In Week 6 of Trinity Term Bodleian Libraries will be running the following sessions. Please follow links to book online.

Bodleian iSkills: E-books (Wednesday 1st June 9:15-10:30) Week 6  
The Bodleian Libraries has over 624,000 e-books, with titles in all subject areas, but do you feel confident in finding and using them? This workshop will cover finding e-books and how to use and manipulate them.
Who is this session for? Anyone who is interested
Presenters: Hilla Wait, Kat Steiner
Venue: IT Services, 13 Banbury Road

Bodleian iSkills: E-book readers (Wedesday 1 June 10:45-12:15) Week 6  
Reading on E-Book Readers such as Kindle or Nook and using apps for iPad and Android devices is increasingly popular, but how useful are these devices for academic work? This workshop will look at a range of devices and apps on the market and will cover key features to look out for when considering purchase. The workshop will also include an opportunity to try out a range of devices.
Who is this session for? Anyone who is interested
Presenters: Hilla Wait, Kat Steiner
Venue: IT Services, 13 Banbury Road

Bodleian iSkills: Getting started in Oxford Libraries (Thursday 2nd June 14:00-17:00) Week 6  
An introduction to Oxford Libraries including guidance on which libraries to use; accessing e-journals and other online resources; SOLO and other finding aids and making the most of Library services.
Who is this session for? Anyone who would like an introduction to Oxford Libraries.
Presenters: Angela Carritt & Cathy Scutt.
Venue: Radcliffe Science Library, Parks Road

In addition we are running the following:

Weekly Open Access & ORA drop-in sessions (no need to book) to provide face-to-face support and answer all your queries on Open Access and ORA.
11:30-13:30 every Monday (except Bank Holidays) until 8th Week – Digital Scholarship Centre, Weston Library
16.00-17.00 every Tuesday until 8th Week – The Lounge, Radcliffe Science Library

Digital Scholarship Centre (Weston Library) weekly drop-in sessions (no need to book) every Monday from 25th April to 13th June, except Bank Holidays

• Digital projects drop-in session 9.30–11.30
• ORA and ORA Data drop-in session 11.30–13.30
• Digital coffee afternoons, held in the Visiting Scholars’ Centre 14.00–15.00

Keeping up with Bodleian Libraries training opportunities? Why not follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bodleianskills   or visit the Bodleian iSkills blog at http://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/skills/.

Questions? – Please contact usered@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

The iSkills course on Sources for US History has been rescheduled and will now take place on Monday 6th June at 11am in the Radcliffe Science Library Training Room. Book your place now!

This is an introductory session that will give you an overview of the various primary source collections and resources available for the study of Colonial America and US History here in Oxford and online. It is particularly suitable for undergraduates considering writing their theses on US history as well as for graduates and researchers who need to get a sense of what’s available for their research.

If you can’t make the session, or have more specific questions about our American history collections, please feel free to contact the VHL Librarian, Jane Rawson, to arrange a one-on-one meeting: jane.rawson@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

In Week 4 of Trinity Term, Bodleian Libraries will be running the following sessions. Please follow links to book online:

Referencing: Choosing and using software (Tuesday 17th May 09:15-12:15)
Formatting your in text citations/footnotes and bibliography correctly for your thesis or publication is a chore. Reference management software makes it easier and saves you time. This introductory session gives an overview of how reference management works, explores the pros and cons of a wide range of reference management packages and gives you the opportunity to try out five different packages so that you can work out which one is best for you. The packages included are RefWorks, EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley, ColWiz and Papers.
Who is this session for? Postgraduates, researchers.
Presenters: Oliver Bridle, Sophie Staves, Pamela Stanworth, Angela Carritt
Venue: IT Services, 13 Banbury Road

Bodleian iSkills: Using Google for academic research (Tuesday 17th May 14:00-15:30)
Google is often dismissed as being irrelevant to the academic literature search. However, changes to the nature of the dissemination of scholarly research and official information in recent years mean that a wealth of relevant information can be accessed via standard Internet search engines such as Google. Too often however such information is lost amongst thousands of irrelevant, spurious and misleading results. Based on an understanding of how the Google search engine works this practical workshop will show you the basic techniques to quickly filter out high quality academic material from Google searches. Given concerns about the privacy costs of a ‘free’ search within search engines such as Google, alternative search engines will also be explored and compared, including DuckDuckGo.
Who is this session for? All DPhils and Research Students in the Social Sciences
Presenter: Cathy Scutt
Venue: Social Science Library, IT Room Ground Floor

