Monthly Archives: February 2024

ORA AI Collection

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Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning have existed as areas of research for many years but recently these areas have come to the forefront in research in many different disciplines. There are many departments and groups across the University of Oxford that are using and developing AI tools in their research. Many of these research projects have practical applications in medicine, the environment, business and many other areas of society.

Image shows many bubbles cascading out from a central, larger sphere.

Image created by Nidia Dias as part of the Visualising AI project launched by Google DeepMind. Free to use under the Unsplash License

The Bodleian Libraries have recently launched the ORA (Oxford Research Archive) collection on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning available from the homepage of ORA (Oxford Research Archive), the institutional repository for the University of Oxford.

The ORA AI collection gathers AI-related research on many journal articles, conference papers, working papers, preprints, and more – produced by the members of the University of Oxford and mostly available in full text on ORA. The ORA AI homepage also provides links to Oxford AI-related research activities and to research information included in a range of other platforms.

Image shows the sillouette of a human head with scientific symbols.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC 4.0

To mark the launch of the ORA AI collection, an event showcasing current research on AI and Machine Learning from DPhil students and early career researchers will be held on the 19th March, 10 -11.30am in the Taylor Institution.

Equipment to borrow at the RSL

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Forgotten something? If you’ve left your charger or headphones at home, the RSL has you covered!

Photograph of a person holding a laptop and mobile phone

Credit: Maxim Ilyahov, Unsplash

We offer a surprisingly large range of equipment to use in the library: from HDMI cables and plug adapters to book snakes and book rests. You can also grab back supports and footrests too.

Head to the Library Desk to borrow items.

We stock a range of computer equipment and peripherals:

  • Adapters for screens
  • Laptop lock
  • Adjustable laptop stand
  • Mouse
  • laptop power station
  • USB memory stick

    Photoraph showing laptop stand, power bank, headphones, and book rest displayed on a shelf.

    You can borrow headphones, laptop and book stands, powerbanks and more from the Library Desk

 

All sorts of cables and adapters:

  • Plug adapter (European, American, Japanese)
  • C-type charging cable
  • USB Type-C to HDMI adapter – For hooking macs up to study room screens
  • Micro USB cable
  • iPhone charging cable
  • HDMI cable laptop to screen

These items can be borrowed from the Library Desk.

Close up photograph of an HDMi cable

Credit: Srattha Nualsate

As well as:

  • SONY headphones
  • Magnifying glass
  • Foam book rests
  • Book snakes
  • Bookstands
  • Brightsign remote control (for use with study room screens)

Back supports and foot rests can be found in baskets in front ot the Library Desk.

Two photographs of footrests and back supports in baskets

Footrests and back supports can be found in front of the Library Desk

We hope you find this equipment useful!

Let us know if you think we’re missing anything or if you’ve any feedback: enquiries.rsl@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Laptop Tables

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Have your say!

We know you want more seats in the RSL, and we are working on it, but with some of those seats you’ll need tables. We have two different laptop tables that we are testing and we’d appreciate your feedback.

Both tables are height adjustable but have slightly different styles.

Table 1 has a round shape and a solid base.

Two images, one showing a person sitting at a laptop table, the other showing a person standing at a laptop table.

Table 2 has a square design.

two images, one showing a person sitting at a laptop table, the other showing a person standing at a laptop table.

 Give us your feedback by adding a vote for the table you like, use the whiteboard near the tables. You can also leave a comment.

Photograph of a whiteboard with the text that reads, New laptop tables? Help us choose. Add your vote or grab a post-it and leave your comments. Below that are spaces with headings Table 1, Table 2 and Comments.

Cast your vote!

If you have any further comments or suggestions you’d like to make about laptop tables you can reply here or email enquiries.rsl@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

LGBTQ+ History Month

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As LGBTQ+ History month kicks off there is a range of informative and enriching events happening throughout the University.

We’d like to take this time to highlight two scientists from the LGBTQ+ community who are represented in the portraiture around the RSL.

