We are delighted to announce that once again thanks to very generous donations, we now have access to two collections of US party convention records:

• Electing the President: Proceedings of the Democratic National Conventions, 1832-1988
• Electing the President: Proceedings of the Republican National Conventions, 1856-1988

1876 Democratic National Convention (Cornell University Library)

The collections include the proceedings for the National Conventions of each party, providing gavel to gavel coverage of the conventions, including speeches, debates, votes, and party platforms. Also included are lists of names of convention delegates and alternates. Records of the earliest proceedings are based in part on contemporary newspaper accounts.

The collections are now available to access via SOLO or Databases A-Z. University members should use their single sign-on for remote access.

From the History Faculty Library blog:

I’m pleased to inform Oxford researchers and students that you now have access to the online International Women’s Periodicals, 1786-1933: Social and Political Issues (Archives Unbound).

This Cengage resource provides online access 57 women’s magazine and journal publications covering the late eighteenth century to the 1930s.

The material allows researchers to explore the role of women in society and the development of the public lives of women as the push for women’s rights (woman suffrage, fair pay, better working conditions, etc.) grew in the United States and England.

Some of the titles in this collection were conceived and published by men, for women; others, conceived and published by male editors with strong input from female assistant editors or managers; others were conceived and published by women, for women. It is therefore also useful for the study of the history of women’s publishing.

Gallery Of Fashion, May 1796, in International Women’s Periodicals 1785-1933 (Cengage)

The strongest suffrage and anti-suffrage writing was done by women for women’s periodicals. Suffrage and anti-suffrage writing, domesticity columns, and literary genres from poetry to serialized novels are included in these periodicals. Thus this resource provides a wide array of views for study.

The collection contains overwhelmingly English and US publications, with 4 German, 1 French periodical and 1 Icelandic periodical.

Access is via SOLO or Databases A-Z. Use your Oxford Single Single On for remote access.

The library will be closed on Monday 27th August for the Bank Holiday.

There will be a brief period of network downtime on Friday morning between 9am and 10am while the Institute’s firewall is upgraded. This will likely involve a few brief outages of network connectivity over about half an hour, and will affect library PCs, the PCAS machine, and all wifi networks. Apologies for any inconvenience!

We’re delighted that once again thanks to a generous donation, we now have access to another new eresource collection: The War of 1812: Diplomacy on the High Seas.

Part of the Cengage Archives Unbound platform, this collection contains records and papers from the US National Archives and US State Department. The bulk of these date from 1812-1814 and include letters of marque to private vessels engaged in the conflict, passenger lists, passport records, and correspondence relating to prisoners of war.

Access is available via SOLO or Databases A-Z. University members can use single sign-on for remote access.

Happy Fourth of July! As an Independence Day present, we are delighted to announce that thanks to generous donations, the Bodleian Libraries now have access to the following new eresources for American history:

The American Revolution from a British Perspective, 1763-1783
A collection of pamphlets published in Britain between 1763 and 1783 relating to American affairs and providing a British perspective on the American Revolution.

Congressional Hearings, 1824-1979 (ProQuest Congressional)
Includes the full text of published committee hearings from the US Congress from 1824-1979. Published hearings are the official record of committee hearings proceedings held to enable committees to gather opinions and information to help Members make decisions regarding proposed legislation or to help them fulfill their oversight and investigation responsibilities. Official hearings publications may include: written and oral statements of witnesses, transcripts of question-and-answer sessions, reports and other materials submitted for the record, and correspondence and other materials submitted by interested parties.

The collections may be accessed via SOLO or our new Databases A-Z listing; University members can use single sign-on for remote access.

On Friday 29 June the reader PCs in the library will be upgraded to Windows 10. Each PC will be unavailable for a short time while the upgrade takes place.

From Monday 18th June the library will switch to our summer opening hours: Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm only. The weekend of 16th/17th June is the last open weekend until the new academic year begins in October.

