All posts by Kim

http://libguides.rhul.ac.uk/profile.php?uid=86103

Finding recent magazine issues using Nexis UK

Browsing journals online can be difficult, depending on the database that you have to use to access them. You can use the ‘Journals by Title’ search in LibrarySearch to find a publication.

Some are very easy to use, and make it clear where the most recent issue is – such as in the video above.

Here are some examples relevant to Media Arts which are a little more complicated…

Accessing Variety using the FIAF database

To look up access options for the Variety magazine, go to LibrarySearch (librarysearch.rhul.ac.uk) and use the ‘Journals by Title’ search:

librarysearchvariety

Select ‘View Online’ to see the access options:

varietyaccessoptions

 

If you’re using FIAF, you should be taken to a page with some bibliographic information on the journal, and under ‘List of issues’ a collapsible list of contents pages, which should link to the PDF of articles wherever possible:

varietyFIAF

Click ‘PDF’ to view the article.

Accessing Screen International using the Nexis UK database

Some publications, like ‘Screen International’ are only available via the Nexis UK database. You will need to follow the link to Nexis, but then try using the date range filters to narrow down the range of articles. Clicking ‘Search’ should take you to a recent list.

 

If you have any questions about accessing publications, leave a comment or email library@royalholloway.ac.uk.

Finding Shakespeare

There are so many books written by and about Shakespeare, that the Dewey Decimal system (which we use to classify books by subject on the shelves) has allocated a number just for Shakespeare. At Royal Holloway, we put all of our Shakespeare collection in 824 – which is on the Ground Floor of Founder’s Library.

Shakespeare collection

After a lot of questions, we’ve realised it’s pretty difficult to find what you’re after in this section, so we’ve hoping this blog post and some better signs will help you to find the book that you need!

In a nutshell, there’s so much under 824, that the classification system has to use letters after 824 to distinguish between the different kinds of work available: biographies, criticism on plays, copies of plays, collections of plays… If you’re using LibrarySearch to find books, make sure to write down the whole location number e.g. 824 B SCH 

824 B

 

I’m looking for a biography of Shakespeare or information on his life.

Try 824 B.

You’ll find books such as William Shakespeare : a compact documentary lifeWilliam Shakespeare : a biographyShakespeare revealed: a biography and Shakespeare’s other lives : an anthology of fictional depictions of the Bard.

I’m looking for general criticism on Shakespeare, or criticism on the Comedies, Tragedies, Histories as a group.

Try 824 D.

You’ll find books such as A Companion to Shakespeare Studies; Studying Shakespeare : a guide to the plays and Shakespeare : three problem plays.

I’m looking for books on Shakespeare’s style and use of language.

These are under 824 E.

Here you’ll find books such as Shakespearean Sentences : a study in style and syntax and Shakespeare’s Errant Texts.

I’ve been told to read a play in the Arden Shakespeare Collection/The Oxford Shakespeare Collection.

The Arden Collection is a group of publications, and they are kept in order of title under 824 M.

I want to research a play, or poem.

You will find individual copies of plays, and lots of criticism on those individual plays under 824 O to 824 Z.

The classification then uses numbers to distinguish between plays, but we would recommend using LibrarySearch to find a specific book that you’re interested in, and then going to that place on the shelf.

As a general guide:

824 O to 824 R = Comedies and criticism on Shakespeare’s comedies
824 S to 824 V = Tragedies and criticism on Shakespeare’s tragedies
824 W to 824 X = Histories and criticism on Shakespeare’s tragedies
824 Y = Sonnets and criticism on Shakespeare’s sonnets

Shakespeare classmarks

 

 

 

Christmas Loans 2014

Each year book, journal, and DVD loans are extended over the Christmas vacation – which means you can keep items for longer without renewing!