Christopher Strachey was a computer scientist, leader in the field of programming languages and pioneer of early video games. See his portrait in the RSL and read more about this amazing figure on our blog.

Our colleagues in the archives have an amazing collection of his working papers and lectures that can also be consulted.

Oliver Sacks is one of the few scientists whose work became well-known through his published accounts of neurological case stories, particularly the adaptation of his book ‘Awakenings’ into a film starring famous American actors. He was also a man who lived at a time when he had to hide his homosexuality for fear of imprisonment or chemical castration. We are grateful to his foundation for allowing us to include this eminent Oxford alumnus in our portraiture. Read more about him on our blog.

Book Display 

We have also put together a small book display that you can view in the break out area. The collection highlights the great work of LGBTQ+ scientists and their allies in history such as combatting AIDS or representing the LGBTQ+ community in data. Other titles provide advice for LGBTQ+ scientists or are interesting reads about the lives and experiences of the community.

Photograph of a book case displaying a selection of LGBT+ related books.Beyond our small display, Bodleian Libraries has created a reading list of LGBT+ resources. There are many great books and websites there that you may find useful to learn more about LGBTQ+ issues and history.

 Books

Book cover of "How to Survive a Plague: the story of how activists and scientists tamed AIDS" by 'David France.France, D. (2017) How to survive a plague : the story of how activists and scientists tamed AIDS. First Vintage books edition. New York: Vintage Books.

Print Book available in the RSL – WC503.7 FRA 2016. Find it in SOLO.

Book cover of "Succeeding in academic medicine: a roadmap for diverse medical students and residents" by John P SanchezSánchez, J. P. (ed.) (2020) Succeeding in academic medicine : a roadmap for diverse medical students and residents. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

Print Book available in the RSL – W21 SAN 2020. Find it in SOLO.

Book cover of "Heart, Brain and Mental Health Disparities for LGBT People of Color" by James J GarciaGarcía, J. J. (2021) Heart, brain and mental health disparities for LGBTQ people of color. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

Print book available in the RSL – WA305 HEA 2021. Find it in SOLO.

Book cover of "The Emergence of Trans: Culture, politics and everyday lives" by Ruth Pearce. Pearce, R. (2020) The emergence of trans : cultures, politics and everyday lives. Igi Moon et al. (eds.). Abingdon, Oxon ; Routledge.

Available as an ebook.

Book Cover of "Pride Parades: how a parade changed the world" by Katherine McFarland Bruce.

Bruce, K. M. (2017) Pride parades : how a parade changed the world. New York: New York University Press.

Available as an ebook.

Book Cover of "Black On Both Sides: a racial history of trans identity" by CR Snorton. Snorton, C. R. (2018) Black on both sides : a racial history of trans identity. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Available as an ebook.

Book cover of "Sexuality: A graphic guide" by MJ Barker.

Illustrated by Jules Scheele.

Barker, M.-J. (2021) Sexuality : a graphic guide. London: Icon.
Print Book, RSL Wellbeing Room – HQ21 BAR 2021 (WBR).

Find it on SOLO.

Book cover of "Queer" by David Getsby.Getsy, D. (ed.) (2016) Queer. London: Whitechapel Gallery.

Print Book available from our Offsite Storage. Find it in SOLO.

Book cover of "Queer Data: Using gender, sex and sexuality data for action" by Kevin Guyan.

Guyan, K. (2022) Queer data : using gender, sex and sexuality data for action. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Print Book available in the RSL, HQ73 GUY 2022. Find it in SOLO.

Check out our Resource of the Month – ACM Digital Library

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The RSL has a huge collection of physical and electronic materials. We have so much that we wanted to shine a spotlight on some of our items whether recently added or an existing collection item. The resources are recommended by our knowledgeable subject librarians who are excited to show off parts of the collection for their subject.

Text that says resource of the month over small images of books, computer equipment and scientific equipment

This month’s selector is:

Rachel Scanlon

Photograph of Rachel Scanlon

Rachel has selected ACM Digital Library by the Association for Computing Machinery, an association of computing professionals including educators and researchers, available on SOLO.

