On Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 June, all the Social Science Library computers will be upgraded to the Windows 10 Operating System.
Some computers will be temporarily unavailable during the upgrade period. Readers will be able to use computers in the Information Skills Training Room while those in the main Library PC area are upgraded.
All software currently available on library computers will continue to be available after the upgrade.
Are there any books you would like us to order for the library?
Friday 15 June is the last date for book recommendations this financial year.
You can recommend a book title to the SSL by:
Book ordering will begin again in the new financial year, from August 2018 onwards.
Light fittings in the process of being replaced. New LED lights are visible above the bookshelves.
Work has recently started on replacing the fluorescent ceiling lights in the SSL with energy efficient LED lights. The LED light fittings use less than half the amount of electricity when operating at 100% brightness. Once all the lights are installed the brightness will be reduced to the optimal level and the lights will be connected to daylight sensors, so further energy savings are expected. The work is taking place outside of library opening hours to avoid any disruption to readers and it forms part of the Manor Road Building Facilities Team’s plan to improve lighting efficiency throughout the building.
Electricity used to light the library and run PCs, photocopiers and readers’ devices is one of the Social Science Library’s main environmental impacts due to the carbon dioxide emissions resulting from power generation.
Library staff have been taking simple energy saving actions to reduce energy wastage. You can help by:
See the Greening the SSL web pages to find out more about what we have been doing to improve the library’s environmental sustainability.
For further tips, and to test your climate change knowledge, try the NUS/University of Oxford Student Switch Off Climate Change Quiz which we are proud to support. You could win 50 tubs of ice cream for your college!
To learn more about the University’s work on reducing energy usage see the Environmental Sustainability Reports.
Bodleian Libraries has launched a new online Inter-Library (ILL) Request Form. If you need to access a book or a journal article that is not held by any library within the University of Oxford, we will usually be able to get it for you on ILL. When you submit a request through the online form, the ILL team based in the Old Bodleian Library will search through online catalogues (Copac, for example) to find a library that holds the material you need. They apply to the British Library (BL) in the first instance, and if the BL can’t supply the item the ILL team will send the request to other UK libraries. If no library in the UK holds the material, the team will look internationally.
The form is easy to use – just log in using your Single Sign-On (for members of the university) or your Bodleian Libraries login details (for non-members) and enter the details of your request and of your PCAS account. The ILL team will get in touch with you to confirm that they have submitted your request or to ask you any questions they have about it. You can ask for material to be delivered to several of the Bodleian Libraries, including the SSL, for you to consult.
For more information on Bodleian Libraries’ ILL service, see http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/bodley/using-this-library/ill.
You can get in touch with the ILL team at ill@bodleian.ox.ac.uk, and you can send any SSL-specific ILL questions to ssl-ill@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.
With the busy exam period over, quiet discussion is now permitted in the Central Graduate Study Room again. Following feedback from the Social Science Library Committee, this room was temporarily designated a quiet study area during Trinity Term, but has now reverted to a space for both quiet study and quiet discussion. The East Graduate Study Room remains a quiet study area.
Water is a precious resource. It is vital for human well‐being, economic development, and a healthy environment but we often take it for granted. Although it seems like it rains a lot in the United Kingdom, London actually has a lower annual average rainfall than Istanbul or Rome.
Here are five suggestions from the SSL Green Team on how we can appreciate water more:
Save Water A running tap wastes over six litres of water a minute. Approximately ten litres of water is needed to produce one sheet of paper!
Drink Water It takes up to five litres of water to produce one litre of bottled water.
Read Water Choose from the Library’s booklist:
Enjoy Water The River Cherwell flows alongside the Library – join the path in University Parks and stroll through ancient water meadows.
Campaign Water Get involved and find out more about water conservation.
The SSL Student Survey is closing soon – take 5 minutes to tell us your views in our short online survey and you could win a £50 Blackwell’s voucher.
The survey closes on Saturday 20th May.
Access the survey at www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/ssl/survey
Thank you to everybody who has completed the survey already – your feedback will help us improve our services.
More information:
We at the Bodleian Social Science Library want to know how we can provide the best possible library services. If you receive course reading lists for Social Sciences at the University of Oxford, we want to hear from you.
Subjects of particular interest to us are:
Access the survey at www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/ssl/survey
The survey is open from 3rd – 4th week of Trinity Term, and closes on Saturday 20th May 2017.
Calling Social Sciences students at the University of Oxford!
Complete our 5-minute online survey for a chance to win a £50 Blackwell’s voucher!
We at the Bodleian Social Science Library want to know how we can provide the best possible library services. If you receive course reading lists for Social Sciences at the University of Oxford, we want to hear from you.
Subjects of particular interest to us are:
Access the survey at www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/ssl/survey
The survey is open from 3rd – 4th week of Trinity Term, and closes on Saturday 20th May 2017.
Did you know that the SSL houses the largest collection in the world of unpublished and semi-published ‘grey literature’ on refugee studies and forced migration?
Most of the materials have a geographical orientation, dealing with policy or practice in a particular region or country. Strengths include southern and East Africa, western Europe, the Middle East, and South and South East Asia. Reflecting the multi-disciplinary nature of the study of forced migration, subjects covered include psycho-social issues, human rights, refugee law, relief administration, anthropology, sociology, international affairs, education, health and nutrition. Date coverage is mostly from the mid-1980s to the present day.
You can search for refugee studies grey literature via SOLO where you will also find online versions of 3,000 of the documents along with a further 2,700 reports, articles and working papers from other organisations. These items were all originally digitised for the Forced Migration Online Digital Library.
For more information see our Libguide on Refugee and Forced Migration Studies.