Bodleian iSkills: UK parliamentary and government materials – an introduction (Wednesday 18th May 10:00-11:30)
Of vital help to all undergraduate history students is this general overview of the main sources for finding and accessing historical UK parliamentary material, pre-1800 and post-1800. We look at sources for government publications both in print and in electronic format, including: Parliamentary proceedings – Hansard, Journals of the House of Commons and Lords; Legislation; Government and departmental papers.
Who is this session for? Undergraduate history students and anyone new to the subject
Presenter: Hannah Chandler
Venue: Social Science Library, IT Room Ground Floor

Referencing: RefWorks for Humanities (Wednesday 18th May 14:00-17:00)
RefWorks is an online tool which allows you to manage your citations/references, insert them into your work as footnotes or intext citations, automatically generate bibliographies and easily switch between citation styles. This introduction is open to all, but the section on importing references will focus on Humanities examples.
Who is this session for? Postgraduates, researchers.
Presenters: Bethan Jenkins, Angela Carritt
Venue: Radcliffe Science Library, Parks Road

Bodleian iSkills: Research impact – citation analysis tools (Thursday 19th May 11.00-12.30)
During this introduction to citation tracking and bibliometrics we will use a range of ‘impact factor’ tools to find top journals and conferences, count citations and measure the impact of publications and researchers. We will cover Journal Citation Reports, SCImago Journal Rank, Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, Essential Science Indicators, ORCID and more and explain how to use each tool and its strengths and weaknesses.
Who is this session for? Current Oxford research postgraduates, researchers, academics, University and Library staff.
Presenters: Karine Barker, Karen Langdon
Venue: Radcliffe Science Library, Parks Road

Bodleian iSkills: Archives and modern papers for Social Sciences and History (Thursday 19th May 14:00-16:00)
The Bodleian’s Weston Library has a wealth of resources covering almost all aspects of modern British society and culture. This session will introduce key finding aids and get you started with the research skills needed to make the most of these resources. We will look at identifying relevant material in Oxford and elsewhere; considerations when working with archival material; types of archives and modern papers; and how to find out more. You will have an opportunity in the session to handle some actual examples.
Who is this session for? Students in History and Social Science subjects; researchers and other Bodleian Libraries readers considering using special collections
Presenter: Michael Hughes
Venue: Weston Library, Horton Room

Referencing: Mendeley (Friday 20th May 9:15-12:15)
Mendeley is a reference management package that helps you build libraries of references and then add citations and bibliographies to word processed documents. This session will be run in two parts with a break in between. If you are an advanced user of Mendeley you need only attend the second part, starting at 11.00.
Who is this session for? Postgraduates, researchers, academics and undergraduates wishing to use reference management software.
Presenters: Oliver Bridle, Sophia Staves
Venue: IT Services, 13 Banbury Road

In addition we are running the following:

Weekly Open Access & ORA drop-in sessions to provide face-to-face support and answer all your queries on Open Access and ORA.
11:30-13:30 every Monday (except Bank Holidays) until 8th Week – Digital Scholarship Centre, Weston Library
16.00-17.00 every Tuesday until 8th Week – The Lounge, Radcliffe Science Library

Digital Scholarship Centre (Weston Library) weekly drop-in sessions every Monday from 25th April to 13th June, except Bank Holidays

• Digital projects drop-in session 9.30–11.30
• ORA and ORA Data drop-in session 11.30–13.30
• Digital coffee afternoons, held in the Visiting Scholars’ Centre 14.00–15.00

Also at the Centre for Digital Scholarship:

Crowdsourcing and humanities research (17th May 2016 14:00-15:00)   
(Part of the Research Uncovered – free lunchtime talks 13.00–14.00, Tuesdays of Trinity term 2016)
Venue: Centre for Digital Scholarship, Weston Library
Speaker: Victoria van Hyning

Keeping up with Bodleian Libraries training opportunities? Why not follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bodleianskills   or visit the Bodleian iSkills blog at http://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/skills/.

Questions? – Please contact usered@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

[Cross-posted from the HFL blog]

Together with the Bodleian History Faculty Library, we have organised a trial to America and Great Britain: diplomatic relations, 1775-1815. Oxford readers can access it via SOLO or OxLIP+.

This resource is the digitised Cambridge Archive Edition 9-volume set of facsimile British diplomatic primary material, charting the emergence of an independent United States and comprising diplomatic correspondence between America and Britain.

It provides access to diplomatic and official correspondence between America and Britain and gives a good insight into the shaping of a nation, from America being referred to as ‘our Colonies and Plantations in North America’ by the King, to its recognition as the ‘United States’ by Britain in 1782.

The correspondence is formed of diplomatic letters between the British Government and American officials including Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, James Madison, John Jay and John Hancock. The collection begins with a résumé of events centered around American protests over taxation, follows the course of the War of Independence, and concludes, after ratification of the Treaty of Ghent in February 1815, with the restoration of normal diplomatic relations.Together these correspondences form a narrative which not only captures major historical events from a contemporary viewpoint, but also provides a vivid, lively and uniquely personal insight into the creators of modern America.