Brief Description

The ACM Digital Library brings together full text access to the full range of ACM publications including journals, conference proceedings technical magazines and books. It also includes publications from select publishers with over 3.5million publications in the library.  ACM is the world’s largest computing society and their content covers the latest developments in areas of

  • Security and privacy
  • Computational theory and algorithms
  • Machine learning and natural language processing
  • Software engineering and programming
  • And more.

The ACM journals also have great open access credentials. Oxford has agreed a read and publish deal with ACM that allows all Oxford affiliated corresponding authors to publish open access in all gold and hybrid ACM journals. Research articles and conference proceedings are covered. Authors are asked to use an Oxford email address. Please choose CC BY and list Oxford as your affiliation.

Person standing in front of a screen showing the faces of many different people.

ACM provides great opportunities for networking and collaboration.

The people section is a great resource for finding experts and potential collaborators. There are filters on geography and subject so you can find the best people to work with.

The conferences section has proceedings from more than 170 computing conferences, symposia  and workshops with content from renowned experts in various computer science disciplines.

Image of ACM Digital Library website home page.

Who is this useful for?

Researchers, DPhils and postdocs in the field of Computer Science particularly those looking to find collaborative colleagues. It is also useful for other scientists looking to develop skills and knowledge in computing.

How can I access it?

This database is available through SOLO. To access it off campus use the VPN or sign in to the journal platform with your Single Sign On (SSO).

Opening Up Research

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Publishing your research open access means making it free for anybody, anywhere in the world to access and read. It often also means giving others the freedom to reuse or adapt research while still ensuring that you are credited as the original author. That could, for example, allow somebody to create a translation of research into a different language so that it can be read by a wider audience. Open access can have advantages for both authors and readers. Authors can benefit from increased dissemination and citations of their work. Readers get free, equitable access to high-quality research (for more background on open access see https://openaccess.ox.ac.uk/start-here).

The reasons for choosing open access publication can vary. You might be committed to open science and sharing your research. Perhaps your funder requires you to publish research open access. Maybe you work with other scientists whose institution’s policy mandates open access publishing. Once you decide to publish open access, the path to actually doing so can be rocky!

Some journals will charge a publication fee called an Article Processing Charge. Depending on your funding status you may be able to claim this money from your funder. Alternatively, you could choose to deposit a version of your article with no charge into an institutional repository like the Oxford University Research Archive. The University of Oxford currently has a range of publisher deals which allow even unfunded researchers to publish open access papers in certain scientific journals with no charge. Deciding between all these different options can be confusing. To help researchers, we have the Open Access Oxford (OAO) website.

The OAO website has all the information you need, from the background to open access publishing and methods to deposit your research through to advice on how to pay open access costs. If your question isn’t covered on the site, you’ll find details for contacting the open access team for further help.

You can use the OAO site to keep up to date with new developments in open access such as changes in open access polices and the University’s approach to open access.

Finally, if you want to get a sound grasp on open access, it’s a great idea to attend one of our regular free training sessions. For beginners we would highly recommend our Fundamentals of Open Access session.

A row of open doors in different primary and secondary colours, each containing a narrow vertical glass panel.

RSL Wellbeing Programme HT

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Wellbeing during your studies can be affected by many things from your workload, to your accommodation to your relationships. The Oxford SU and the Counselling Service can offer help and advice on some of these big issues.

Sometimes just taking a break and doing something you find fun and relaxing can help with your wellbeing, whether it’s talking with friends, taking a walk or just resting. We recently shared a post about our regular wellbeing programme, feel free to drop into any of those events when they are on, like the Nature Walk on Monday 5 February.

We also have a range of special events from free hot chocolate to Craft events for DPhils coming up. Check out what we have planned in the RSL Wellbeing Calendar HT 2024. There’s also information about other wellbeing activities throughout the libraries on the Bodleian Libraries website. Keep an eye on our social media and posters in the library for updates on what’s coming next.