Category Archives: Information for graduates

Using the VHL for Michaelmas Term 2020- Information for new and returning readers

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In this blogpost, we will go through the key information you need to know for studying at the VHL in Michaelmas 2020. This information will be useful to any of our new readers, or those returning to the VHL after the lockdown period.

Opening hours

The VHL is now operating in our Term Time opening hours, as of Sunday 11th October. This means that the VHL is now open on evenings and weekends, until Saturday, 13th December. Please note, that you can only come in to the library if you have a pre-booked Click & Collect/Study Space spot, or if you are returning books.

Booking a Study Space

To use the VHL study spaces, readers will need to have pre-booked a Desk or PC study space, via the Bodleian Libraries Reading Room Booking service.

More information on using the central booking service, and Bodleian regulations regarding using Bodleian reading rooms during Michaelmas Term may be found on the Bodleian website. 

The booking slots for a VHL Desk or PC slot are:

Monday-Friday: 9:30 – 13:00; 13:30-17:00; 17:30-21:00

Saturday: 10:00-12:30; 13:00-16:00

Sunday: 11:00 -1:30; 14:00-17:00

Please note that study spaces at the VHL, and across the Bodleian Libraries are in high demand, and spaces are getting booked up very quickly. We are trying to make as many spaces available as safely possible. Do not make a study space booking if you are not intending on using the space. Please be considerate of your fellow readers, who also require study spaces in the library.

For more information on studying in the library, check out our separate blog post on What to expect when you use the VHL Reading Rooms.

Using Browse & Borrow

The VHL is now offering Browse & Borrow services on weekdays and weekends. Browse & Borrow spaces can also be booked via the Bodleian Libraries Reading Room Booking service.

Bookings to use the Browse & Borrow service can be made in between the following times:

Monday – Friday: 10:00 – 12:30; 14:00-16:30; 18:00-20:30

Saturdays: 10:30-12:00; 13:30-15:30

Sundays: 11:30 – 13:00; 14:30-16:30

Browse & Borrow allows Readers to enter the library for a pre-booked timeslot, to browse the open shelves for key titles, and to borrow loanable material. Readers may also use the Quick Search Terminals, PCAS machines to photocopy or scan relevant chapters or pages, in line with copyright guidance.

Readers using the Browse & Borrow service will not be able to use any of the library desks or Reader PCs. If Readers have Stack Requests, which need to be consulted in the library, they will need to book a study space.

More information on the Browse & Borrow service can be found on the Bodleian Libraries website.

Using the Click & Collect Service

Over Michaelmas Term, the VHL will continue to provide a Click & Collect service. Bodleian Readers may select loanable VHL titles via SOLO, by clicking the green “Request” button which is next to the location information.

An example of Click & Collect – press the green Request button.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once library staff have collected your item, you will receive an automatic email, to book a collection slot. You will only need to book one time slot if you are picking up multiple items.

Collection slots are available from 12:00-1600 on weekdays.

Please book a collection slot before coming to the VHL to collect your title. This is to help library staff to manage collection bookings whilst overseeing our other reading room services.

If you do not attend your collection slot, your title will be kept on the Hold Shelf for 7 days, before being returned to the open shelves, or passed on to the next Hold request.

For more information on how Click & Collect works at the VHL, check out our separate blogpost on What to expect when using Click & Collect at the VHL.

Using BSF Stack Requests

Bodleian book deliveries are now running, allowing for stack requests from the BSF to be re-instated. If you come across a title in SOLO that you would like to read at the VHl, click the green “Request” button next to individual title, and select the VHL Library Desk as the desired collection point. An email will be sent confirming that the book has arrived from the BSF and is available to read.

Please note that BSF materials are non-loanable, and must be consulted in the library.  You must make a reading room booking in order to consult your stack request.

If you are struggling to make a reading room booking, please let our library staff know. We may be able to extend your stack request so that you may consult the title at a later date.

Upon arrival at the VHL, after confirming your Reading Room booking, inform the member of staff on the desk that you have a stack request. You will be asked to show your card. Our library staff will then find your stack request, and check it out to you for the duration of your time in the library for that day. If your selected title is historical material (pre-1920), or particularly fragile, you may be basked to sit on the Ground Floor, in sight of the enquiry desk.

When returning your stack request, you will need to advise the librarian whether you wish to continue keeping the item on the Hold Shelf, or if you have finished with it. The librarian will then either return it to the Hold Shelf, or send it back to the BSF.

Using LibraryScan

The VHL will continue to provide a scanning service, alongside our fellow Bodleian libraries. Scans are currently limited to one request per day. Scans are limited to a chapter, article or 5% of the title, in line with copyright legislation.

Please select the red LibraryScan button at the top of the SOLO record (see image below as an example). You will then be asked to complete further details, such as the required pages/chapter/article and any further details required.

