Bodleian iSkills workshops aim to develop your skills in information discovery and scholarly communications, covering a variety of resources across a wide range of disciplines. They are primarily aimed at University of Oxford students and staff. Some workshops take place face-to-face, whilst others are run online.

The workshops are FREE but online booking is essential. A list of the sessions taking place this term can be found on the iSkills Workshops webpage.

Workshops taking place in 6th Week:

Referencing: EndNote (Tues 31 May 10:00-12:00)

EndNote 20 is a desktop-based reference management tool for Windows and Mac users. The workshop will cover: what Endnote can do for you; adding references to Endnote from a range of sources; managing your references in an EndNote library; adding in-text citations and/or footnotes to your essays and papers; creating bibliographies

Format: online.

Who is this session for? Oxford students, researchers and other staff. For anyone in the Medical Sciences, we run Endnote workshops in the ‘iSkills for Medical Sciences and OUH Trust’ series, which are listed on our iSkills workshops page when they are available.

DIY tools for small scale web archiving (Weds 1 June 11:00-12:00)

This online session introduces DIY tools that can be used for capturing your own web archives at a small scale. This is an interactive, practical session which aims to get you confident with using these tools and builds on the workshop ‘Introduction to web archives for research use’ which took place Thurs 12 May.

Format: online.

Who is this session for? Undergraduates, postgraduates, researchers and University staff.

Bodleian iSkills workshops aim to develop your skills in information discovery and scholarly communications, covering a variety of resources across a wide range of disciplines. They are primarily aimed at University of Oxford students and staff. Some workshops take place face-to-face, whilst others are run online.

The workshops are FREE but online booking is essential. A list of the sessions taking place this term can be found on the iSkills Workshops webpage.

Workshops taking place in 5th Week:

Sources for U.S. history (Thurs 26 May 10:00-11:00)

An online introduction to primary sources for the study of American history, from the colonial period to the 20th Century. The session will provide an overview of the different kinds of information sources (early printed books, newspapers, databases and official records), and guidance on locating material for research.

Format: online.

Who is this session for? Students, researchers, and anyone else interested in the subject.

Referencing: Zotero (Mon 23 May 09:30-12:30; repeated online Fri 10 June)

Zotero is a reference management tool that helps you build libraries of references and add citations and bibliographies to word processed documents using your chosen citation style. This classroom-based introduction covers the main features of Zotero with the opportunity for practical exercises. Learning outcomes are to: create a Zotero library and add references to it; edit and organise references in your Zotero library; add in-text citations and/or footnotes to your word processed document; create bibliographies; understand how to sync your Zotero library across multiple computers; understand how to share your Zotero library of references.

Format: classroom based.

Who is this session for? Students, researchers and staff needing to manage references and create bibliographies.

Referencing: EndNote (Tues 24 May 14:00-16:00; repeated Tues 31 May)

EndNote 20 is a desktop-based reference management tool for Windows and Mac users. The workshop will cover: what Endnote can do for you; adding references to Endnote from a range of sources; managing your references in an EndNote library; adding in-text citations and/or footnotes to your essays and papers; creating bibliographies

Format: online.

Who is this session for? Oxford students, researchers and other staff. For anyone in the Medical Sciences, we run Endnote workshops in the ‘iSkills for Medical Sciences and OUH Trust’ series, which are listed on our iSkills workshops page when they are available.

*New* Open Access: British Heart Foundation open access policy briefing (Tues 24 May 11:00-12:00)

British Heart Foundation (BHF) funded and need to know how to comply with their open access requirements? In this focused online briefing, we will: step you through the changes and new requirements; provide links to further BHF information and guidance; let you know where to find help at Oxford

Format: online.

Who is this session for? Current Oxford researchers and academics, research support staff and librarians.