Type of Loan Loan period
Normal If you’re an undergraduate: Friday 5th December 2014 due by Friday 16th January 2015.
If you’re a postgraduate: Issued for 6 weeks from date of loan
One Week Loans All users: Saturday 6th December 2014 due by Thursday 15th January 2015
Three Day Loans All users: Wednesday 10th December 2014 due by Wednesday 14th January 2015
Rolling loans (DVDs and CDs) All users: Friday 19th December 2014 due by Monday 5th January 2015
Short loans All users: 9am Friday 12th December 2014 due by 4pm Tuesday 13th January 2015
Journals If you’re a postgraduate: 3.30pm Friday 19th December 2014 due by 11am Monday 5th January 2015.
If you’re a member of staff: Friday 19th December 2014 due by Monday 5th January 2015

 

Please check your receipt, or your Library account, and if you want a reminder on renewing your loans, watch the video below:

 

The Library is open Monday to Friday between Monday 15th December to Tuesday 23rd December. We are closed from Wednesday 24th December until Thursday 1st January. The Library opens again Monday to Friday from Friday 2nd January to Sunday 11th January. For a full list of opening hours, visit the Library website.

How do I cite a Tweet?

So you’ve found a tweet that will be really useful in your dissertation, or essay…

 

twitterscreenshot

But how do you reference it?

APA:

Author/Organisation [Twitter handle]. (Year, month, day of tweet). Full text of tweet [Tweet]. Retrieved from url of tweet. http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2013/10/how-to-cite-social-media-in-apa-style.html

Royal Holloway Picture Gallery [RHULGallery]. (2014, December 3). It’s the penultimate opening hours of the term. Come and see our amazing art collection today from 11-4pm before we close for the holidays! [Tweet]. Retrieved from: https://twitter.com/RHULGallery/status/540106703199813632

Chicago: 

Author/Organisation, Twitter post, Month day, year of tweet, time of tweet, url of user’s twitter profile. http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Documentation/faq0164.html

Royal Holloway Picture Gallery, Twitter post, December 3, 2014, 11:34 a.m., https://twitter.com/RHULGallery

Harvard: 

Author/Organisation, Year. Full text of tweet [Twitter]. Day/month tweet written. Available at: <URL> [Date accessed]. http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm

Royal Holloway Picture Gallery, 2014. It’s the penultimate opening hours of the term. Come and see our amazing art collection today from 11-4pm before we close for the holidays! [Twitter]. 3 December. Available at: https://twitter.com/RHULGallery/status/540106703199813632 [3 December 2014]

MHRA:

(a) Twitter @handles and #hashtags should be preserved where given. Care should be taken to identify the original rather than an echo such as a retweet. Postings should be identified by the writer and date, but time of day is unnecessary, and no URL need be given. The writer should be identified by both real name and, in round brackets, the username or handle being used, unless the handle alone is identifiable as it stands. http://www.mhra.org.uk/Publications/Books/StyleGuide/

Royal Holloway Picture Gallery (@RHULGallery) It’s the penultimate opening hours of the term. Come and see our amazing art collection today from 11-4pm before we close for the holidays! 3 December 2014.

MLA:

Begin the entry in the works-cited list with the author’s real name and, in parentheses, user name, if both are known and they differ. If only the user name is known, give it alone.
Next provide the entire text of the tweet in quotation marks, without changing the capitalization. Conclude the entry with the date and time of the message and the medium of publication (Tweet). http://www.mla.org/style/handbook_faq/cite_a_tweet

Royal Holloway Picture Gallery (RHULGallery) “It’s the penultimate opening hours of the term. Come and see our amazing art collection today from 11-4pm before we close for the holidays!” 3 December 2014, 11:34 a.m. Tweet.

 

 

What is the USC Shoah Archive?

The USC Shoah Foundation Institute’s Visual History Archive contains 50,000 digitized interviews with survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust. Interviews are approximately two and a half hours long and some are supplemented with photographs, documents, and artifacts pertaining to the interviewee’s family and wartime experiences.

Interviewees speak on the following topics:

  • Jewish Survivors
  • Rescuers and Aid Providers
  • Sinti and Roma Survivors
  • Liberators and Liberation Witnesses
  • Political Prisoners
  • Jehovah’s Witness Survivors
  • War Crimes Trials Participants
  • Survivors of Eugenics Policies
  • Homosexual Survivors

In April 2013, the Visual History Archive expanded to include a collection of 65 audiovisual testimonies of survivors and witnesses of the 1994 Rwandan Tutsi genocide. Conducted in two countries (U.S.A. and Rwanda), and two languages (English and Kinyarwanda), this initial collection of 65 Rwandan testimonies was accomplished in collaboration with Aegis Trust and the Kigali Genocide Memorial.

