190th Anniversary of the Natural History Society of Northumbria
Today celebrates the 190th anniversary of the founding of the Natural History Society of Northumbria, (NHSN) a local voluntary organisation that encourages and supports research in Natural History via lectures, field outings, education courses and publication of scientific papers. The Society also established the brilliant Great North Museum: Hancock, which continues to house its fascinating Library and Archive collections, both important resources for the study of natural history in the North East of England.
The Library, also established in 1829, holds a wealth of material on natural history, with coverage including flora and fauna, ornithology, geology, ecology, the history of natural history and biodiversity. Here you’ll find the latest field guides for birds, plants, mammals and insects from around the world alongside regional, national and international journals and books about ecology, zoology, botany, ornithology, entomology, geology and conservation. The Library is open to everyone, but membership is required for borrowing books.
Meanwhile the Archive holds thousands of artworks, photographs, letters, diaries, and notebooks covering all aspects of natural history, zoology, botany and geology. It also includes internationally important material, notably the original watercolours, pencil drawings and proof engravings by Thomas Bewick, the Northumbria-born naturalist and wood engraver. Archive material is available to view by appointment only.
For a taste of what the collections have to offer, you can visit the Society’s newest exhibition: ‘The Beauty of Plant Science’, on display in the NHSN Library. Curated by postgraduates at Newcastle University, the exhibition presents colourful botanical illustrations alongside myths and poems to show how Science and Art coexist:
New exhibition 'The Beauty of Plant Science: Seeing Art in Botany' open now on floor 2 of the @GNM_Hancock. Created by @ICCHSNewcastle students, @EvdokiaSamara & @DaliaMAizi in collaboration with @ncllibspeccoll. Well worth a visit! pic.twitter.com/crjcd5MFGY
— NHSN (@NENature_) August 6, 2019
You can also find a sister exhibition, ‘The Beauty of Insects: Seeing Art in the Entomological World’ on Level 2 of the Philip Robinson Library:
New exhibition now open 'The Beauty of Insects: Seeing Art in the Entomological World' on Level 2 of @nclroblib in collaboration with @NEE_Naturalist & curated by 2 @ICCHSNewcastle MA Museum Studies placement students @EvdokiaSamara & @DaliaMAizi @FineArtNCL pic.twitter.com/MJxyF4KwCU
— Robinson Speccoll (@ncllibspeccoll) August 6, 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:
New service helps you search beyond our Library
A new search service, Library Hub Discover, has just launched, replacing the old COPAC database (which enabled you to search across UK academic and research libraries) and SUNCAT (which searched for journals elsewhere).
Library Hub Discover offers a new and improved interface to search across the catalogues of 100 UK and Irish academic, national and specialist libraries, with many more libraries due to be added soon.
A new related service, Library Hub Compare, enables you to analyse and compare library collections and identify relative strengths. So, if you want to assess which libraries in a region have particularly strong holdings relating to your research area, this is a neat way of doing it.
Read more about the new services and keep up with developments by following JiscLibraryHub.
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!
Spotlight on OECD iLibrary
OECD iLibrary is the online library of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) it contains a vast collection of books, papers and statistics, some of which date back to the 1960s, it is the gateway to OECD’s analysis and data. OECD content covers over 100 countries.
Every year around 300 new titles are published, associated with the following themes:
- Agriculture & Food,
- Development,
- Economics,
- Education,
- Employment,
- Energy
- Environment
- Finance and Investment
- Governance
- Industry and Services
- Nuclear Energy
- Science and Technology
- Social Issues / Migration / Health
- Taxation
- Trade
- Transport
- Urban, Rural and Regional Development
You can browse by theme, country, or choose the type of content you require (for example, books, papers, statistics). You can also carry out simple or advanced searches.
If you’re looking for Statistics and Indicators?
OECD iLibrary contains all of the publications and datasets released by International Energy Agency (IEA), Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), OECD Development Centre, PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), and International Transport Forum (ITF) since 1998 – present.
It presents all content so users can find and cite tables and databases as easily as articles or chapters in any available format: PDF, WEB, XLS, DATA, ePUB,READ.