Food and Drink:

Although we ask that food and drink (excluding water/hot drinks in KeepCups) is not brought into the library itself, there’s still plenty to be had on-site! During regular opening hours you can grab some hot food at the Manor Road Café upstairs or the Missing Bean just up the road in the St Cross Building. Out of hours, there are still two vending machines in the balcony area behind the café. These offer an array of drinks as well as crisps, chocolate bars and flapjacks. You can eat them at the seating area provided, the sofa at the entrance or even outside on the benches on a nice day.

Outdoor Spaces:

As well as our outdoor seating area, there are several green spaces within just a few minutes’ walk of the SSL. Below are a couple of choice spots for taking a relaxing study break:

University Parks (7 minute walk) – from the Southern entrance you can choose a variety of different paths, such as the Oak and Thorn walks, or along the River Cherwell. The Parks’ website features a helpful map of these routes, as well as a guide on the different types of tree found along them. For example, the Oak Walk features a Tibetan Whitebeam tree which blooms with tiny white flowers in late spring. The South Walk also takes you past the ‘Genetic Garden’, dedicated to genetics researcher Professor Cyril Dean Darlington. Darlington first established the garden in 1964 to showcase the evolutionary spectacle of plants, and many of the original trees and shrubs are still there. For more information, visit the Universty Parks website: https://bit.ly/3Ez8Ygw.

Marston Meadows (10 minute walk) – the Marston cycle path runs down the southern edge of University Parks. If you follow it down across a bridge, you will come to a grassland meadow which lies adjacent to the Cherwell. Several plants on the Rare Plants Register have been found growing within the meadow, as well as in the other grasslands that lie along this stretch of the river. The path is a nice route to walk along to take a half hour away from study. Watch out for cyclists though!

Oxford Botanic Gardens (10 minute walk) – thought to be Britain’s oldest botanical gardens, the Oxford Botanic Gardens were founded in 1621 to supply the University’s medical students with useful herbs and plants. The Walled Garden provides a lovely space to relax amongst the plant beds, or there is a variety of different glasshouses to explore featuring plants from far-away climes. Entrance is free for students who can produce a valid ID card.

Getting Support at Oxford:

The University of Oxford provides a number of different services to support their students’ wellbeing. These include the University Counselling Service, Peer Support Programme and Oxford SU Student Advice Service. In addition, the student-run confidential listening service Nightline is available between 8pm and 8am every night of term if you need someone to talk to. For further information about these services and their contact details, please visit how the University of Oxford’s Welfare and Wellbeing page at: https://bit.ly/3vZlFyJ.

Bodleian iSkills workshops aim to develop your skills in information discovery and scholarly communications, covering a variety of resources across a wide range of disciplines. They are primarily aimed at University of Oxford students and staff. Some workshops take place face-to-face, whilst others are run online.

The workshops are FREE but online booking is essential. A list of the sessions taking place this term can be found on the iSkills Workshops webpage.

Workshops taking place in 2nd Week:

Keeping up to date with research (Tues 3 May 14:00-15:30)
An online introduction to using alerts to keep up to date with new research and save you time, concentrating on: how email alerts can help you; setting up alerts on your favourite databases and other platforms for new content in your field; managing your alerts.

Who is this session for? Postgraduates, researchers, academics and anyone interested in the topic.

Getting started in Oxford libraries (Wed 4 May 14:00-16:00)
An online introduction to getting started in Oxford libraries. This workshop will feature live demonstrations and hands on activities on how to use SOLO, the University’s resource discovery tool.

Who is this session for? All Oxford Library users.

Data sources for research – discovery, access and use (Thurs 5 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. By the end of the session, you will also have some insight into how your own future work could add to the process and become part of the research discourse. The course aims to provide an overview of macro and micro data sources available at the University of Oxford, including national data archives, subscription services, business data, and offers 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.

Referencing: choosing and using software for referencing (Fri 6 May 14:00-17:00; repeated Fri 13 May 09:30-12:30)
This introductory session gives an overview of how reference management works, explores the advantages and disadvantages of a range of software packages and gives you the opportunity to try out three different packages (RefWorks, EndNote and Zotero) so that you can work out which one is best for you.

