Monday 29 June 2009

Special opening: Saturday 4th July

To tie in with the Global Lincoln conference being held in the Rothermere American Institute this weekend, the library will be open on Saturday 4th July from 2pm-5pm.

Monday 22 June 2009

Summer Opening Hours

From Monday 29th June we will change to our summer opening hours, so will be open Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm only. Please note that we are closed on Saturdays from now on.

Monday 15 June 2009

Printing and photocopying survey

A message from OULS:

As part of a review of the Oxford University Library Service's printing and copying facilities, we have put together a questionnaire and would be grateful if you could spare some time to fill it in and provide some feedback.

The survey closes midnight Sunday June 21st, after which there will be a prize draw for an MP3 player and USB sticks.

Please find the link to the survey on the OULS webpage, or go directly to it here.

WISER this week

Coming up this week...


WISER: Online resources for Historians

Monday 15 June, 12.30-1.30, OUCS
This session will give an overview of the range of electronic resources which are available for all historical periods. They are typically bibliographical databases, collections of primary source materials, electronic alternatives to journals and/or books or research aids for
biographical or reference research. The use of full-text searchable text opens up new avenues of research for historians.

Book now
Isabel Holowaty


WISER: Gadgets and widgets

Tuesday 16 June 2009, 12.30-1.30, OUCS
This session will look at some tools that can help you organise yourself on the web, including social bookmarking services like delicious.com, bibliophile sites like LibraryThing and My WorldCat, and customised start pages.

Book now
Jane Rawson and Emma Cragg


WISER: Keeping Up to Date

Friday 19 June 2009, 12.30-1.30, OUCS
This session will show you ways of using electronic bibliographic resources to keep up with the literature in your field by creating personal research / interest profiles and making your own
current awareness service.

Book now
Kate Petherbridge and Gillian Pritchard


Please note that the full program for the current term is now available
at http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/services/training/wiser/trinity2009
and http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/rsl/training/wiser_science

Attending these workshops, delivered by subject librarians, will give you an excellent opportunity to gain understanding of the specialist information resources available. These sessions will save you time and make your searches more effective. Please note that individual
assistance is also available on request direct from subject librarians. Please email usered@ouls.ox.ac.uk if you need more information about the WISER sessions.

Wednesday 10 June 2009

New US history sources guides available

Following reader requests, the US History Sources guide has been updated and split into two parts. There are now guides for pre-1945 (pale yellow) and post-1945 (dark yellow) US history, available in the library or online from our website.

Thursday 4 June 2009

WISER coming up

Coming up next week...

WISER: Sources for US History
Monday 8 June, 12.30-1.30, OUCS
This session will introduce key information sources for the study of colonial America and history of the US. Starting with useful finding tools to locate relevant material, examples of source materials will then be shown. These include archival, microform, printed and online collections as well as useful web portals. There will be time for a brief hands-on at the end.
Book now
Isabel Holowaty

WISER on Maps and Mapping
Monday 8 June, 12.30-1.30, RSL
Many areas of research use spatial data and digital mapping is an ideal way to present it. This presentation will cover both web based resources (online map collections etc) and the digital mapping facilities available in the Bodleian. Please note this session will take place in the Abbot's Kitchen (IT training room) at the RSL. There is no need to book.
Nick Millea

WISER: Manuscripts
Tuesday 9 June 2009, 12.30-1.30, OUCS
This session will give an introductory overview of the rich heritage collections preserved in the Bodleian. This session will also help readers to locate relevant material and describe the procedures for access and getting assistance.
Book now
Michael Webb

WISER: Information Sources for African Studies
Friday 12 June 2009, 12.30-1.30, OUCS
This session will introduce key information sources for African Studies. You will be shown useful finding tools to locate relevant material via SOLO and how to search them, as well as important portals and gateways to libraries and archives of online primary texts. There will be time for a brief hands-on at the end.
Book now
Sarah Rhodes and Lucy McCann

The full program for the current term is now available at http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/services/training/wiser/trinity2009 and http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/rsl/training/wiser_sciencehttp://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/rsl/training/wiser_science

Attending these workshops, delivered by subject librarians, will give you an excellent opportunity to gain understanding of the specialist information resources available. These sessions will save you time and make your searches more effective. Individual assistance is also available on request direct from subject librarians. Please email usered@ouls.ox.ac.uk if you need more information about the WISER sessions.

Tuesday 2 June 2009

Reminder: Reference section reorganisation

A couple of months ago I posted on the blog about our proposed reorganisation of the ground floor reference section over the summer, with a view to making post-1920 volumes of the Congressional Record (currently in the stack) available on the open shelves. We will be starting to move books from the reference and bibliographies sections upstairs or down to the stack in the next couple of weeks, so this is your last chance to let us know if you have any objections to any of the proposed moves. As a reminder:
  • Green dots indicate that a book will be moved upstairs to the main collection
  • Yellow dots indicate that a book will be moved to the stack
  • Pink dots indicate a book that will be kept on the ground floor as part of a research enquiry collection
  • No dot means the book will stay as part of the new reference collection.
  • Where all the volumes in a set or on that shelf will be moved together, only the first volume in the set/shelf has been dotted.

If you think that a book should remain in the reference section and not be moved, please mark a cross on the spine dot and we will take this into consideration. We have erred on the side of dotting more books rather than fewer, so not everything will necessarily end up moving.

Thanks for your help!

Monday 1 June 2009

New books for May

The list of new books received in the library is now available on our website and LibraryThing page.