Transcript: “All that the americans want from Europeans is a supply of European manufactures… ” America and Great Britain : diplomatic relations, 1775-1815. British government documents. Volume 3. 1783-1791 (Cambridge, 2016), p.344

The archive is a valuable tool in understanding an era of modernization in diplomatic practises. With the expansion of the British Foreign Office, there was a movement away from the era of the aristocratic amateur towards a more tightly controlled process, where professionalised servants of the British Crown filed regular despatches from across the world to a rigid procedure. The collection also provides an insight into European politics during this period. Conflicts between America, France and Britain arising over trade, defence and diplomacy are explored and increase our understanding of this complex trans-Atlantic triumvirate.

Feedback to isabel.holowaty@bodleian.ox.ac.uk or jane.rawson@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

In Week 3 of Trinity Term, Bodleian Libraries will be running the following sessions, including several of particular interest to historians and Americanists. Please follow the links to book online:

Bodleian iSkills: Online resources for Historians (Tuesday 10th May 09:30-10:45) Week 3
A general introduction to the vast range of electronic resources which are available for all historical periods of British and W European history: bibliographical databases, biographical / reference research aids, ebooks and ejournals, web portals, and collections of online primary source materials.
Who is this session for? Students, researchers and anyone interested in this topic.
Presenter: Isabel Holowaty
Venue: Radcliffe Science Library, Parks Road

Bodleian iSkills: Sources for US History (Tuesday 10th May 11:00-12:30) Week 3
Introduction to key information sources for the study of colonial America and US history. The session will provide an overview of the primary sources available in Oxford and online (such as early printed books, US newspapers and US government papers), as well as guidance on locating material for your research.
Who is this session for? Students, researchers and anyone interested in this topic.
Presenter: Jane Rawson
Venue: Radcliffe Science Library, Parks Road

Bodleian iSkills: Managing Social Science Research (Tuesday 10th May 14:00-16:00) Week 3
Good research data management is a vital component of academic practice. Part of this is the principle that the data used to develop the arguments and outcomes of your research should where possible be effectively stored, preserved and usable. This session introduces the University’s research data policy and outlines the practical impact this will have on the work of researchers. Some of the tools in preparation to meet the requirements will be outlined as well as services that are already available. Main subjects will include: Common dangers and pitfalls of digital data; Effective organisation of your data; Getting the most from your data and producing a data management plan; Data creation and funder requirements; Preserving data, embargoes and access restrictions; Oxford based tools for research data management (RDM). This session is not only essential during your DPhil but will be invaluable if you plan to continue in the field of research as a career.
Who is this session for? All DPhil Students and Research Staff in the Social Sciences
Presenter: John Southall, Cathy Scutt
Venue: Social Science Library, IT Room Ground Floor

Bodleian iSkills: Newspapers and other online news sources from the 17th to 21st century (Wednesday 11th May 10:30-12:00) Week 3
Newspapers are a valuable resource for researching not only news, but also many other aspects of society. In this session we will introduce key historical and contemporary sources of news and how to make best use of them.
Who is the session for? Students, researchers and anyone else who is interested.
Presenters: Isabel Holowaty, Angela Carritt
Venue: Radcliffe Science Library, Parks Road

Bodleian iSkills: Get managing your data off to a good start with MANTRA (Wednesday 11th May 14:00-15:00) Week 3
MANTRA is an acclaimed online independent learning course which provides guidelines for good practice in research data management.
Who is this session for? Postgraduates and researchers. This will be particularly useful for DPhil students and early career researchers who are starting a research project.
Presenters: John Southall & Cathy Scutt
Venue: Social Science Library, IT Room Ground Floor

Bodleian iSkills: Getting started in Oxford Libraries (Thursday 12th May 09:30-12:30; repeated 2nd June) Week 3, repeated Week 6
An introduction to Oxford Libraries including guidance on which libraries to use; accessing e-journals and other online resources; SOLO and other finding aids and making the most of Library services.
Who is this session for? Anyone who would like an introduction to Oxford Libraries.
Presenters: Angela Carritt & Cathy Scutt.
Venue: Social Science Library, IT Room Ground Floor

Referencing: Zotero (Friday 13th May 9:15-12:15) Week 3
Zotero is a reference management package that enables you to build libraries of references and add citations and bibliographies to word processed documents. This introduction covers the main features of Zotero.
Presenter: Erika Delbecque
Venue: IT Services, 13 Banbury Road

Keeping up with Bodleian Libraries training opportunities: Why not follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bodleianskills   or visit the Bodleian iSkills blog at http://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/skills/

Questions? – Please contact usered@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

A selection of the new books received in the library during April may now be seen on our website and LibraryThing page.