WISER coming up

Next week the Library Service is running WISER sessions on key tools for locating Oxford's printed and online collections (this is a great session for those finding it difficult to track down elusive books, journals or other materials), e-books (what's available and where to find them) and the pros and cons of Google Scholar. Full details below. Please book your places.

WISER: Key Tools for Locating Oxford Materials
This session will give an overview of the key search tools provided by the Library services including SOLO (Search Oxford Libraries’ Online), OxLIP+ (our gateway to electronic resources) and OU e-Journals.
Date: Monday 25 Jan 12.30-1.30
Presenters: Gillian Pritchard and Gillian Beattie
Book a place at http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/itlp/courses/detail/TZB13

WISER: E-Books
An overview of what is currently available and how to access them from the point of view of the student, the researcher and the academic considering using e-books to resource their courses. The session will end with a brief demonstration of e-book readers including Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader.
Date: Thursday 28 Jan 12.30-1.30
Presenters: Hilla Wait, Juliet Ralph and Roger Mills
Book a place at http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/itlp/courses/detail/TZC4

WISER: Google Scholar - Pros and Cons
Google Scholar is a convenient tool for locating academic articles and papers. This session will offer tips for making the most of Scholar and will discuss its coverage, strengths and weaknesses. We will also offer advice on extending your search should Scholar’s coverage prove inadequate.
Date: Friday 29 Jan 12.30-1.30
Presenters: Kate Jackson
Book a place at http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/itlp/courses/detail/TZWM


The WISER programme aims to help you to make the most effective and efficient use of online and printed resources.

To view the full WISER programme please visit www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/services/training/wiser.

To receive WISER updates automatically please join our mailing list (send an email to wiser-subscribe@mailllist.ox.ac.uk), follow us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/oxwiser) or subscribe to our RSS feed http://rss.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ulib/usered-events-wiser/rss10.xml


Individual assistance is also available on request direct from your subject librarian. Please see www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/libraries/subjects/librarians for contact details.


Please email usered@ouls.ox.ac.uk for more information about WISER.

Free digitised books from the Library of Congress now available online

The Library of Congress has been digitising thousands of books in its collection dating from 1707 to 1922, and approximately 60,000 are now available both via the Library of Congress's online catalogue and also the Internet Archive. For more information, see this announcement, or this video from the Library of Congress. To browse or search just the LC's collection on the Internet Archive, go to: http://www.archive.org/details/library_of_congress.

The Internet Archive is a great source of digitised material, both texts and audio-visual, and is always well worth a look if you're trying to track something down. Many libraries are contributing public domain holdings - Cornell University Library has put some 70,000 books on there, for example - and it currently contains nearly 2 million digitised texts, half a million audio recordings, quarter of a million video recordings, and even 70,000 live music concerts.

Snow (again!)

We're open as usual at the moment, but will keep you updated via all the usual channels (blog, Twitter, Facebook) if any changes are made to opening hours later in the day. We haven't had a stack delivery yet this morning - it may arrive yet but equally may be cancelled if the van can't get around.

WISER Hilary 2010

The WISER (Workshops in Information Skills and Electronic Resources) programme for Hilary term is now available on the OULS website. WISER is a programme of workshops run at lunchtimes at OUCS by library staff, designed to help you make effective use of electronic and other library resources in your research and learning. There are some great looking sessions coming up this term including sessions on e-books, Google Scholar, bibliometrics, maps and mapping, web tools, reference management, keeping up-to-date and a whole morning of sessions devoted to 'finding stuff' on 15th February.

You can subscribe to a weekly email listing upcoming sessions by emailing wiser-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk, or follow OxWISER on Twitter. Sessions are free but most need to be booked via OUCS. Visit the WISER web pages for more information or email usered@ouls.ox.ac.uk.

Snow update: Opening hours

We will be open normal hours from today (9am-7pm), along with all other OULS libraries.

Snow day three: stack requests and early closing

A quick update on snow-affected things:

We have had a delivery from the stack this morning, so if you've placed requests over the last few days they should now be here. We should also therefore get one this afternoon if you were holding off on ordering things until service resumed.

As mentioned in the blog yesterday, all OULS libraries (including this one!) will be closing at 5pm today. Unlike yesterday when the plenary session for the APG conference was happening downstairs, the building will also close at 5pm today.

Opening hours for next week have yet to be confirmed - keep an eye on the blog, or our Facebook or Twitter for announcements if the bad weather continues.

Snow update: Opening hours

Along with all OULS libraries, the VHL will close at 5pm today and tomorrow because of the snow, unless there is any significant change in the weather. We will open at 9am as usual tomorrow.

Weather update: No stack deliveries

Due to the weather, we have been advised that there will be no deliveries of material from the Bodleian bookstack or Nuneham repository today. If you need to see material from the bookstack (not Nuneham) today, then you should order it to a Central Bodleian reading room.

SNOW UPDATE: Early closing today

As a result of the weather, OULS has decided to close all libraries at 3pm today, and not to open until 10am tomorrow morning.

For further updates, keep an eye on the blog, our Twitter feed or the OULS website.

Snow!

Oxford has turned white, and is still turning more so, but we are open as usual nonetheless! I haven't heard anything official yet, but I doubt very much that there will be any deliveries of material from the stack today. If you need books from the Bodleian urgently you should go to a Central Bodleian reading room as hopefully deliveries there will continue as normal.

New books for December

Happy New Year! For the first post of 2010, the list of new books received in the library during December is now available on our website and LibraryThing page.