Hilary Term Training and Workshops

Posted on 12 January 2015 by bjenkins

Start the New Year with new skills!

The Hilary Term programme of Information Skills courses for this term is now available to view on our website.

The programme includes courses on:

RefWorks
Research Skills ToolKit
ArcGIS
Social media for Historians
Bodleian iSkills sessions on
- Reference Management
- Digital Images
- Online resources for historians
- Open Access Oxford
- Copyright
  All researchers and academics can attend Bodleian iSkills workshops. Further details about upcoming sessions and online booking are available at ox.libguides.com/workshops.

For full details of all the training events talking place this term and to book places please go to http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/history/training/PGtraining

Research Skills Toolkit for History, Archaeology and Classics, HT Week 1

Posted on 27 November 2014 by bjenkins

Bookings are now being taken for Research Skills Toolkit for History, Archaeology and Classics (Wednesday 21 Jan 14.00-16.00) – Book a place

A free hands-on workshop for research students. An opportunity for you to learn about a broad range of resources in one time-efficient session. The 2-hour session focuses on the skills and tools that will streamline your academic work. You will encounter a variety of IT and Library tools and services to support your research. Relevant software, online services and libraries techniques are on offer for you to try out. You will also meet with subject specialists for help and guidance on further training. These workshops are open to graduate researchers – See more here

During the sessions you will also meet with subject specialists for help and guidance on further training.

These workshops which are run jointly by IT Services and the Bodleian Libraries are open to graduate researchers.

More information on Hilary Term training courses for Postgraduates can be found at the History Faculty Library Website.

Welcoming new History graduates – induction & library skills programme now available

Posted on 30 September 2014 by iholowaty

We welcome all new History graduates to Oxford and to the Bodleian Library!

You will have access to a wide range of library resources. To help make best use of them and your time, check out the induction and library skills programme for Michaelmas Term.

Please note that some sessions require booking.

The programme covers:

Induction flyer (pdf) – Information Skills flyer (pdf)

Library assistant in your pocket

Early bird? Short of time? You can also use the “Library Assistant for Oxford Freshers” on your smartphone, tablet or computer to get you started.

Learn which libraries are useful, how to use our photocopiers and what password you need to access resources and order books from the stack, how to access your library patron account and much more.

WISER: courses for Historians, US Historians and Medievalists, Week 3

Posted on 7 May 2014 by ljones

During Week 3 Bodleian Libraries will be a hosting a series of WISER events designed to help Oxford historians get the most out of the resources available to them. Sessions will provide useful tips and demonstrations, offering students and researchers opportunities to explore sources including ebooks, bibliographical databases, key online collections and web portals.

On Monday 12th May, ‘Online Resources for Historians‘ will offer a general introduction to the vast range of electronic resources available for all periods of British and Western European history. Aside from an exploration of bibliographical/reference research aids and databases, presenters will provide an insight to ebooks, ejournals, web portals and collections of online primary source materials. Students, researchers and anyone interested in the growing availability of online resources will benefit from this session. Book your place.

Also on Monday 12th May, ‘Sources for US History‘ will deliver an introduction to key information sources and finding tools for the study of colonial America and US History until 1990. For further details on this session, please see earlier blog post, or book your place.

On Friday 16th May, ‘Sources for Medievalists‘ will provide an overview of a range of e-resources relevant to British and Western European medieval studies. The session will include information on bibliographical databases, web portals and collections of online primary source materials including Greek/Latin texts, Anglo-Saxon sources, chronicles, charters and literary works. The material presented will be of use not only to students, but also researchers and academics with an interest in this area. Book your place.

If you would like to attend any of these WISER sessions, please book your place using the links provided. For further details, see the posters below.

Trinity Term training opportunities for 2nd year historians: book your places now!

Posted on 28 April 2014 by ljones

Working on your thesis? Do you have right research and information skills? Do you need to brush up your Français?

Second year undergraduate historians currently working towards their theses are encouraged to attend newly announced training sessions for Trinity Term. They will provide you with valuable information and support sure to stand you in good stead for your research.

The programme on offer aims to help you with locating and utilising a variety of source materials, whilst equipping you with knowledge on some of the key research tools available. Workshops scheduled include:

Aside from highlighting some of the key resources available locally, these sessions will also provide opportunities for refreshing and upgrading information searching skills. There will be chances to explore databases, e-journals and web portals, along with advanced searches in SOLO and the benefits of using RefWorks to manage your citations during dissertation research. Staff will be on hand to provide step-by-step demonstrations, with opportunities for putting theory into practice also provided.

For further details on these workshops, along with booking information, please visit the HFL website.

Can’t come to a course?

The handouts and slides of sessions will be made available on HFL WebLearn > Guides & presentations.

Need specialist help?