If the same title is available at the BSF, please select the Blue Off-Site scan option, which will be next to the title location details. This is to help manage demand. The BSF have a larger scanning service in operation, and can handle more requests than the individual libraries.

Returning books to the VHL

When returning books at the VHL, readers will be asked to put their items directly into a blue crate. The crate is located immediately on the right as you enter the library, on the ground next to the library desk. Readers do not need to make a reading room booking, or use the access gates in order to return their books.

A blue box, labelled Returns, is on the floor of the library. A set of glass doors are on the right of the image, and the library desk wall on the left.

Our returns crate is next to the library enquiry desk, as you walk through the glass doors.

After a quarantine period of 24 hours, the book will be removed from your account. Bodleian libraries will be extending it’s grace period on library fines from the lockdown period across Michaelmas Term, so the extra period of time on your account will not affect you.

Readers may also return their books via the Returns Hubs based at the Social Science Library in the Manor Road Building, or the Sainsbury Library at the Saïd Business School.

Please note that if you cannot physically return the books yourself, you may ask a friend or family member to return the books for you. If this is not possible, please visit the Bodleian Loans Returns webpage, which provides further information and return options for readers.

****************************************************************************************************If you have any questions about any of the services above, or any general questions about using the VHL, please contact us by email (vhl@bodleian.ox.ac.uk) or by phone (01865 282700). 

Our library staff look forward to seeing you, and wish you a productive Michaelmas Term!

New in Oxford: African American Periodicals

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I am pleased to announce that the Vere Harmsworth Library has purchased online access to the resource African American Periodicals for the University.

 

 

 

Based on the work of James P. Danky in African-American Newspapers and Periodicals: A National Bibliography (Harvard, 1998), this vast collection covers over 150 years of American history, from slavery up to the modern era. The collection features over 170 titles, written by and for African Americans.

Primary sources found here include news, commentary, advertisements, literature, drawings and photographs, Key titles in this unique resource include African Repository, El Mulato, The Black Warrior, Pennsylvania Freedmen’s Bulletin, Colored Harvest, Voice of the Negro, Horizon: A Journal of the Color Line, The Crisis: A Record of the Darker Races, Blue Helmet: A Magazine for the American Negro Soldier of All Wars, Harlem Pointer, African World, Black Pride Newsletter, Right On! and others from every region of the United States. Primary sources found here include news, commentary, advertisements, literature, drawings and photographs, helping to capture the voice of African American history and culture.

Our online platform allows our readers to search the African American Periodicals by full-text, or to browse by periodical title, historic period, or themes. Readers may also search via article type, such as advertisements, or opinion pieces. You may access the resource by clicking here

Bodleian readers may also search across our Readex databases, using Readex AllSearch. This allows researchers to cross-search across multiple primary resources, including the African American Newspapers and Ethnic American Newspapers.

Similar resources include:

If you would like any advice on using our databases or resources, please contact the Vere Harmsworth Librarian, Bethan Davies bethan.davies@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

New in Oxford: Black Abolitionist Papers, and more!

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I am delighted to announce that access to a number of major new e-resources are now available.

The Bodleian Libraries have committed substantial external funding to a one-off set of purchases of electronic research resources deemed to be important to researchers in the University. This follows a project to identify desiderata across all subjects and to list suggestions from readers.

Of particular interest to US Studies are the Black Abolitionist Papers (1830-1865) 

This collection covers a unique set of primary sources from African Americans actively involved in the movement to end slavery in the United States between 1830 and 1865. The content includes letters, speeches, editorials, newspaper articles, sermons, and essays from libraries and archives in England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, and the United States. Over 15,000 items written by nearly 300 Black men and women are available for searching,with over 30% consisting of handwritten and unique documents.

As described on the Black Abolitionist Paper’s website 

“This collection, when first published in microfilm, literally transformed scholarly understanding of Black activism during this period. Now it is available in a searchable, easily accessible format for research, teaching, and study.”

Other resources recently purchased that may be of interest include:

Trench Journals and Unit Magazines of the First World War

Published by every type of military and support service unit, from every involved nation, trench journals were a means of expression through which men and women engaged in all aspects of World War I could share their thoughts and experiences. Over 1,500 periodicals, drawn from the holdings of major libraries and research collections, make this resource the most comprehensive collection of trench journals available to scholars anywhere in one place.

Collections can be narrowed to specific nations, languages and army units. This resource would be useful for Americanists interested in the US involvement in World War 1, the perception of US forces by other allied forces, and further social-cultural studies of US forces in the early 20th Century.

