New arrival! Independent Voices digital collection

Independent Voices is a digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals, drawn from the special collections of participating libraries. These periodicals were produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, the extreme right-wing press and alternative literary magazines during the latter half of the 20th century.

Independent Voices is a work in progress. This collection currently contains 13,484 issues comprising 415,789 pages. Browse by series (e.g. Black American, Campus Underground, Feminist, LGBT), by title or by date.

Sage Research Methods - What's New for 2017?

 

Attention all researchers! Lots of new content has been added to Sage Research Methods online recently. Here are some of the things to tempt you

49 new book titles including:

• Designing and doing survey research
• Writing successful reports and dissertations
• Developing transferable skills

33 new case studies including:

• The use of online forum data in the study of gaming behavior
• Restorative youth justice
• Online political activism in Syria

 26 new data sets including:

• Analysing focus groups on politics with young people in Wales
• Interviewing elites: employing a feminist and interpretative approach in grounded theory techniques
• Analysing oral histories

There are also 2 new tools to help you complete your research project:

• Project Planner - from picking a topic to gathering data to choosing a method,  here is your step-by-step guide to a successful research project.
• Which Stats Test tool - answering a handful of multiple-choice questions this tool will provide you with a recommendation on which statistical method to use to analyze your data.

Both can be found under the Research Tools menu.

Japan Times Digital Archive

Japan Times Digital Archive includes digital and searchable scans of all pages published in The Japan Times between 1897 and 2015. The Japan Times is the English language daily newspaper published in Japan.

Love ebooks?...We do!

This year, we are celebrating Academic Book Week (23 - 28 January 2017) by focusing on our vast range of ebooks and their benefits.  Come and see us on the ground floor of The Diamond and elsewhere around campus and check out some of our subscribed content using the QR codes on our 'ebook shelves' (just connect to Eduroam).



Let us know what you think of our ebook collection by:

• using #loveebooks on twitter
• contacting our HelpDesk
• contacting your subject librarian in our Faculty Engagement Team
• using the touchscreens outside Library Connect, The Diamond

Exam time - extra study space

Throughout the exam period, all group study rooms in the Information Commons and some in the Diamond will not be bookable, so that they can be used by as many students as possible. 

We've also booked some additional rooms across campus which can be used as study spaces. You can check available rooms day by day on our exam extra study space web page.

Student publishing - free event

The University of Manchester Library and Manchester University Press are holding a one day conference on student publishing on 16^th January.  This event will discuss journals for both taught and research students. Speakers from varying perspectives will share their experiences – advantages and drawbacks, successes, challenges and surprises – and all attendees will have the opportunity to contribute.

Speakers include librarians, academics and students from the universities of Surrey, Warwick and Manchester, and publishers from Manchester University Press, UCL Press and the White Rose Press.

Attendance is free but numbers are strictly limited.  Tickets can be booked at:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/one-day-conference-on-student-publishing-tickets-30292466583 

Library Survey 2016 - Tell us your thoughts

Calling all students and academic staff!

We are committed to improving your library services. Better understanding your expectations will help us tailor our services to your needs.
We are conducting this survey to measure library service quality and identify best practices through the Association of Research Libraries' LibQUAL+® program.
The survey runs between 21 November - 11 December and should take no more than 15 minutes to complete.  If you input your e-mail address at the end of the survey, you will be entered in to a prize draw to win £100 voucher.

Complete the survey

Find out more

New database - Gallup Analytics

Gallup Analytics is an online analytics platform containing data from the Gallup World Poll, which collects opinions on the most important issues worldwide. Topic areas include: economic confidence, employment, leadership, military and police, religion, food, corruption, and more.

Data can be viewed by demographic and socio-economic groups, and across geographies, and can be exported to create custom data tables, trends, charts and scatter plots.
 

International Open Access Week #oaweek

From Monday 24th to Friday 28th October the University Library's Research Services Unit will be visiting different sites across campus to talk about open access.

Monday, 24th October - Ideas Space, Hadfield Building

Tuesday, 25th October - Mezzanine Level, Western Bank Library (with cake and coffee)

Wednesday, 26th October - Medical School Foyer, Hallamshire Hospital 

Thursday, 27th October - Foyer, Jessop West

Friday, 28th October - Mezzanine Level, Western Bank Library (with cake and coffee) 

The team will be available from 11.00-14.00 each day to answer your questions. 

New improved Box of Broadcasts

On 1 August the new Box of Broadcasts went live, with a fresh look, enhanced video quality and more powerful searching capabilities. Throughout September a whole host of improvements have been made:

• A platform working across desktop, iOS and Android devices
• More powerful searching capabilities
• Better programme coverage and a permanent archive of all broadcast content from nine channels: BBC1 London / BBC2 / BBC4 / ITV London / Channel 4 / More4 / Channel 5 / BBC Radio 4 / BBC Radio 4 Extra
• Better thumbnail previews on search results
• Preview clips before saving
• Label your own clips
• Personalised email alerts when programmes are ready to view
• More detailed citation data

The first time you connect to the new BoB website, you'll be asked to complete a short form to set up your account. Please use the same email address that you used on the old BoB website. If you'd already created clips and playlists in the old BoB system you'll be able to import them to the new one.

New Library eresources

We're continually working towards enriching our collections to support the strategic aims of the Faculty of Social Sciences and the wider University through our Strategic Funds for Learning & Teaching, and for Research. We've consulted widely to support these major purchase decisions and we're pleased to announce a range of new resources that are available now, or in the near future.