For a quick introduction to OECD i Library, including how to search the database and how to use advanced features and find statistical information and indicators, take a look at the user guide.
You can find details on other sources of statistics on our Statistics Guide.
Art of the Possible: academic skills resources
You’ll find links to the relevant Library resources below.
As time is limited, please feel free to explore as you wish!
A. Academic skills resources
We’d recommend exploring the finding-evaluating-managing guides at the top of the screen, but feel free to try out the other guides on this page as well.
The Library’s online learning resources focus mainly on information skills: for a wider range of academic skills content and support, visit the Academic Skills Kit.
B. Research skills resources
Aimed at UG/PGT students: please explore our dissertations/projects guide. Try the proposal planners and search planners: could you use them with your students?
Aimed at PGR students: please explore the new online format for our HSS8002 information and library skills module. We’ve created a dummy version of HSS8002 for today’s workshop. You should be able to access the dummy course directly via this link.
Browse the module content via the left hand menu, or, if you want to try out the information skills checker, choose I am studying this module for credit in Newcastle on the home page.
You can also read our LTDS case study about this project.
Westlaw platform upgrade
The legal database, Westlaw, has had an upgrade. The content remains the same, but you should notice significant improvements to the search and display options, and its overall look and feel.
How can I access it?
You can find links to the new Westlaw platforms on the Law subject guide and Library Search. There are separate links for Westlaw UK and Westlaw International.
What are the main features of the new platform?
You’ll find the main search headings (e.g. cases, legislation, journals, current awareness, books) are still there, but arranged differently.
As before, you can still search or browse across all content types, or limit to a specific content type (e.g. cases or legislation). Specific search options (such as using connectors) are similar to the old system, but you should find everything more clearly set out.
You’ll also find a wider range of personalisation features, including favourites, and options to annotate and share content with others.
Other new features include a Legislation Compare tool, which makes it easier to track recent and future changes to legislation.
You can browse topics to find key documents (including cases and legislation), and track the latest and future developments via an interactive calendar.
Where can I find out more?
You can get more help via handy quick reference guides to the new platform, or videos. As a minimum, we’d recommend watching the short overview video or the getting started guide, which take you through the key features, and give you useful tips. However, there are also helpful videos and guides on specific aspects, such as alerts, annotations, cases and legislation.
What do I need to do?
Please note, the old Westlaw platform will be switched off on 5th August 2019, so we would strongly encourage you to start using the new platform as soon as you can.
Personalisation features such as alerts and folders can’t be migrated to the new Westlaw platform. Therefore, if you have set up any of these on old Westlaw, you will need to set them up again on the new platform. You should find the new platform has much improved personalisation features.
Change is coming to the Philip Robinson Library
This summer will see the refurbishment of key features of our main Level 2 space as we make it more welcoming, attractive, and efficient for all library users.
Work will be taking place between June and September 2019, during which a temporary service desk will be in place, and the Student Text Collection, exhibition space, book bins, and self-service units will be relocated. Drinks and snacks will still be available from a coffee cart whilst the café is being refurbished.
Library services will continue as normal.
- The PC cluster, Your Space and silent study areas on Levels 3 & 4 of the library will remain accessible.
- Student Text Collection texts and book reservations will be available.
- Inter Library Loan and Research Reserve requests will be processed as normal.
- You will still be able to issue and return items yourself.
- Laptop, headphone, and short-term locker loans will be issued as normal.
However, there will be building work in progress during library opening times and there will be some noisy periods. Free disposable earplugs will be available at the Service Desk.
Alternative study spaces are available in Walton, Law and Marjorie Robinson Library Rooms, and you can use the Find a PC on the University app to locate alternative cluster PC’s and check availability.
Building a better library experience
The modernised Level 2 space includes these new features:
- a redesigned ‘Welcome’ point and ‘Library Help’ desk.
- a reconfigured social learning space
- an automated book returns sorter and new self-issue machines
- a relocated exhibition space
- a fully refurbished cafe
The works are due to begin week commencing 17th June. If you have any queries please speak to a member of Customer Services staff at the Service Desk or via Library Help.
We Are Here All Summer!
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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!