Isabel Holowaty, Bodleian History Librarian is happy to discuss what sources and literature searching tools are best suited to anybody studying British and Western European history. Email her at isabel.holowaty@bodleian.ox.ac.uk to arrange a 1:1.

If you are studying history outside Britain and West Europe, find your subject specialist here.

Do you have the right language skills?

The Language Centre has a lot to offer for historians wishing to upgrade their language skills or, quite simply, start learning a language. More on this.

Training opportunities coming up for historians

Posted on 14 May 2013 by iholowaty

Training opportunities in the Bodleian Libraries

During the next few weeks, the Bodleian Libraries will running workshops on open access, sources for historians, RefWorks and reference managements:

Open Access Oxford – What’s Happening? (various dates – see below) Researchers in receipt of grants from RCUK funding councils issued after 1April 2013 are required to make their research papers open access. Come along to one of our briefing on open access to find out about Green vs. Gold open access publishing; funder mandates and publisher policies; the Oxford Research Archive (ORA) and Symplectic; and how to find more information and help on open access. Who are these sessions for? These session are open to current members of Oxford University only and are designed for research support staff, librarians, academics and researchers.

Dates:

WISER: Open Access Oxford – what’s happening? (all subjects) (Thurs 16 May 11.00-12.00) (wk 4) > Book Now
WISER: Open Access Oxford – what’s happening? (all subjects) (Wed 29 May 11.00-12.00) (wk 6) > Book Now
Open Access for historians – (Wed. 5 June, 13:00-14:00, Rees Davies Room, History Faculty) > no booking required

WISER Workshops

WISER: Online Resources for Historians (Tue 28 May 9.15-10.30) (wk 6)– A general introduction to the vast range of electronic resources which are available for all historical periods for British and West European history including bibliographical databases, biographical and reference research aids, e-books and ejournals, web portals and collections of online primary source materials. > Book Now

WISER: Sources for US History (Tue 28 May 10.45-12.15) (wk 6) – Introduction to key information sources for the study of colonial America and US history up to 1990. Starting with finding tools to locate material, examples of source materials will then be shown including archival, microform, printed/online collections and useful web portals and audiovisual collections. > Book Now

WISER: Information Sources for African Studies , Fri 7 Jun 9.15-10.45 (TT week 7) – This session will cover finding tools for locating African Studies materials, key portals and gateways for African Studies and online archives of primary texts. Starting with a presentation the session will also include time for participants to try out some of the resources demonstrated. > Book Now

WISER: Sources for Medievalists, Wed 12 June 14.00-16.00 (TT week 8)
This interdisciplinary session will provide a general overview of e-resources relevant for British and Western European medieval studies. It will cover bibliographical databases, biographical and reference tools, web portals and collections of online primary source materials including Anglo-Saxon sources, Greek/Latin texts, chronicles, charters and literary works. > Book Now

RefWorks for Humanities (Wed 29 May 9.15 – 12.15) (wk 6) – 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.
Who is this session for? Postgraduates, researchers and academics and undergraduates wishing to use reference management software > Book Now

For Historians: RefWorks for Your Thesis, Wed 5 June 14.00-16.00 (TT week 7) *repeated** Thur 13 June 10.30-12.30 (TT week 8)

This session is primarily aimed at 2nd year History Undergraduates and will give a basic introduction on how to use RefWorks for your dissertation and will highlight some of its key features. The session is also open other postgraduates and academics in the History Faculty. > Book now

WISER: Tech Tools – Reference Management (Fri 31 May 9.15-12.15) (wk 6) – Keeping track of your references and formatting them correctly for your thesis or publication is a chore. Reference management software makes it easy and is worth investigating. This introductory session gives an overview of how it works and the pros and cons of RefWorks, EndNote, Zotero and Mendeley.
Who is this session for? Postgraduates, researchers and academics and undergraduates wishing to use reference management software > Book Now

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

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

Training opportunities in the British Library

Finding Early Western Printed Books in the British Library (4 June, 11:00-12:15). This is a new workshop offered by British Library Rare Books Reference Specialists. It provides an overview of reference resources which can help trace hard-to-find early printed material (ca.1455- ca.1900) and enhance using the Library’s main catalogue, Explore the British Library.

Information Skills-Navigating research in the British Library (15 May and 12 June, 3-4pm). This course covers the basic skills needed for someone starting a research project. It will show you how to locate information on your subject within the British Library Collections.

These sessions are free. You can book a place by email (hrs-training@bl.uk).

Information skills sessions for students and academics

Posted on 22 January 2013 by iholowaty

This term there are a variety of workshops open to undergraduate students, postgraduate students, researchers and academics at Oxford University. Here are the WISER information skills courses coming up next week and some courses specifically for historians that are coming up over the term. Spaces on courses are limited so book early to avoid disappointment.