We'll be blogging in more detail about individual resources throughout the year. New content that will be of particular interest for social sciences include:

• ENDS Report - environmental news and policy

• Euromonitor Passport - global business intelligence

• Gallup Analytics - opinion poll data from around the world

• Newspaper archives - including Economist, FT, Japan Times, Sunday Times

• OECD iLibrary - additional content

• Oxford Scholarship Online - additional content

We would be very interested to hear about the impact of these resources on research or learning, so if you have any evidence or feedback to share, please get in touch.

Oxford Dictionaries Premium, Chinese language resources

Oxford Dictionaries Premium (formerly known as 'Oxford Language Dictionaries Online' or 'OLDO') offers searchable, comprehensive bilingual dictionaries, and acts as a point of reference and guide for language learning.

As well as its English to Chinese and Chinese and English dictionary, the University of Sheffield subscribes to the following languages Arabic, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

Its Chinese language resources will help you improve your Chinese grammar, pronunciation, and writing skills.

Access is available directly from this page (http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/library/cdfiles/oldo) by connecting to the Oxford Dictionaries website - you'll be prompted to log in to MUSE as necessary.

Pride Sheffield 2016

We are again supporting diversity & inclusion with an updated StarPlus Pride list 2016. As part of the Library's visible symbol of commitment to LGBT equality week and Pride Sheffield 2016 on 30th July, staff were asked to list their favourite LGBT resources and they did us proud.

 

If you can't find what you're looking for, why not recommend it and we'll see if we can add it to the Library's collection!

Box of Broadcasts (BoB) upgrade

Box of Broadcasts (BoB) is being upgraded during August 2016. The new BoB interface goes live on 1 August 2016, but there will be limited content and functionality during the upgrade period. There won't be any access to saved clips and playlists, or some archive content broadcast before 1 July 2016. The service should be fully restored, along with new functionality, by September 2016. BoB apologise for any inconvenience caused during the upgrade period.

We'll update you on the exciting new functions in September!

Changes to default search options in Web of Science

From 15th July 2016, Web of Science will default to the WoS Core Collections search option, rather than All Databases.  

The WoS Core Collection search offers more advanced options (such as the Analyze Results feature), however Core Collection search results will not include content from some key databases such as MedLine, Biosis or Zoological Record. 

  

Users accessing Web of Science via StarPlus will still automatically default to the All Databases search as before. 

Users accessing Web of Science directly may need to select the All Databases option from the search menu.

​

You can also select your preferred search options by signing up for a personal account and going to the Settings menu (you must access Web of Science via StarPlus to do this if you are off-campus):

Here's what is included in the Web of Science Core Collection:

• Science Citation Index Expanded (1900-present)
• Social Sciences Citation Index (1956-present)
• Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975-present)
• Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Science (1990-present)
• Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Social Science & Humanities (1990-present)
• Book Citation Index– Science (2005-present)
• Book Citation Index– Social Sciences & Humanities (2005-present)
• Emerging Sources Citation Index (2015-present)
• Current Chemical Reactions (1985-present)
• (Includes Institut National de la Propriete Industrielle structure data back to 1840)
• Index Chemicus (1993-present)

The All Databases Option also allows you to search content from the following databases:

• BIOSIS Citation Index
• BIOSIS PReviews
• Current Contents Connect
• Data Citation Index
• Derwent Innovations Index
• KCI-Korean Journal Database
• MEDLINE
• Russian Science Citation Index
• SciELO Citation Index
• Zoological Record

Oxford Scholarship Online - now bigger and better!

We're pleased to say we've recently extended our subscription to the Oxford Scholarship Online database of ebooks. Previously we had access only to the Philosophy collection, but we now have access to ebooks in the fields of economics & finance, business & management, law, political science, sociology and social work. All titles are indexed on StarPlus or you can search and browse the database by subject.

China Academic Journals on CNKI (中国知网) #weareinternational

China Academic Journals Online on CNKI (中国知网) is a full-text searchable database of Chinese arts and social sciences journals supporting global research and learning.
#WeAreInternational


All subscribed journals from CNKI are searchable on StarPlus by title, keywords, publisher, and subjects. You can also conduct key words article search on CNKI journal database. 

New Trial - Kluwer Arbitration International

Kluwer Arbitration is an online resource for international arbitration research. It includes commentary from expert authors and an extensive collection of primary source materials. We've arranged for a 3 week trial, which is available to University staff and students on-campus only. The trial ends on 6 July 2016 so please take a look and let us have your feedback comments.

Migration to New Worlds - webinar Tues 31st May 4pm

Interested in how our Migration to New Worlds database can be used in teaching and research? Then this webinar is for you. The 45-minute webinar, on Tuesday 31st May 2016 at 4pm, will feature special guest and consultant editor Professor Andrew Linn, Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Westminster.

Migration to New Worlds provides an in-depth look at the emigration of peoples from Great Britain, Ireland, mainland Europe and Asia to the New World and Australasia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The 'Responses to Immigration' section is particularly relevant to the current refugee crisis.

The webinar will explore these documents for an in-depth look at how the collection can be used for teaching and research.

Exams, more study spaces and extended Library opening

With exams starting soon, there is likely to be more pressure on study spaces across campus.
There's now a new online learning space directory that you can use to find somewhere to study.

In addition to the 24/7 opening at the Information Commons and the Diamond, extended opening hours are in place at Western Bank Library - open from 7am on weekdays from 3 May to 9 June.