This resource brings together complete runs of journals from disparate sources. Functionality allows both browsing and precision searching for editorials, advertisements, poetry, cartoons and illustrations, photographs, and obituaries, opening up opportunities for research in multiple fields: literature, history, war studies, cultural studies, and gender studies.

Women and Social Movements, International

Through the writings of women activists, their personal letters and diaries, and the proceedings of conferences at which pivotal decisions were made, this collection lets you see how women’s social movements shaped much of the events and attitudes that have defined modern life. This digital archive includes 150,000 pages of conference proceedings, reports of international women’s organizations, publications and web pages of women’s non-governmental organizations, and letters, diaries, and memoirs of women active internationally since the mid-nineteenth century.  It also includes photographs and videos of major events and activists in the history of women’s international social movements. Additionally, there are 30 essays from leading contemporary scholars exploring themes illuminated by the primary documents in the archive.

Researchers can limit their searches to specific geographic areas, or search across resources to review information on specific themes or topics.

LGBT Magazine Archive

The resource archives of 26 leading but previously hard-to-find magazines are included in LGBT Magazine Archive, including many of the longest-running, most influential publications of this type in the US . The complete backfile of The Advocate is made available digitally for the first time. As one of the very few LGBT titles to pre-date the 1969 Stonewall riots, it spans the history of the gay rights movement.

Art and Architecture Archive

Full-text archive of periodicals (cover-to-cover colour scans) in the fields of art and architecture. Date range: 19thC – 21stC. Subjects covered include fine art, decorative arts, architecture, interior design, industrial design, and photography worldwide.

Oxford researchers should use their SSO to gain remote access. The resources can be access via SOLO or Databases A-Z.

New service: Paying VHL fines online!

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Do you have fines and can’t get to the VHL Enquiry Desk? Do you not have the physical cash to pay?

No problem! Readers can now pay their fines online. 

Visit the weblink at https://www.oxforduniversitystores.co.uk/product-catalogue/libraries/vere-harmsworth-library . Enter the amount you wish to pay, and then click “Shopping Basket” near the top of the page.

 

Please note that payments made must be a minimum of £2, and there will be a 1.5% charge on any Credit Card transactions.

You may also pay off your fines in person at the VHL Enquiry Desk.

Any further questions, please email vhl@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

WISER coming up: E-books, News sources, and Research Skills Toolkit

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Next week Bodleian Libraries will be running workshops on searching online news sources, finding and manipulating academic e-books and using e-book readers.

WISER: E-Books (Tuesday 13 November 2.00 – 3.00) (wk 6) –   This session will introduce Oxford’s collection of e-books, helping you not only to successfully locate e-books but also to manipulate them and make the most of their functionality.
Who is this session for? All members of Oxford University.   Presenters:  Hilla Wait and Jo Gardner.  > Book Now

WISER: E-Book Readers (Tuesday 13 November 3.15 – 4.15) (wk 6) – How useful are e-book readers in academic work? Can they be used for accessing library materials? What are the features to look out for when considering purchase? These and similar questions will be considered with reference to the i-Pad, the Amazon Kindle and Sony Touch e-readers and smart phones.  
Who is this session for? All members of Oxford University and other Bodleian Libraries readers  Presenters:  Hilla Wait and Jo Gardner > Book now

WISER: Searching online news sources (Fri 16 Nov 10.15 – 12.15) (wk 6) – News sources are primary resources for researching contemporary political and social issues. This session will provide an overview of the key resources and hands-on exercises with databases such as Nexis UK, Factiva, and Proquest.
Who is this session for? Postgraduates, researchers and academics.    Presenter: Mark Janes > Book Now

Research Skills Toolkit – An introduction to 10 key IT and information tools and skills for research students in a hands on workshop run jointly by IT Services and Bodleian Libraries. Sample topics include: reference management, keeping up to date, finding articles and papers, Excel pivot tables, finding and managing images,  podcasting, Word for your thesis and measuring research impact.    Who is this session for? Postgraduates   >  Check dates for your subject and book your place

Keeping up with Bodleian Libraries training opportunities: Why not follow join our mailing list by sending an empty email to wiser-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk, follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/oxwiser or visit the BodWiser blog at http://bodwiser.wordpress.com.

Not a member of Oxford University? – If you are not a current member of Oxford University but would like to attend a workshop please contact usered@bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Please quote your Bodleian readers card barcode number.

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

Research Skills Toolkit and WISER coming up: Finding stuff and Theses

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Next week Bodleian Libraries will be running workshops on finding conferences, theses and dissertations. In addition our workshop “your thesis, copyright and ORA” covers everything Oxford DPhils need to know about preparing your thesis for ORA.   

This bulletin also includes details of this year’s Research Skills Toolkits.

