Resources – Page 7 – Library Subject Support

4th December 20194th December 2019

Walton Library – MCQs and Clinical Skills Equipment

These DNA models are part of the Walton’s clinical skills equipment collection. Ask at the desk to loan one today.

While exams may seem a long way away, it’s important to be prepared for them. You can minimise stress and maximise efficiency with a good revision timetable and organised notes.

You can also find helpful material to aid your revision at the Walton Library. Your subject support guide is full of information and resources, tailored to suit your programme of studies. There are boxes of flash cards covering a number of subjects available to borrow from our long loan collection – ask at the service desk if you are interested in loaning a set. You may also find it helpful to broaden your revision from notes and textbooks to include clinical skills equipment and books from our MCQ (Multiple Choice Question) section. This could be the difference between a good and a great exam result! You’ll find more information about both of these collections in this blog post, as well as where to find them and how to loan them.

Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) books

Books in the MCQ collection are located in the quiet study area. You can identify them by the green stickers on the book spines.

There are a variety of topics covered in our Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) section. Within the collection, you’ll find books to on a number of subjects from anaesthesia to surgery. There are also books to aid revision for specific exams – including OSCEs, PACES and MRCS.

If you’d like to browse the MCQ collection, go to Library Search. You’ll need to click the ‘Advanced Search’ link and then change the “Any field” drop down menu to say ‘Collection’. In the text space, enter “MCQs” and you can view the entire collection. You can narrow down your search by adding a subject, author or title if you’re interested in a specific topic.

You can search the entire MCQ collection by changing the search filters to “Collection” and adding MCQs in the text bar.

You can find the MCQ collection in the quiet study area of the Walton Library. They’re easily identifiable by the green stickers on the book’s spine.

The books are long loan – meaning you can have them for up to 20 weeks, providing they’re not requested by another Library user. If the MCQ book is already on loan, follow these instructions to place a request.

If there is a book you think would help your exam revision, use our Books on Time service and recommend it. Find out more about this service here.

Clinical skills equipment

At the Walton Library, there is a wide selection of clinical skills equipment available to loan. There are medical tools, like tendon hammers, sphygmomanometers and otoscopes. Anatomical models, such as skulls and teeth. Plus eye charts, DNA models and even a spine! (A model one, that is.)

You can borrow a skull from the service desk or the STC room at the Walton Library!

The main bulk of clinical skills equipment is located behind the service desk at the Walton Library. Ask a member of staff and they’ll retrieve it for you. You can have up to three clinical skills items on loan at any time. Unfortunately, you can’t place requests on the items if they’re all out on loan.

There are also a small number of skulls available to loan from the Student Texts Collection (STC) room. You can loan them using the self-issue machine in the STC.

You may have also noticed a collection of anatomical models on a table in the collaborative study area. These models are free to use within the Library for as long as you like – but they can’t be taken out of the Library.

Clinical skills equipment items are available as a next day loan. This means that if you borrow a skull at 9AM on a Monday morning, it needs to be returned before the Walton Library closes on Tuesday. Items in the clinical skills equipment collection are non-renewable.

Beyond the Walton, there is exam and revision assistance available from the wider Library services and the University. You may find it useful to check out the Academic Skills Kit (ASK) to learn more about different revision strategies and exam techniques. You can also use ASK to find out about available counselling and chaplaincy services to help combat exam stress. Follow this link to ASK!

22nd November 20192nd September 2021

Resource in Focus: Building Types Online

After positive feedback from a trial in 2018 we are delighted to announce we now have access to this database.

This platform is based on Birkhäuser’s architecture books, a selection of Birkhäuser manuals and additional analysis Annual updates which add new building types and more contemporary international case studies.

This resources features :

Over 6000 high quality architectural drawings/ building plans. These are mostly vector-based, drawn to scale and available for download.
2500 photos of building types
1200 case studies
Over 900 international projects
160 thematic articles providing background information on specific aspects of individual building types e.g. lighting, acoustics, urban considerations, access types or planning processes.
Types of buildings include: housing, schools, libraries, office buildings, sacred buildings, hospitals, museums, industrial complexes, infrastructure, transport and other building types.

This makes it an excellent choice for both teaching, research and understanding the practice of architectural design.

Search options include :

Full Text
Architect
Building Types
Decade
Height
Country
Author
Urban Context

You can also browse by grant systematic access to all content according to Building Type, Urban Context and Morphological Type.

This is an important resource for anyone studying building typology or writing architectural design assignments. In nutshell a fantastic online resource covering building types in the last 30 years.

The Sea rch Help document from the resources explains the database’s functions in detail. An overview of the terminology used in the building analysis and the Search and Browse options is available as well.

To access the database, click on the link via Library Search.

23rd September 201919th September 2019

Law Library 101

To all our new students – WELCOME TO THE LAW LIBRARY!
To all our returning students – WELCOME BACK! Welcome to Law Library

During your time here you will need to use all sorts of resources to find:

Cases
Acts
Statutory Instruments
Journal Articles
Textbooks
Reports and Government Publications
And the rest!