For those with borrowing privileges, please note that we do not offer vacation loans.

In Week 3 we are running the following FREE workshops.  Please follow the links below to book your place.

Bodleian iSkills: Getting information to come to you (Tue 8 May 14.00-15.30)
Keeping up to date with new research is important but time consuming! This session will show you how to set up automatic alerts so that you are notified about new articles and other publications and when key web sites are updated. Participants will have the opportunity to set up RSS feed readers and/or email notifications during the session.
Who is this session for? Postgraduates, researchers and academics.

Bodleian iSkills: Archives and modern papers for Social Sciences and History (Wednesday 9 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

Referencing: Choosing and using software (Thu 10 May 14.00-17.00; repeated Fri 25 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.

Go to https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/workshops/workshopsbydate for a full list of upcoming iSkills workshops.

In Week 2 we are running the following FREE workshops. Please follow the links below to book your place:

Bodleian iSkills: Your thesis, copyright and ORA (Mon 30 April 14.00-15.00)
Oxford DPhil students are required to deposit a copy of their thesis in ORA (Oxford University Research Archive). This session will focus on copyright and other issues that DPhil students need to take into account when preparing their thesis for upload to ORA.
Who is this session for? All Doctoral research students

Bodleian iSkills: Moving from research question to literature review in the Social Sciences (Tue 1 May 09.30-12.00)
This 2-hour workshop will be invaluable for researchers hoping to find suitable literature for their literature review, for which a well-constructed set of search terms and an understanding of online search engines are prerequisites. This workshop will allow researchers to use their own research questions to build a search and apply it to a range of databases. Techniques for structuring a search will be explained, an overview of key online resources for the social sciences will be given , major search tools will be explored, and strategies for approaching large results sets and sourcing papers will be discussed. This practical workshop will involve paper exercises and online activities using attendees own research topics.
Who is this session for? All DPhil Students and Research Staff in the Social Sciences

Bodleian iSkills: Online resources for Historians (Tue 1 May 14.00-15.15)
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? Undergrad and Postgrad students, Researchers and anyone interested in this topic.

Bodleian iSkills: Sources for US History (Tue 1 May 15.30-17.00)
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? Undergrad and Postgrad students, Researchers and anyone interested in this topic.

Bodleian iSkills: Getting started in Oxford Libraries (Wed 2 May 14.00-17.00; repeated Wed 6 June 14.00-17.00)
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.

Bodleian iSkills: Data sources for research – discovery, access & use (Fri 4 May 10.00-12.00)
This workshop will provide a grounding in the different ways quantitative and qualitative data is being made available to benefit researchers; and aims to provide an overview of macro and micro data sources available at the University of Oxford, including national data archives, subscription services and business data, and some pointers for further searching.
Who is this session for? DPhil students and research staff (particularly in Social Sciences). This workshop will be most beneficial to those researchers planning to use secondary data sources (quantitative, qualitative and mixed) as part of their research or who wish to learn more about the potential of open data platforms and data archives.

In addition we still have spaces left on the following courses this week:

Bodleian iSkills: Open Access Oxford – what’s happening? (Held monthly – click here for upcoming dates)
A briefing on open access publishing and Oxford’s position: Green vs. Gold; funder mandates and publisher policies; Oxford Research Archive (ORA) and Symplectic; OA website/ helpline; what’s new.
Who is this session for? Research support staff, administrators and librarians, researchers and academics.

Bodleian iSkills: Managing research data and Data Management Planning (DMPs) (Thu 26 April 10.00-12.00)
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 be effectively stored and managed during a project, preserved for the future and – where possible – shared with other academics. This session introduces the University’s research data policy and outlines the practical impact this will have on your work. The services available at Oxford to assist you will be outlined. This session is not only essential during your current studies but will be invaluable if you plan to continue in research as a career.
Who is this session for? All DPhil students and research staff

Go to https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/workshops/workshopsbydate for a full list of upcoming iSkills workshops.