WISER: Finding Stuff – Conferences (Tues 23 Oct 3.30 – 4.30) (wk 3)
Conference papers can be tricky to find but are very valuable because they describe cutting-edge research. This session will enable you to find forthcoming conferences in your field and also to locate the published papers of proceedings which have taken place.
Who is this session for? Postgraduates, researchers and academics.
Presenters: James Shaw and Sue Bird > Book Now

WISER: Your thesis, copyright and ORA (Wed 24 Oct 3.45 – 5.00) (wk 3)
Repeated Mon 29 Oct 12.30 – 13.30 (week 4)
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 and writing their thesis so that they do not encounter problems when they deposit.  DPhils are encouraged to attend this session early so that they can make sensible decisions regarding rights from the start of their research.
Who is this session for? Research Postgraduates who are required to write a thesis
Presenter: Catherine Goudie > Book Now

WISER: Finding Stuff – Theses and Dissertations (Fri 26 Oct 10.45 – 12.00) (wk 3)
This session will help you to find theses submitted at Oxford and in other institutions in the UK and overseas.
Who is this session for? Postgraduates, researchers and academics.
Presenter: Angela Carritt and Craig Finlay > Book Now

Research Skills Toolkit
An introduction to 10 key IT and information tools and skills for research students in a hands on workshop run jointly by IT Services and Bodleian Libraries. Sample topics include: reference management, keeping up to date, finding articles and papers, Excel pivot tables, finding and managing images,  podcasting, Word for your thesis and measuring research impact.   
Who is this session for? Postgraduates
Check dates for your subject and book your place

Keeping up with Bodleian Libraries training opportunities: Why not follow join our mailing list by sending an empty email to wiser-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk, follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/oxwiser or visit the BodWiser blog at http://bodwiser.wordpress.com.

Not a member of Oxford University? – If you are not a current member of Oxford University but would like to attend a workshop please contact usered@bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Please quote your Bodleian readers card barcode number.

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

WISER coming up: Theses & ORA, RefWorks

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Bodleian Libraries will be running the following workshops during week 3:     

WISER: Your thesis, copyright and ORA [Wednesday 9 May 12:30 – 1:30] – 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 and writing their thesis so that they do not encounter problems when they deposit. DPhils are encouraged to attend this session early so that they can make sensible decisions regarding rights from the start of their research.
Presenter: Catherine Goudie. >Book your place online

RefWorks for Humanities [Friday 11 May 14.00 – 17.00] – RefWorks is an online tool which allows you to manage your references, insert them into your work, 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. 
Presenters: Valerie Lawrence and Angela Carritt. Book your place online. 

More reference management workshops – there will be more reference management workshops later in term. See http://bodwiser.wordpress.com/ for more details.

Bodleian Libraries workshops – Check http://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/workshops for the full WISER programme and for details of other training opportunities offered by Bodleian Libraries. Why not follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/oxwiser,  visit the BodWiser blog at http://bodwiser.wordpress.com or join our mailling list by sending an empty email to wiser-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk

Not a member of Oxford University? – If you are not a current member of Oxford University but would like to attend a workshop please contact usered@bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Please quote your Bodleian readers card barcode number.

If you have any questions please contact usered@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Graduates: Streamline your research with a Research Skills Toolkit

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Need to brush up on your IT and information skills?  Why not come to a Research Skills Toolkit in 8th week? These free 2 hour workshops introduce key software and online tools to streamline your research, hone your searching and information skills and provide opportunities to  meet subject specialists. Topics on offer include:

  •     Finding articles, papers, conferences and theses
  •     Keeping up to date and current awareness
  •     Using Endnote to manage your references
  •     Manipulating images using Gimp
  •     Managing your thesis with word
  •     Analyzising data with Excel pivot tables
  •     Podcasting with Audacity
  •     Plagiarism and how to avoid it
  •     Your thesis, copyright and ORA
  •     Finding highly cited journals and measuring research impact

These workshops are open to Oxford graduate researchers in week 8 of Hilary Term. Please attend the session for your division or subject area.  > Find out more and book your place. (Weblearn – Oxford SSO needed to access).

Sessions relevant to VHL readers are on the following dates:

  • Tuesday 6th March, 12.00-14.05 – Humanities (general)
  • Tuesday 6th March, 14.30-16.35 – Social Sciences
  • Wednesday 7th March, 12.00-14.05 – Social Sciences
  • Wednesday 7th March, 14.30-16.35 – History

Toolkits take place at Oxford University Computing Services and are run jointly by the Bodleian Libraries and Computing Services.

VHL Induction Tour for New Graduates

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I will be offering an induction tour of the VHL for new US Studies graduates on Thursday 13th October at 10.30am.  Come along to get an introduction to the library and resources for studying US History & Politics!

More information on graduate skills training for new History graduates can be found on the History Faculty Library’s website at: http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/history/services/training/PGtraining