doctrinally dissident, new evidence makes a reassertion of the case for the influence of Balkan dualism viable. A supporting account of Aquitainian and Gascon society is offered, the latter under-explored in Anglophone literature. Debate concerning the rate and nature of social change in this period is also made relevant, as is the relationship between heresy, the Peace of God and the cults of saints.

Part II is an account of Catharism in the north-western Languedoc, under the influence of both Aquitaine and Toulouse. Neglected evidence for the reception and rejection of the heresy by the families and towns of the county of Agen sheds important light on our understanding of heretical adherence in the Languedoc more widely; in peace-time, during the Albigensian Crusade, and under the Inquisition.

This book will be invaluable to all scholars interested in the sociological location of religious dissent in the high-medieval west, as well as to those of Catharism and the societies of south-western France specifically.
Claire Taylor is a Lecturer in the School of History and a library representative.

Saturday, 7 February 2009

Library Garden in Second Life



The image above shows Tammy Toffee Tigerfish exploring the Library Garden in Second Life. In the background you can see the University of Nottingham balloon and the virtual world Trent Building.

Friday, 6 February 2009

America: History and Life: online trial

We now have a 30-day trial to America: History and Life, provided through EBSCOhost. This database can be searched through the eLibrary Gateway both on- and off-campus.

America: History and Life is the definitive index of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. With indexing for 1,700 journals from 1964 to present, this database is without question the most important bibliographic reference tool for students and scholars of U.S. and Canadian history. The database also includes citations and links to book and media reviews. Strong English-language journal coverage is balanced by an international perspective on topics and events, including abstracts in English of articles published in more than 40 languages.

Communication & Mass Media Complete: online trial


We have a 30-day trial to Communication & Mass Media Complete, provided through EBSCOhost. This database can be searched through the eLibrary Gateway both on- and off-campus.

Communication & Mass Media Complete provides the most robust, quality research solution in areas related to communication and mass media. CMMC incorporates the content of CommSearch (formerly produced by the National Communication Association) and Mass Media Articles Index (formerly produced by Penn State) along with numerous other journals in communication, mass media, and other closely-related fields of study to create a research and reference resource of unprecedented scope and depth encompassing the breadth of the communication discipline. CMMC offers cover-to-cover (“core”) indexing and abstracts for more than 460 journals, and selected (“priority”) coverage of nearly 200 more, for a combined coverage of more than 660 titles. Furthermore, this database includes full text for 350 journals.

Monday, 2 February 2009

Arts Faculty Library User Group: agenda: February 2009



Arts Faculty Library User Group Meeting: Wednesday 4th February, 2009, 12:00 in Trent A19

AGENDA

1. Apologies for Absence

2. Minutes of the meeting held on 19/09/08

3. Matters Arising
(a) [Point 5] Strategy document circulated for discussion [JT]
(b) [Point 5] Disabled car-parking opposite Hallward [NS]

4. Collection Policies [JT]

5. Blog for Arts Library Info [NS]

6. Relegation Policy [NS]

7. Journals [Neil Smyth, Sara Ponz-Sans, Vladimir Zoric, Kaitlynn Mendes]

8. Kings Meadow Campus
(a) Reference Items [SB]
(b) Use of Kings Meadow Campus [NS]

9. Update on books for China [SB]

10. Loan limits for staff [SB]

11. Book-buying budget
(a) New Modules [SB]
(b) Rate of Expenditure [NS]

12. Temperature control on level 4 [SB]

13. AOB

14. Date of Next Meeting

Research Information Network Survey

Researchers can you help?

Can you spare 10 minutes to answer an online survey? Do you ever need to access information as a non-member at libraries in institutions other than your own? If so, we would like your feedback on the obstacles you face.

Following our previous successful survey we are undertaking further work, commissioned by the Research Information Network. The survey is hoping to reach as many researchers as possible, across a range of disciplines. Your input will provide vital insight to these issues and how they may be resolved going forwards.

You can access the survey from 9th February here: or email lburns@outsellinc.com.,

Thursday, 29 January 2009

Black Bartholomew's Day by David Appleby



Black Bartholomew’s Day: Preaching, polemic and Restoration nonconformity by David J. Appleby.


"A substantial contribution to the study of the farewell sermons, Restoration Nonconformity and the 1660s." Professor John Spurr, University of Wales, Swansea

Black Bartholomew's Day explores the religious, political and cultural implications of a collision of highly-charged polemic prompted by the mass ejection of Puritan ministers from the Church of England in 1662.