We have a lot on our shelves, but also a lot more online. So, where to start when trying to find what you’re looking for?

THE LAW SUBJECT GUIDE OF COURSE!

Click on the image above to take you to this one-stop shop of useful links and helpful tips to get you finding what you need.

And don’t forget us – your Law Librarians! We’re here to help you with whatever we can. What we don’t know, we’ll find out.

1st August 20196th August 2019

Summer professional readings

Looking for something to read this August – whiling the time away with your toes between the sand, the sound of waves splashing, and the sun warming up your bones? I know a summer read is normally something a bit fluffier, however you might want to read one these top reads that were recommended at two conferences I attended recently here on campus (Professional Services Conference and the SAgE PGR Conference). All three books are conveniently available for you to loan from Newcastle University Library…click on the book cover to take you to the library catalogue entry:

29th July 201923rd July 2019

Be wise – start thinking about your Reading Lists

Although it’s now the summer vacation, it is time for our academics to start thinking about the reading lists for 2019/20. So, what resources are you going to recommend to your students to support your teaching? How will you ensure the Library has what you need in stock?

Use the Library’s Reading Lists to create, manage and update your own lists online. Or, you can send your list as an attachment to your Library’s Reading List team using our submission form.

Why use this service? Well, your lists will help the Library to order the correct number of copies of the titles you want to recommend, to decide on the appropriate loan periods of those printed books and enable access to electronic resources for your students. CLA scans (digitised book chapters and articles) can easily be requested through Reading Lists too. There’s no need to email us or fill out a separate request form; simply tag the item on your list and leave it to us.

Benefits for you include:

Your book orders and scanning requests will be dealt with seamlessly by a dedicated team of Library Staff.
It is an effective and efficient way of getting your Reading Lists to your students via Blackboard, alongside your teaching materials.
You can add resources from Library Search, any database or while you’re browsing the Web (via the “Cite it” tool).
You will provide accessible information to your students about their required reading, with live links to Library Search, eBooks, full-text journal articles and book chapters.
You can organise the resources to suit your needs, e.g. by week, topic, lecture or seminar.
You can tag the items on your Reading Lists so your students can clearly see what is essential, recommended or background reading.
In tagging each item, the Library can ensure appropriate stock provision for your students based on module numbers.
You can notify the Library and your students of any changes you wish to make to your lists automatically.
Reading Lists can boost student engagement with your subject and you can see the access statistics for the items on your list, providing valuable insight on how the students are using the materials listed.

So, Reading Lists are a great way to let your students know what they need to read, and to keep the Library informed too; they are the wise choice.

You can find information about creating and managing your Reading Lists, and making resources available to your students here. And if you have any questions about this service, please do contact us at readinglists@ncl.ac.uk

Have a good summer!

14th June 201918th June 2019

We Are Here All Summer!

The University libraries will be open throughout the Summer vacation, you a can find the opening hours for each library here. Please note that during self-service times, access to the building will be by Newcastle University Smartcard only.

However, there will be building work in progress during library opening times and there may be some noisy periods in some areas. Free disposable earplugs will be available at the Service Desk.

You will still find the Liaison team on levels 3 and 4 of the Philip Robinson Library – we will be the ones wearing hard hats!

You can come to us for Endnote support and 1-1 sessions. Please book an appointment via Library help.

If you have an urgent question, and we are not physically around you will find 24/7 support via our out-of-hours Live Chat Service provided by a co-operative of academic librarians from around the world.

We hope you have a lovely summer!

7th June 201913th June 2019

Identify resources for your research project

A strong research project such as an essay, dissertation or thesis will always be supported by good quality information from a wide range of sources. There are a huge variety of resources available to you and being able to make appropriate choices when selecting materials to include in your project and explain why you have chosen them, is an important academic skill that demonstrates a good awareness of your subject and an ability to think critically about ideas and research.

Of course, not all information resources will be relevant to your particular research. You will have to think about the type of information you need then identify the type of resource that will provide that kind information.

For example:

Books will offer an in-depth overview of popular ideas, theories, and opinions in your subject area and are likely to be broader in scope than a journal article or conference paper.

While a conference paper will often discuss ‘work-in-progress’, and therefore can be an ideal way of finding out about up to date research and ideas.

For more information on different resource types, including standards, patents, maps, newspapers and more, take a look at our range of Resource guides.

Your Subject Guide can also help you identify useful sources of information for your research as it contains a carefully curated list of resources that are tailored to your subject area. Here you’ll find useful lists of online reference books, eBook collections and recommended databases for finding relevant journal articles and conference papers. Also, under the Subject Specific Resources tab, you’ll discover a further host of specialised materials relevant to your subject such as audiovisual media, data-sets or professional organisation’s websites.

Screen capture of a Library Subject Guide, showing various tabs and resource links.

