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University of the West of Scotland


Library News

Library News

Free eBooks!

Download free textbooks online from Bookboon.com

All the books are available in PDF and you can download them directly without registration. The textbooks are legal and written exclusively for Bookboon by academics from different European universities.

Poet partner scheme champagne finale

The Burns beat goes beyond Burns!

The Poet Partner Scheme, organised by the Scottish Poetry Library and funded for 3 years by the Paul Hamlyn Society, has allowed the Library to be innovative in organising events and to invite outstanding poets to give readings all over Ayrshire.

Join us for an evening of poetry and fine champagne at the Carnegie public library, Ayr , on Thursday 28th January, Ayr, at 7.30pm.

Our guest poets are Alan Riach and Liz Lochhead. Alan is Professor of Scottish Literature at Glasgow University and his new book, Homecoming, confirms his reputation as one of the leading poets of his generation. Liz Lochhead is Glasgow's Poet Laureate and one of the best poets and most popular performers now working in Scotland.

ADVERSE WEATHER update

Campus libraries will be open as normal during the exam period (9th - 23rd January) unless the weather deteriorates significantly. Please contact your local campus library if you require confirmation of closing times on any given day.

Crichton Library, Dumfries

Please note that the Crichton Library in Dumfries is closed today (Wednesday 6th January 2010) due to adverse weather conditions.

Library Closing Times: ADVERSE WEATHER

On Wednesday the 6th and Thursday the 7th of January, 2010 the Campus Libraries at Ayr, Hamilton and Paisley will close at 19.00 because of adverse weather conditions. On Friday all campus libraries will close at 17.00.

The Open Learning Centre (Cafe) at Paisley Campus Library will also close at 19.00 on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Should the weather not improve, libraries may again close earlier than usual from Monday to Thursday the following week. Please contact your campus library or check this website on the day that you intend to travel for confirmation of the closing time.

inderscience journals free trial

Access has been arranged to Inderscience journal titles (mainly computing science, business and management)) for two months from 18th December.To access the titles log onto Ingenta and sign in with your Athens account.

Christmas Opening hours

 

Paisley and Ayr Campuses

Monday 21st December & Tuesday 22nd December: open

(Ayr campus closed 12 - 2 pm on Tuesday 22nd December)

Wednesday 23rd December:  9am – 1pm

Thursday 24th December – Monday 4th January:  CLOSED

 

Hamilton and Dumfries Campuses are also open on Thursday 24th December. Hamilton campus until 12 noon and Dumfries campus until 3 pm.

Friday 25th December – Monday 4th January:  CLOSED

 

 

Normal opening hours will resume on Tuesday 5th January 2010

 

 

Exam Papers

 

Last years exam papers are now available on pen drive in the Library

 

Laptop Loans at Ayr Library

The Library at Ayr is piloting a laptop loan scheme. We have 11 PC laptops which may be borrowed for use on campus during Library opening hours. They are Wifi-enabled, so you’ll be able to access the Internet via the wireless network and, as Microsoft Office is installed, you’ll be able to type up your notes or essays in the quieter areas of the Library or in other public areas on campus such as the Refectory where you can work in a more social environment if you choose. Read&Write Gold is also installed to help students who require extra assistance when reading or composing text.  

They are available now. Pop in to the Library at Ayr and ask for one. We’ll issue it to you on your Library record and off you go! If you’d like to take advantage of this service, please remember to bring your student card with you, as we cannot issue items to you without it.

 

early english books online

A free trial has been set up to this database, lasting until 31st December. The link is:
http://eebo.chadwyck.com and is available from on-campus.

Early English Books Online (EEBO) contains digital facsimile page images of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700 - from the first book printed in English by William Caxton, through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare.

Ayr campus library

The Library at Ayr Campus will close at 3pm on Friday 23rd October for a presentation to staff. We apologise for any inconvenience.

Library survey - win an ipod shuffle!

The library survey will now remain open until 6th November!

As part of the University’s internal review process we are inviting all staff and students to fill out a questionnaire about the Library’s services. We are offering all participants a chance to enter a prize draw for an ipod shuffle as a thank you for taking part.

The questionnaire can be found at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=vc0VYDgJc1JQNU4UVIAKwg_3d_3d and should take no more than ten minutes to complete.

We should like to have as many responses as possible so that we can accurately reflect the views of our users in the review process, so please do take this opportunity to make your views known.

Thank you in advance for your help.

FACTIVA database

Access to the Factiva database is now available through MyUWSLibrary on Blackboard. To find the link, go into the Access Resources button and click on Athens and Electronic Resources. The Dow Jones Factiva collection gives you access to more than 25,000  sources. These include: the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones and Reuters newswires, the Associated Press, Reuters Fundamentals and D&B company profiles.

MYUWSLibrary is available on Blackboard at the end of your modules list, in the My Organizations panel.

SUMMER OPENING HOURS

Ayr Campus Library will be open Monday - Saturday 9am - 4.50pm from 1st June until 29th August.

Paisley Campus Library will be open Monday 25th May -Friday 18th September Monday - Friday 9am - 4.50pm.

From 2nd June until 20th August the library will remain open on Mondays until 6pm, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays until 7.30pm.

Saturday and Sunday CLOSED.

Term time opening will resume on Monday 21st September.

Dumfries Campus Library will be open Monday 25th May - Friday 11th September.

Monday - Thursday 8.30am - 7pm

Friday 8.30am - 5pm

CREDO online reference books

Trial access is available to this site until the end of May. Please contact the library for the username and password required.