It is the first in-depth study of this heated exchange, centring on the departing ministers' farewell sermons. Many of these valedictions, delivered by hundreds of dissenting preachers in the weeks before Bartholomew's Day, would be illegally printed and widely distributed, provoking a furious response from government officials, magistrates and bishops. Black Bartholomew's Day re-interprets the political significance of ostensibly moderate Puritan clergy, arguing that their preaching posed a credible threat to the restored political order.

This book is aimed at readers interested in historicism, religion, nonconformity, print culture and the political potential of preaching in Restoration England.

David Appleby is Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Nottingham and a member of the Arts Faculty Library User Group.

Collection Development for the Arts Faculty

Research is supported by the availability of rich collections of electronic and hard-copy information resources.

In order for us to continue to improve access to high quality libary and archive resources, we review and revise collection development policies.

A link to the collection policies is available from this page, including "draft" policies for the Arts Faculty.

Wednesday, 28 January 2009

Arts Faculty Team and Second Life


The Arts Faculty Team are participating in the development of virtual worlds, including the University of Nottingham Second Life campus.

We are interested in investigating the implications of virtual worlds for research, teaching and learning support in the Arts Faculty.

The image above shows Tammy Toffee Tigerfish exploring the virtual world Trent Building on the University of Nottingham island.

Screening Room in the Hallward Library



The Screening Room in the Hallward Library is centrally bookable, through the Timetabling Office.


2. Click Room Bookings on the left

3. Click Room Bookings for O809

4. Click On-line Form to Book Central Teaching Rooms for 0809

5. Log in, with your normal network username and password

6. Click on:
click here to view selected campus / building rooms. When revealed click on location name to view details
7. You will then be able to select location, date and time, which will alow you to book the Screening Room.
As a short cut, you can go here and then log in.

These instructions were correct in January 2009 but the web pages will change.

Monday, 26 January 2009

Arts Faculty Library User Group Meeting

The next Arts Faculty Library User Group meeting will be on Wednesday, 4th February, 12noon, in the Trent Building (room A19).

Friday, 23 January 2009

Oxford Islamic Studies Online: Trial


We have a free trial of Oxford Islamic Studies Online.

We are pleased to let you know that access has been set up for University of Nottingham until 19 February 2009.

  • Cross-search the full text of an expanding range of Oxford's acclaimed books and encyclopedias in Islamic Studies, including the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World (6 volumes, 2008), the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, and The Islamic World: Past and Present.

  • Access 2 versions of the Qur'an, complete with invaluable direct links to A Concordance of the Qur'an.

  • Move direct from articles to over 150 primary source documents plus an extensive range of maps, charts and timelines.

  • Editorially-selected links to other websites make follow up research quick and easy.

  • Learning resources are available to provide support for teachers.

  • Offers excellent search and browse functionality, print-friendly format, and

  • OpenURL compliance.


Take a tour of Oxford Islamic Studies Online at:
http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/Public/guided_tour.html

User guide and site help is available by following the ‘help’ link from the main homepage http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/

Tuesday, 20 January 2009

Research Information Network Survey


The Research Information Network needs your help.

The RIN needs your input and perspective as a researcher in order to better understand some of the obstacles you face using information resources. Please take 15 minutes to fill in the online survey.

In the interest of improving timely access to information resources for researchers, the Research Information Network (http://www.rin.ac.uk/) has commissioned a number of studies on the nature and scale of limitations and barriers encountered by researchers when seeking to access resources. This is part of the RIN’s mission to undertake evidence-based research into information and data issues that relate to researchers.

Within this context, Outsell (UK) Ltd (http://www.outsellinc.com/) is carrying out two studies on the RIN’s behalf. The first survey focuses on how often researchers are unable to obtain access to licensed information resources at their own institution, and how they currently overcome these obstacles.

Your input will provide vital insight to these issues and how they may be resolved going forwards.

The survey will be live online from 12th January – 20th February. You can access it here http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=7Gm90P1n3aSLO87xHwvITw_3d_3d

Any answers you provide will be treated as strictly confidential and shared only with RIN in an aggregated format.

If you have any queries, please contact Lara Burns: lburns@outsellinc.com

NewsFilm Online added to the eLibrary Gateway

NewsFilm Online been added to the eLibrary Gateway.

This database offers access to over 3,000 hours of downloadable television and cinema newsreels, selected from the ITN/Reuters Television Archive.

You can find links to it via the General, History and Film categories on the databases list.