Who is this session for? Postgraduate students, researchers and University staff.

Bodleian iSkills is a series of workshops designed for postgraduates and researchers, covering information discovery and searching for scholarly materials, keeping up to date with research, using reference management tools, research data management and open access publishing.  For Michaelmas term, most of the workshops will continue to run online.

The workshops are FREE but online booking is essential. A list of the sessions taking place this term can be found on the iSkills Workshops webpage.

Open Access: Your thesis, copyright & ORA (Tue 22 Feb 10:00-11:00)

Oxford DPhil students are required to deposit a copy of their thesis in the Oxford University Research Archive (ORA). This session will focus on what ORA is and how to deposit one’s thesis in ORA, and how to access help with this process. It will also cover the relevant rights and permissions required 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

iSkills: Getting started in Oxford Libraries (Tue 1 Feb 10:00-12:00; repeated Thu 17 Feb 10:00-12:00)

An introduction to getting started in Oxford Libraries, featuring live demonstrations and hands-on activities on how to use SOLO, the University’s resource discovery tool; how to search for a range of material and get hold of what you want to read; which Oxford Libraries to use for your needs and how to use our many services.

Literature searching and finding scholarly materials:
iSkills: Finding stuff – scholarly literature for your research (Mon 7 Feb 14:00-16:00; repeated Wed 16 Feb 10:00-12:00)

How to run effective literature searches for books, journal articles, conference materials, theses and dissertations from the University of Oxford and around the world.

iSkills: Preparing for your literature review in the Social Sciences (Tue 1 Mar 10:00-11:30)

Using your own research questions to build a successful search in the Social Sciences; working effectively with large result sets; sourcing highly cited papers relevant to your research; setting up alerts on your topic.

iSkills: UK Parliamentary and Government materials – an introduction (Thursdays in Hilary Term)

One-to-one sessions for finding and accessing historical and present-day UK parliamentary and government material, including print and digital sources, and any relevant archival materials.

Reference Management

We offer workshops on three reference management tools for Windows and Mac users, which help you build libraries of references, insert references into your Word document as in-text citations or footnotes and automatically generate bibliographies:

Referencing: Endnote (Tue 15 Feb 14:00-16:00)

Referencing: RefWorks (Fri 11 Feb 14:00-15:30; repeated Thu 24 Feb 10:00-11:30)

Referencing: Zotero (Mon 14 Feb 14:00-15:00; repeated Thu 3 Mar 10:00-11:00)

Open Access

Open Access Oxford: What’s happening? (Monthly sessions)
A briefing on open access publishing and Oxford’s position including guidance on how to comply with the Open Access requirements for the REF and mandates from key funding bodies whilst respecting your publisher’s rights and policies. Will cover Gold and Green routes and Article Processing Charges; University policy for the Open Access block grants including RCUK/UKRI and Wellcome Trust.  The briefing is intended for current Oxford researchers and academics, research support staff and librarians.

In addition to our ‘Book of the Month’ feature, we are now introducing a ‘Resource of the Month.’ Each month, one of our Subject Librarians will choose an electronic resource which they feel will be of interest to you.

January’s Resource of the Month has been selected by John Southall, Bodleian Data Librarian and Subject Consultant for Economics and Sociology.

John’s choice is Statista. This is a new subscription for a database that has been requested by a wide range of researchers.

Resource Overview

Statista is a global industry statistics database. It aggregates content from third party sources as well providing data from its own independent market research. The data included in Statista includes industry information, consumer data, company profiles, and financials. It covers sectors such as Advertising, Retail, Technology, Recreation, Transportation, Hospitality and the Internet. In addition to statistics it provides a variety of reporting, forecasting and data visualisation options.

User guides and tutorials on the use of the database are provided by Statista on Youtube and Vimeo.

Where can you access the resource

Statista is available to access via SOLO. A Single-Sign-On (SSO) is required to access this database, so access is restricted to Oxford University students and staff members.