Credo Reference

may day public holiday

The university library will be closed on Monday 4th May

easter vacation HOURS
Ayr Campus

Saturday 11th April & Monday 13th April
The Library will be CLOSED

Hamilton Campus

Saturday 11th & Monday 13th April
The Library will be CLOSED
Tuesday14th - Saturday 18th April
The Library will be open 8.30am-4.30pm
Monday 21st April
Normal hours will resume

Paisley Campus

Saturday 11th April – Monday 13th April
The Library will be CLOSED

Tuesday 14th April – Friday 17th April
the Library and the Undergraduate Reading Room
will be open from 9am – 4.50pm

Saturday 18th April the Library is open 9am – 4.50pm
Sunday 19th April the Undergraduate Reading Room is open
from 9am – 4.50pm.

Monday 21st April Normal hours will resume

 

ETHos

From the end of January 2009, access to UK doctoral theses in electronic form was made available to all customers/researchers worldwide through EThOS.   For many years, the British Library provided copies of UK theses in paper or microfilm format. It is now updating this service to make theses available in electronic format. EThOS provides a means of accessing e-Theses direct from the British Library or from institutional repositories across the UK via the British Library service at no cost to the user.

Further information on EThOS

shedl

SHEDL (Scottish Higher Education Digital Library) demonstrates UWS and other Scottish libraries leading the way within the UK by working together to increase value for money and widen access to journal content.

SHEDL  is a landmark initiative in the licensing of electronic resources, which, from 1January 2009, gives all staff and students in Scotland’s universities complete access to electronic journals published by the American Chemical Society (ACS), Cambridge University Press (CUP) and Springer. This regional consortium purchasing agreement is the first of its kind in the UK, gives students access to a larger range and number of electronic journals, provides a better research infrastructure for Scotland and supports research pooling and other collaborative research by ensuring that those affiliated with different institutions have access to the same material. At UWS, for example, staff and students will have access to over 200 CUP journals that were not previously available to them. SHEDL content is licensed in perpetuity, ensuring it will always be available and the three-year deal with the SHEDL publishers will help to cap periodical price rises. The Scottish Consortium of University and Research Libraries (SCURL), having brokered this innovative agreement with three large publishers, now hopes to start negotiations with other publishers and extend SHEDL content even further.

classical music research in the digital age

The British Library’s Archival Sound Recordings project, supported by JISC, today launches a vital new resource for the exploration of western classical music heritage.

Bringing together nearly 1000 historic recordings, this freely available
online collection allows researchers to easily compare various
interpretations of great composers, tracing the impact of globalisation on performance style and its evolution throughout the early 20th Century. An Athens account is required for access.

burney collection

The Burney Collection is now available. The newspapers and news pamphlets gathered by the Reverend Charles Burney (1757 - 1817) represent the largest single collection of 17th and 18th century English news media. The 700 or so bound volumes of newspapers and news pamphlets were published mostly in London, however there are also some English provincial, Irish and Scottish papers, and a few examples from the American colonies, Europe and India. Athens account required for access off-campus.

GOOD BYE RAH LIBRARY!

After 13 years with the University, the Library at the RAH is returning to the NHS on Sunday 1st February, 2009.

Staff and students of the School of HNM can continue using the most excellent and friendly services of Ruth, Helen, Irene, and Yvonne by going there in person. The books and journals are all still there for you too use too. Don't forget that when you are at the RAH on placement.

Thanks for everything!

Education image gallery

Specifically designed for educational purposes at FE and HE institutions, the Education Image Gallery provides instant access to a unique and exciting collection of over 50,000 images, augmented every year by c. 3,000 new images, delivered as monthly updates. By 2010, the collection will comprise c. 60,000 images.

This reference source draws on the vast resources of Hulton Archive, Photodisc and the Getty Images® News Service (current events and sport).

A large variety of images are included, covering key events and multiple subject areas including history, entertainment, sport, science, fashion, politics, music, conflict, film, art, leisure and women's studies. With Picture Trails, curriculum-related images selected by leading academics, you can illustrate key times, places, people and events.

The images are available for downloading in screen-resolution format. As the images are copyright-cleared, they are free to download for (appropriately credited) use in learning, teaching and research. Any images incorporated into learning and teaching materials can continue to be used even after the current sub-licence expires in July 2010.

4 new journal archives now available free

Following an open procurement process, JISC Collections has purchased 4 new archives in perpetuity for UK HE. The content of these is available through the Find e-journal lists.

The archives offer broad and in-depth coverage of a wide range of disciplines - including the humanities, social science, business and law - and complement the existing portfolio of resources purchased as part of JISC Collections' UK National Educational Archive programme.

library special collections - UK network of sex work projects (UK NSWP)

Information and links for this collection are now available from the Special Collections page.

Journal Citation reports

The 2007 JCR is now available as an additional resource in the Web of Knowledge database. It is a service which provides journal performance metrics including the "impact factor" of individual titles.

Barbour Index now available

Barbour is a leading provider of professional information services across the  health, safety, environment and construction sectors. The Barbour Index can be accessed from on or off-campus. Please contact the university library for access details.

 

blackwell synergy merges with wiley interscience

The popular Blackwell Synergy ejournal collection is merging into Wiley Interscience, and the existing Synergy website will shut down permanently on 27th June. All the journals presently available from Blackwell will continue to be available on the Wiley Interscience website. The links on our Find e-journal List should continue to work, but please report any problems you find to the library helpdesk on 848-3759 or email library@uws.ac.uk

New resource for forensic science

FORENSICnetBASE / LAWENFORCEMENTnetBASE is a new resource for forensic science students. Consisting of over 200 electronic books from the respected CRC Press, available from on or off campus with an Athens login.

dissertation Form

The form required to be bound with dissertations can now be downloaded for printing.