Depending on your research topic, you might also want to explore the Special Collections tab to see materials held in our Library archives that are relevant to your subject area specifically.

For more advice on finding and evaluating resources for your research take a look at our Finding Information and Evaluating Information Guides.

29th April 201913th June 2019

Beyond the Library

Will you be working on a dissertation or project this summer or next year? Worried that the Library might not have access to the specialist books and other resources which you need? Wondering how you can find out about resources relating to your research topic which are held in other libraries?

Wonder no more! There are three main ways you can find and access books and other resources held elsewhere:

1. Search

You can search the catalogues of over 100 UK and Irish academic libraries, national libraries and other major research libraries via COPAC. For a more in-depth and up to date search, you can also search individual academic library catalogues online. Need to look further afield? Search library catalogues internationally via WorldCat.

2. Visit

We have more information about how you can visit other libraries, locally and nationally, here. The SCONUL Access Scheme enables students to use other academic libraries around the country, but you need to register online first (and be sure to check the access arrangements for any library you are planning to visit, as they may alter during the year).

3. Obtain

If we haven’t got the book you want, you can ask us to consider buying or borrowing it, via our Books on Time service. If you need a copy of a journal article to which we don’t have access, please apply via our inter library loan service.

Image by andreas160578 from Pixabay.

9th April 201910th January 2020

New resource now available: Kanopy film streaming

We’re pleased to announce that following a successful trial, we now have access to the Kanopy on-demand film-streaming platform.

Kanopy provides access to over 30,000 films, including contemporary and classic feature films from around the world, and documentaries across a range of topics in arts, social sciences, science, technology and medicine. New films are added each month, and you can watch them on your preferred device.

Kanopy is very easy to use: simply search for a film by title, or browse by category. All the films are also individually catalogued on Library Search too, so you can find and access them that way as well.

You’ll find lots of useful features, including creating clips and playlists, viewing the transcript, and rating or adding comments.

Please note, as Kanopy is a ‘pay as you go’ service, we will assess demand during an initial pilot phase. If you’ve got any feedback about Kanopy, we’d be interested to receive it: just drop us an email or post it as a comment on this blog.

28th February 20192nd September 2021

Shades of Grey [Literature]

Grey literature. Black Literature.

Did you even know they existed? Possibly not.

Depending upon your source, “black literature” can be defined as books and peer-reviewed published journals. This is the familiar material you will source and use through your University Library and its catalogue.

Grey literature is something else entirely. Grey literature is research or material that is not produced by commercial publishers. It may be wholly unpublished or published in a non-commercial form. Think along the lines of industry-related materials, academic publications, government publications and think tank papers.

GreyNet, the Grey Literature Network Service has more detailed information on this vital research resource.

Grey Literature can be unique and an important source of information. There is a range of grey literature you may need to consult to ensure your research is complete. Examples of these materials include:

Working papers
Conference proceedings
Theses and dissertations
Government and official publications, including Green and White Papers, Select Committee papers, legislation
Policy statements
Research reports
Newsletters
Fact sheets
Blogs
Transcripts
Pre-prints and post-prints of articles
Technical reports
Professional guidelines
Patents
Standards
Market research
Data, e.g. Census, economic data, statistics

Most databases, available via your Subject Guide, will allow you to limit your search by document type, including grey literature, which does improve accessibility to this type of material.

Other resources include:

Bielefeld Academic Search Engine
Operated by Bielefeld University Library this search engine indexes open access academic literature. The Advanced Search option allows you to search for specific types of grey literature.
Box of Broadcasts
Box of Broadcasts provides access to over two million programmes from over 65 TV and radio channels, including most of the UK’s freeview network, all BBC TV and radio content from 2007, and several foreign language channels. You can view archived programmes, record new ones, create clips and playlists and see transcripts. (This resource is not available outside the UK.)
Digital Education Resource Archive (DERA)
The Institute of Education Digital Education (University of London) Resource Archive (DERA) is a digital archive of all documents published electronically by government and related bodies in the area of education.
Open Grey
The System for Information on Grey Literature in Europe provides open access to over 700,000 bibliographical references.
Teachers TV from Education in Video
Provides access to all 3,530 globally-acclaimed instructional videos produced in 2008 by the United Kingdom’s Department of Education to train and develop teachers’ skills through demonstrations and commentary by teachers, administrators, and other educational experts.
Newcastle University Theses and Dissertations Guide
Newcastle University theses are available in the eTheses Repository. Other UK theses may be available via EThOS. There is not one single source for locating non-UK theses. The Guide will give you some starting points.
UK Legislation
UK Legislation is freely available online but be aware there may be delays of up to 2 weeks before any updates appear. Use your subscribed databases available via the Law Subject Guide.

The list can go on…

Once you have located your grey literature, do question it using the CRAAP test – currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, purpose. Consider what is publicly available versus a subscribed (or paid for) resource. It may be biased and you should include that assessment in your work.

And finally, don’t forget, not everything is available online!