Courses specifically for Historians

RefWorks for Historians (Fri 1 Feb 11.00-13.00) (wk 3)
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.
Who is this session for? Any students, researchers or academics interested in using the RefWorks
Presenter: Alice Nelson
Venue: IT Room, History Faculty, Old Boys’ School, George Street > Book now

Mapping for Historians (Wed 20 Feb 14.00-15.30) (wk 6)
This session will introduce you to the Bodleian’s 1.3 million maps and atlases — how to find material in the collection and use it in your research. It will also touch on the use of GIS to make your own maps to include in your written work, covered in more detail in Week 7.
Target audience: All interested graduate students
Convenor: Michael Athanson, Deputy Map Librarian, Bodleian Library
Venue: Duke Humphrey’s Reading Room, Old Bodleian Library > Book now

ArcGIS Workshop for Historians (Wed 27 Feb 14.00-17.00) (wk 7)
This practical session provides an introduction to the use of GIS in historical research and analysis. It will focus on making historical maps of study areas, using symbology (colour coding etc.) to encode historical statistics and other information and extracting geographical data from scans of historic maps.
Convenor: Michael Athanson, Deputy Map Librarian, Bodleian Library
Venue: Training Room, Radcliffe Science Library > Book now

WISER Workshops in Week 3

Further details about upcoming sessions and online booking are available at ox.libguides.com/workshops or by following the links below.

Some individual workshops are designed for particular groups (for example researchers or postgraduates). Check the individual class descriptions for more details.

WISER: Finding Stuff – Journal Articles (Mon 28 Jan 9.30-10.45) (wk 3)
This session will focus on finding journal articles for your research using a wide range of databases as well as developing effective search strategies. There will be plenty of time for participants to try out their own searches using databases for their subject.
Who is this session for? Postgraduates, researchers and academics.
Repeated: Fri 8 Feb 15.00-16.15 (week 4)
Presenters: Kerry Webb, Isabel McMann and Angela Carritt > Book Now

WISER: Finding Stuff – Conferences (Mon 28 Jan 10.45-11.45) (wk 3)
Conference papers can be difficult to find but they are valuable because they describe cutting-edge research. This session will enable you to find out about forthcoming conferences 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: Finding Stuff – Books etc on SOLO (Wed 30 Jan 14.00-15.00) (wk 3)
An introduction to SOLO for finding books, journal titles and other materials in Oxford libraries. The session will cover effective search techniques, placing hold requests for items in the stacks, reservations and using the SOLO eshelf and saved searches.
Who is this session for? All members of Oxford University and other Bodleian Libraries readers
Repeated Fri 8 Feb. 14.00-15.00 (wk 4)
Presenters: Joanne Edwards and Angela Carritt > Book Now

WISER: Finding Stuff – Theses and Dissertations (Wed 30 Jan 15.15 – 16.30) (wk 3)
Guidance on finding theses, both those submitted to and held in Oxford, and those from other institutions in the UK and abroad. It will demonstrate how to exploit some of the main sources of information : SOLO, Index to Theses (UK and Ireland); and Dissertations and Theses (International), EThOS and ORA.
Who is this session for? Postgraduates, researchers and academics.
Presenter: Craig Finlay and Angela Carritt > Book Now

WISER: Your thesis, copyright and ORA (Fri 1 Feb 15.45 – 16.45) (wk 3)
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? Resarch Postgraduates who are required to write a thesis
Presenter: Catherine Goudie > Book Now

Research Skills Toolkit for new DPhil students

Posted on 3 December 2012 by iholowaty

penknife Almost 200 research students attended a free hands-on workshop at IT Services last week. They each tried out a range of tasks with library & IT tools and services to support their research and study. Further sessions for 1st and 2nd year higher degree researchers and students will be running at the start of Hilary Term.

Watch a quick video of a workshop on Youtube.

Book now
If you missed out this term, it’s not too late to book your free place on a January workshop. The Humanities sessions are on Tues 15 and Wed 16 January 2013, 14.00-16.00 and will be held at IT Services, 13 Banbury Road, Oxford.

WISER courses in Week 6

Posted on 7 November 2012 by iholowaty

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. Historians’ session is Tues 27 Nov 10am-12 > 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

Related Links WISER webpage | HFL training webpage

Information Skills Minimum Kit for graduates – repeated Wed. 30 Nov 2-4pm

Posted on 18 November 2011 by iholowaty

Calling all Oxford history graduates: as the Information Skills Minimum Kit on 2 Nov was oversubscribed, a repeat has now been scheduled for Wed. 30 Nov., 2-4pm.

This 2-hour session is designed to equip history graduates with key information skills in order to make best use of electronic information and discovery resources. A range of databases, e-journals and web portals as well as, briefly, RefWorks, will be explored as well as advanced features in SOLO and tools for literature searches. Hands-on exercises allow you to apply these tools to your project.

There are only 18 places, so History grads are now invited to book theirs here.

Bodleian History Faculty Library at Oxford

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