Commercial Awareness Workshop

“So you’ll have read about us in the news recently”…the start of a fairly standard question in a job interview, but this is the kind of question which many interviewees slip up on, according to Robert Shrimsley from the Financial Times.  

To help you avoid this nightmare situation, we have a brand new information skills workshop at 2pm on Wednesday 2 December in The Diamond.

The workshop introduces Commercial Awareness, shows how to prove you have it, then focuses on tools and resources you can use to improve your skills and knowledge to gain an edge in the job market.

Staff from University of Sheffield Enterprise, The Careers Service and The Library deliver the session and will be on-hand to help.

You can book your place here

The Pop-Up Library is coming to Mappin Street!

Our Pop-Up Library will be in the Common Room at 9 Mappin Street (Economics & Journalism), on Thursday 3^rd December, 12–2pm.

We’ll be giving out festive chocolates and other freebies, and answering your questions about library resources and support for learning and research.

Look out for the Pop-Up Library coming to your department soon!

Announcements about future Pop-Up Library sessions will be made on this blog and the @SocSciLibrarian Twitter account. We’d love to hear your thoughts on when and where you would like to see the next one #popuplib

Find the Librarian for your department

The Library’s Social Sciences Liaison team is here to help you with any subject-related library enquiries, such as literature searching and using specialised databases. To find the Librarian for your department or subject please take a look at this web page: Find the Librarian for your subject

Liaison Librarians are happy to answer your enquiries via phone or email, or you can email to book a face-to-face appointment.

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

Trial access to Mintel Trends –feedback welcome

The Library has arranged trial access to Mintel Trends, an insights and intelligence platform that delivers strategic, evidence-backed information on how today’s consumer thinks, feels and acts. Built on Mintel’s data, it allows you to analyse the latest consumer trends such as changes in culture, society, brands and markets.

Access

Trial access is available to University of Sheffield staff and students until 10 January 2016. Mintel Trends can be accessed on and off campus via this webpage (see Quick links on the right hand side).  Click on the Trends tab at the top of the Mintel home page to view.

Feedback

We welcome your comments on this trial resource – please use this online form

To request a new trial please use this online form

Join Up Your Skills

A new venture run jointly by 301 Student Skills & Development Centre, the Careers Service, University of Sheffield Enterprise and the University Library launched this month. We can work with you to strengthen a variety of vital skills which boost your academic credentials and enhance your personal and professional development. Discover how to get more from your time at University: Join Up Your Skills

Reading lists

The Library provides an online reading list service, myResource Lists, with links to electronic resources such as journal articles, ebooks and websites in addition to items physically held in the library. You can search for your reading lists by module code, lecturer or department. For more information, please see our short introductory video on the myResource Lists homepage.

You can access myResource Lists (on and off campus) in the following ways:

• via the link in your MOLE course menu
• via the My services menu in MUSE
• From the Library web pages, under the A to Z link
• From the StarPlus homepage

What if I have any problems, or can’t find a myResource list for my course? Email: readlist@sheffield.ac.uk

Help for Academic Staff

Information Skills Advisory Service – drop-in at the IC!

Do you require information skills support?  Would you like to speak one-to-one with a Liaison Librarian? The Information Skills Advisory Service, located on Level 1 of the Information Commons, can answer your questions about literature searching, referencing and other information skills.  There is no need to book an appointment; University of Sheffield members can drop-in between 13:00 & 17:00, Monday to Friday (during term time). For more information about skills support, please see our web page: Information Skills

Company and business information

You may need to find company and business information for your coursework, or to help you with applying for jobs. Knowing more about the structure, history and business of a company before you write an application, or attend an interview, is likely to improve your commercial awareness and employability. Our subject guide for Company and business information provides links to databases and web sites, which you can use to obtain this type of information.

For the full list of Subject guides, please see this web page: Subject guides to resources in the Library and on the Internet

The Overseas Koreanology Librarian Workshop

Youn-Hi Hughes (Liaison Librarian for East Asian Studies) attended the Overseas Koreanology Librarian Workshop at the National Library of Korea, held from October 11^th-17^th. The event covered: the National Library of Korea, and its programmes to support Korean studies overseas; reference sources for both historical and current Korean Studies; and old and rare Korean book digitization.

Please contact Youn-Hi for further information. Her contact details are available from this web page: Social Sciences Liaison team

Further information is available on the National Library of Korea website 

Plagiarism and referencing

“Plagiarism (either intentional or unintentional) is the using of ideas or work of another person (including experts and fellow or former students) and submitting them as your own. It is considered dishonest and unprofessional. Plagiarism may take the form of cutting and pasting, taking or closely paraphrasing ideas, passages, sections, sentences, paragraphs, drawings, graphs and other graphical material from books, articles, internet sites or any other source and submitting them for assessment without appropriate acknowledgement.” University of Sheffield, 2013

Plagiarism is an important issue that all students are expected to take seriously; failure to do so can have huge implications and could even lead to expulsion. It is important to remember that plagiarism is still an offence whether it was intended or not, and that ignorance is no excuse.

Online tutorials and further information

·         To help you dodge the pitfalls, the library provides a Plagiarism tutorial

·         Additional advice is also provided by The Academic Skills Hub (TASH): Avoiding plagiarism

·         Student services offer information regarding plagiarism in assessments

·         Knowing how to reference correctly can help you to avoid plagiarism. Use our online Referencing tutorials to learn how to reference correctly in the style used by your department.

Information Skills Workshop on plagiarism & referencing

Information skills workshops are delivered in The Diamond. Workshops are open to taught course students from all departments. In the Plagiarism & Referencing workshop you will explore what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. You will consider the purpose of referencing and ways to ensure correct, consistent referencing.

For further information, and to book your place on a workshop, please see: Information Skills Workshops

Welcome to the Diamond

Our new 24-hour learning space is now open and offers 1000 additional study spaces to all students in all departments.

 Innovative study spaces are distributed throughout the building, including distraction-free spaces, group study spaces and social study spaces. Power sockets and USB charging points are available in all study spaces and laptops are available to loan from the level 4 information desk.

The higher up the building you travel, the more study spaces you will find. This culminates in our exciting new service area on level 4 featuring a core print reference collection, extensive creative media facilities, information skills workshops and our most diverse range of study spaces yet, all with spectacular city views.

Take some time to visit Library Connect on the ground floor, situated next to The Diamond Kitchen. This space allows you to quickly organise yourselves, including quick look up of resources, printing, pick up of loans requested from any library, as well as convenience of returns. Call in to see us and find out more about information, space, skills development and answers to any of your questions.

If you need any help or have questions, our Library and CiCS staff are available and ready to help you experience all that the Diamond has to offer. Simply ask any member of staff wearing a yellow lanyard…Say Hello to Yellow!

 

A 3D animated fly-through of The Diamond

The Diamond website

Library staffed-hours within The Diamond

Information skills workshops

 

WIN an iPad Air 2

Follow The University Library on Twitter or Facebook for your chance to win an iPad Air 2. All you need to do is FOLLOW US on Twitter or LIKE US on Facebook before 30 November 2015. The winner will be announced Tuesday, 1 December 2015. More information is available from this web page

Please note: you need to follow the main University Library Twitter account (@UniSheffieldLib). The competition does not include the @SocSciLibrarian Twitter account, although you can follow this to keep up-to-date with Library news for the Social Sciences.