British Library Boston Spa Minibus

The Library runs a regular free minibus service to the British Library Document Supply Centre at Boston Spa to give staff and students of the University the opportunity to use the extensive collections housed there. Visits are scheduled for the first Tuesday of every month and the next trip is on 5th April. These are usually very popular and book up quickly, so hurry and book your place now!

The minibus leaves from the Tower court car park outside the Western Bank Library at 8.45am and returns to Sheffield by approximately 5.00pm.

The British Library requires pre-registration to use their libraries and material must be ordered in advance. More details can be found on the library’s web page

Millions more items now available at Boston Spa

The British Library has recently announced a huge increase in the number of items available for visitors to Boston Spa. In fact, 85% of the collection items requested in the London Reading Rooms are now also available to Readers in Yorkshire.

More details can be found in this blog post

British Library Boston Spa minibus

The Library runs a regular free minibus service to the British Library Document Supply Centre at Boston Spa to give staff and students of the University the opportunity to use the extensive collections housed there. Visits are scheduled for the first Tuesday of every month and the next trip is on the 1st of December.

The British Library requires pre-registration to use their libraries and material must be ordered in advance. More details can be found on the Library’s web page

If you would like any further information or wish to reserve a place on the bus, please telephone (0114) 222-25097 or call in at the Western Bank Library. Staff and students can also book online

Doctoral Open Days at the British Library

The British Library is hosting a series of open days that are aimed at first year PhD students. Each one will introduce you to the library and its services by focusing on one aspect of the collections. For example, one of the open days will look at the unique collections for social sciences, which are vast and include: books, journals, government and legal documents, reports, oral history interviews, magazines and broadcast news. Another open day will explore the library’s news and media collections. These events will also provide you with the opportunity to meet expert staff and other researchers.

Further information

• For the full list of open days and to book your place on one, please see this web page 
• Please remember that BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL
• Each open day costs £5.00
• Lunch and refreshments are provided
• To make the most of your day, you may wish to register for a free Reader Pass before the event

New! Spare Rib magazine

Spare Rib was a landmark national feminist magazine. It was first published in July 1972 and continued until January 1993. All 239 editions of the magazine are now available online for the first time, providing a valuable insight into women’s lives and this period of feminist activity.

Access

Access is available from this webpage. Alternatively, search for “Spare Rib” using the University Collections search box on the StarPlus Library catalogue.

Additionally, the British Library’s Spare Rib website features selected pages from the magazine, alongside articles written by academics, activists and former contributors.

#ShareMyThesis Competition

The British Library has launched a Twitter-based competition for all PhD authors and current doctoral students.

The #ShareMyThesis competition aims to increase awareness of EThOS and the use of theses for research. To enter, Tweet why your PhD research is important in 140 characters or less and using the hashtag #ShareMyThesis. Your tweet should convey why your research is important (not just what your research is about). Make sure your tweet is self-contained and understandable to a non-specialist. Tweets must be received by 9 February 2015 at 10.00

Eight entrants will be shortlisted and asked to write a short article (up to 600 words) The winner will receive a 15-inch MacBook pro. Second prize is an iPad and third prize a £200 Amazon voucher.

For more information, please see here

EThOS

 

Search over 350,000 doctoral theses. Download instantly for your research, or order a scanned copy quickly and easily.

EThOS is a free research tool which gives access to the best of the UK’s doctoral research. Search over 350,000 theses covering every subject area, and download over 100,000 straight away.
•             Search and read theses on your topic;
•             Find examples of how to structure and approach your thesis;
•             Research the work of specific institutions or academics.






Search EThOS here: http://bit.ly/1fjv6Hd

Free webinar on etheses Thurs 13th Feb

This free webinar (online presentation) on Thursday 13th February at 15.00 is aimed at researchers, students, and anyone who is interested in finding and using PhD theses.

EThOS is the national database for PhD theses, managed by the British Library. It's a fantastic resource for researchers, with over 100,000 UK theses freely available to download
and use for your own research, and another 200,000 available to search and scan on demand.

Join the free webinar to learn how EThOS works. Find out how to search for and download theses, and what to do if a thesis isn't available. If you're a PhD student, find out what will happen to your
thesis once it's completed. The webinar will also explain how EThOS works with UK universities to support the whole research cycle, making the theses more visible and available for new researchers to use and build on. To attend the webinar register here

BL maps update- get involved!

Two collections of maps have recently been added to the British Library online map gallery: 

1.       Goad fire insurance plans of British and Irish towns, 1886-1930, approx. 2,500 maps

2.       Military maps of WW1 and the US Civil War, including trench maps and campaign charts, approx. 225 maps

Help the British Library georeference the Goad fire insurance plans! Further information here: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/magnificentmaps/2013/11/2700-new-maps-online-for-georeferencing.html

Just started your PhD?

The British Library is holding a series of Doctoral Open Days, from November until February. The events are free and are aimed at first year PhD students who are new to the British Library. You will learn about the collections, find out how to access them, and meet the British Library's expert staff and other researchers in your field. To book a place use the Book Now link beside each listed session. You might also want to get a free reader pass before attending the event.

InterLibrary Requests

Has your literature search unearthed essential journal articles or books that aren't in stock in the library? If so, we can try to get them for you from the British Library or other sources.
University staff and postgraduate research students can use the link on the library tab in MUSE to submit requests online. Other students should complete a request form and get an authorisation sticker from their department.
More information about the InterLibrary Request service is available here

Magnificent Maps

Just a reminder about the marvellous Magnificent Maps exhibition running at the British Library St Pancras until 19 September 2010. If you haven't had a chance to visit it yet, do try to - it's free!  The website supports the exhibition and in addition to visitor information it also has some great online features. These include interactive images of some historic maps including the Psalter world map and the Fra Mauro map with background information on their content and importance.

If you missed the recent BBC series The Beauty of Maps the BBC website has some video highlights of the maps featured and a link to Maptube,  a free resource for viewing, sharing, mixing and mashing maps online, created by UCL's Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis.