Welcome new students!

Congratulations to our new students who received their results yesterday. You can relax now you know you are coming to The University of Sheffield, Times Higher Education UK University of the Year.

If you’d like to find out about our library services in advance, you can find the introductory information you will need here: www.shef.ac.uk/library/services/induction

You can also follow the library on Twitter @UniSheffieldLib, and follow this blog for news relating to your faculty.

Enjoy the rest of your summer, fingers crossed for some more sunshine!

Looking forward to meeting you all in September. 

Need help with your dissertation?

The Library can help with advice on referencing, finding literature, data and other materials.

Have a look at our online tutorials about StarPlus, writing a literature review and referencing.

If you'd like some individual help face to face, contact the library subject specialist for your department. Alternatively, pop into the IC skills suite on level 1. Staff are normally available between 9-5 Monday-Friday. Ask at the information desk for directions.

Ebooks - top tip

Did you know that you can add personal notes to any ebook provided by our supplier Dawsonera?  The reader portal recognises who you are each time you log in and your notes will automatically appear.  Please note it's only possible to do this from the online reader,  not from a downloaded copy if you've chosen a 24-hour download to your own computer.

To make notes, click on the yellow Notes tab,  create or edit your notes and click Save. You can add as many notes to any page of the ebook as you wish, and you can also download them.

Check out  the Dawsonera help pages for more top tips!

Web of Knowledge Mobile Access

Web of Knowledge have recently brought out a new mobile version of their database so now you can search for articles on the go. The mobile interface contains many of the same features; so there's all the advanced search options, you can set alerts, view your search history and send references to endnoteweb.

To get started all you need to do is go to http://m.webofknowledge.com/ from your phone and log in with your personal WoK username and password.

If you haven't created a WoK account before just follow the steps below;

1. From a normal PC log into MUSE and go to Web of Knowledge from the library tab.


2. Once in Web of Knowledge click on 'sign in'.


3. Then click 'register' to create a new account (when registering it's best to use your @sheffield email address).

You can now use your new password for the mobile interface as well as accessing all the database's advanced features. All you need to remember is to log into your new account at least every 6 months from an IP authenticated computer to ensure your account stays active.

  

For more information or trouble-shooting see the WoK webpages below;

http://wokinfo.com/about/mobile/

http://wokinfo.com/media/pdf/wok-mobile-faqs.pdf

Library news for Social Sciences

Our latest Social Sciences newsletter is now out.  Our focus in this issue is on helping you find information for your assignment or dissertation.  There are some tips on searching for articles using our new library catalogue StarPlus and a feature on the multidisciplinary database Scopus.

We've also been busily spending money on boosting our collection of ebooks and have added almost 200 new social sciences ebooks titles. You can still recommend a new book, or request an ebook or additional print copies.  Just fill out our online recommendation form.

Improving learning resources

We've been busy spending the additional money that the University made available to the Library this year to strengthen collections for students in the Faculty of Social Sciences.  Using information from our loans system, and following  recommendations from students and staff, we've already added over 140 new social sciences ebooks to the collections, and ordered extra print copies of many in demand titles.

Click here for information on accessing our ebooks.  Click here for lists of books recently added to the library.

We'll continue to develop learning resources for social sciences throughout the year. If you'd like to recommend a new book, or request an ebook or additional copies, please use the online recommendation form here.

NEW Library catalogue!

Have a look at our new Library Catalogue, StarPlus.
You can search for books and other items in our libraries, as well as electronic and digital material, all from one place.
Log in using your University login and password for direct access to full text where it is available and other features such as saved searches.

Use the ‘University Collections’ tab for electronic and print books, journals, maps, theses, databases and more.
Use the ‘Articles and more’ tab to search for  journal articles from multiple databases . To get full functionality from each database you can still search each one individually by selecting the University Collections tab and searching for the database by name.

So check it out and tell us what you think. We’d love your feedback to help us develop the service so please email lib-primo@lists.shef.ac.uk with your comments. And don’t worry, Star won’t be going anywhere just yet.

Library news for Social Sciences

Our latest Social Sciences newsletter is now out.  Important news is that the University has given us some additional funding to strengthen our collections for students in the Faculties of Arts & Humanities and Social Sciences. We'll be building up our collections in these subject areas, buying more ebooks and more print copies of books recommended for modules and in high demand.

You can help us spend this money by filling in our recommendation form and letting us know about books you'd like to see added to our collection, or titles where you think extra copies or an ebook would be useful.  We can't promise to buy everything that you suggest but all your recommendations will be carefully considered.

Do you need legal information for your course?

Of course you do if you're a student in the Law School, but other subject disciplines use legal information as well. Areas of law such as employment, health, media, planning and safety are potentially of interest to students and staff in a variety of faculties and departments, including Management, Town & Regional Planning, Journalism, Engineering and Medicine.

There are two legal databases, Lexis and Westlaw that are widely used by law students and by law firms. Both employ friendly, helpful student associates on campus, and you can contact them for help in using the databases. The associate for Lexis is Emmi Wilson eewilson1@shef.ac.uk and the associate for Westlaw is Trish Hughes pahughes1@shef.ac.uk

Check out the subject guide for law on the library web if you'd like to find out more about legal databases and websites. If you need more information about resources for legal research, contact the Library subject specialist for law, Maria Mawson m.b.mawson@shef.ac.uk .

Introduction to Library services

Last chances for you to drop into one of our induction sessions tomorrow in the IC at 1pm in Collaboratory 1 and at 3pm in Classroom 3.

If you've missed out, or want a reminder, here's the presentation

IC Induction 2011

It's also showing on plasma screens in the IC and other library sites, and available from the Quick Link on our web page

Library and CiCS Induction Drop-Ins

Throughout Intro Week and Week 1 the University Library and CiCS are running drop-in sessions in the Information Commons for new users to learn more about our services. There is no need to book and each session lasts about 20-30 minutes. See the timetable below for more information:

Intro week (19 September - 25 September 2011)

Collaboratory 1	Monday- Friday	11.00 13.00 14.00 15.00

Week 1 (26 September - 30 September 2011)

Collaboratory 1	Monday	13.00
	Wednesday
	Friday
Classroom 3	Monday	15.00
	Thursday
	Friday
Classroom 4	Tuesday	15.00

Yomidasu Rekishikan - trial access

We currently have trial access to the full text newspaper, Yomiuri Shinbun.

Please note that characters cannot be displayed using Internet Explorer, so please use an alternative browser, such as Google Chrome or Firefox.

Access to this electronic resource is available to registered staff and students of the University of Sheffield until 26 August 2011. Follow the link above to access the database. You may be prompted to log into MUSE.

You can comment on this trial using the online feedback form.

Journal moves on Levels 2 and 3 at Western Bank Library

As part of our policy to make the Library easier to use, we are about to start a major move round of journals on Levels 2 and 3 at Western Bank Library. The aim of this work is to merge the journals and create a single sequence on Level 2.

The work will start on Monday 11 July and last for approximately 10 weeks. During this time, there will be some disruption but the stock will still be accessible. The Library catalogue will be amended as the work progresses but it is advisable to ask staff to help you locate this material during this period.

Keeping up-to-date: Social Sciences Newsletter

Keep up to date with all the latest news - take a look at our Social Sciences newsletter,

Extended opening hours for the exam period

Both Western Bank Library and St. George’s Library will have longer opening hours (self service) during the exam period.

• Western Bank Library will open at 8:30-24:00 Monday to Thursday, 8:30-21:00 Friday, 10:00-18:00 Saturday and 10:00-24:00 Sunday, between Sunday 15th May and Friday 10th June.

• St George’s Library will open from 10:00 to 18:00 at weekends between Saturday 14th May and Sunday 12th June.

Library support for dissertations

Do you need help finding literature or data for your dissertation, or advice on the correct way to reference the sources you intend to refer to?  The library subject specialists for social sciences are happy to answer questions or offer advice, either by email, or face to face at a time that suits you.

Find your subject specialist from the list below and get in touch - we may be able to save you a lot of time!

Information School, Journalism, Lifelong Learning, Psychology, Sociological Studies:


Alastair Allan email  a.allan@sheffield.ac.uk, tel (0114) 222 7268 (external), 27268 (internal)

East Asian Studies, Politics:

Gill Goddard email g.m.goddard@sheffield.ac.uk, tel (0114) 222 7334 (external), 27334 (internal)

Architecture, Education, Geography, Landscape, Town & Regional Planning:

Denise Harrison email denise.harrison@sheffield.ac.uk, tel (0114) 222 7270 (external), 27270 (internal)

Economics,  Law,  Management:

Maria Mawson email m.b.mawson@sheffield.ac.uk, tel (0114) 222 7348 (external), 27348 (internal)

Understanding Society - First Findings

Early research findings by the scientific team behind Understanding Society are now published. Understanding Society: Early findings from the first wave of the UK’s household longitudinal study is a volume of research findings which can be downloaded by anyone who is interested.

As a longitudinal social survey, which will  follow 40,000 households, it provides unique insights into British society in the 21st century.  It will allow researchers, policy makers and the general public to learn about patterns of family life, people's  experiences of work and education, their health and their attitudes to issues such as climate change and community.

The First Findings summary provides a first view of the results from the study and presents some early findings.  Although these are first findings, they cover a wide range of areas of people's lives and experiences.  From family life,  employment during the recession,  to young people's attitudes to climate change,  there is a wealth of information across a wide range of topics.

The numbers on the books - what do you think?

We are running a survey to find out about your views on the shelfmarks on Library stock, with the aim of making things easier to find on the shelves. It is a short survey, taking about 5 minutes to complete, and we would be grateful for your help. You can find it at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/shelfmark.

Western Bank Library extended opening hours

From Sunday 9 January to Thursday 3 February Western Bank Library will be open longer hours to cover the revision and exam period.  The hours are shown in the table below.  Opening hours for other library sites can be found here and helpful information on preparing for exams can be found from the  Student 's Union.

	Opening hours	Staffed service
Monday - Thursday	09:00 - 00:00	09:00 - 19:00
Friday	09:00 - 21:00	10:00 - 19:00
Saturday	10:00 - 18:00	12:00 - 18:00
Sunday	10:00 - 00:00	12:00 - 18:00

Feedback from our intro sessions

We've had some really useful feedback from students who attended our introductory sessions in the IC in Intro Week.   One comment was about the lack of availability of scanners in the IC.   Apologies for this - there are scanners available but they have been moved slightly over the summer and we need to make this clearer. We'll sort out some better signs as soon as we can.

Another comment was that it would be much better if pcs could be booked from 15 minute intervals rather than on the hour, as lectures often finish on the hour. We're hoping to be able to alter this soon, so keep checking CiCS/IC websites for updates.

Many thanks to all who took the trouble to reply and congratulations to Yuling Su of the Department of Economics who was the lucky winner of our goodie bag.

It's not too late to let us have your feedback or comments about intro week or any other aspect of library services.    Comment here or email library@sheffield.ac.uk