In February 2014, 12 audiovisual testimonies of survivors of the 1937-38 Nanjing Massacre were integrated into the VHA. These testimonies are in Mandarin and were conducted in Nanjing, China through a partnership with the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall.

It’s a unique resource, and Royal Holloway Library is the only place in the UK with access to the collection – which means that researchers often come from far and wide to view the videos.

How do I use it?

There is a link on the Databases A-Z, under U, and once you’re on the site, you will need to create an account in order to log in, search, and view videos.

  1. Follow the link to the website
    • If on-campus, no login is needed to access the website
    • If off-campus, you will need to sign in with your Royal Holloway computer username and password
  2. Once on the website, you must register to create a personal username and password
  3. Due to high bandwidth, videos to be viewed must be downloaded to Royal Holloway’s servers rather than viewed directly from USC website.
    • Some videos already downloaded and available for immediate viewing; just click on the videos marked “Viewable now” to watch
    • Others must be requested for download. Because our server space is limited, students must get tutor’s permission before requesting a download.
  4. Once requested, the video will be added to Royal Holloway’s servers and will be available to view after 12-48 hours. Videos can only be viewed on campus, but you are able to log in and make a request for a video to be downloaded from any off-campus PC.

Searching the archive

Searching is easy, you can search on a topic, for a name, and use links in the videos to skip to particular sections relevant to your interests. The USC Shoah Foundation has a YouTube Channel with lots of information, but we’ve collected searching tips in this playlist.

Have you used the archive? Do you think it would be useful in your research? Contact library@rhul.ac.uk for more information, or leave a comment below.

A visit to the BFI Reuben Library

On 27th October, I was lucky enough to be part of a team organising a visit to the BFI’s Reuben Library on the beautiful South Bank. A team of librarians from different universities were shown around the depths of the BFI offices, the book stacks, and the library itself – and I thought it might be worth letting some of you know what kinds of collections the BFI has to offer (it is only 40 minutes away by train, after all).

The Library

The BFI Reuben Library is open Tuesday – Saturday, and is just across the road from Waterloo Station. It’s free to use (although they’ll ask you fill out a registration card) and has the largest collection of film and TV material in the world. They hold 35,000 books, over 5000 magazines (the oldest being a copy of The Optical Magic Lantern Journal and Photographic Enlarger from June 1889), and 4.1 million press cuttings – some of these are available on site, but others will need to be requested. You can check their catalogue to view the collections here.

BFI simple search screen

When you search, you’ll need to specify what kind of material you’re interested in, but if you search for a film the catalogue will show you not only film material held in the Library, but any archive material, books, articles, etc related to the film as well.

Academics and students are their largest user group – but the Library is also used by journalists, historians, and anyone interested in film.

Special Collections at the BFI

The Special Collections (like an archive) hold all sorts of unique and fascinating materials, including

  • unrealised screenplays
  • drafts of screenplays
  • images from film sets
  • correspondence between filmakers, cast, crew, etc
  • shooting schedules
  • marketing materials
  • film posters
  • costume design sketches
  • much more!

You can search for special collections material in the catalogue, and request to view items you’re interested in. Materials are collected from pre-production of a film, production itself, post-production – and the collections can be very unique. At the moment an exhibition in the small space beside the screens takes material from one of the continuity editors on Star Wars IV: A New Hope and includes copies of scripts, unseen photographs of the actors taken to ensure continuity, and clips from the final film itself.

A visit to the BFI Reuben Library can give you an idea of what is available to you, and it can be a great resource for your research too!

METROPOLIS-landscape

 

Shut Up and Write 2014

After last year’s popular Shut Up and Write sessions for Postgraduate Researchers, we’re running the same programme this year, and we’d love to see you there.

It’s a pretty simple concept.. you turn up, you sit down, you write.. Then afterwards you get the chance to meet other PG students and staff in your own dedicated space.

It’s a great chance to crack on with some work, and then chat to those in a similiar situation.

Booking is essential as spaces are limited.

Monday September 15, 2014 from 1:45 PM to 4:30 PM in the Archives Reading Room (Founder’s Library)

Tuesday October 14, 2014 from 1:45 PM to 4:30 PM in the Archives Reading Room (Founder’s Library)

Monday November 17, 2014 from 1:45 PM to 4:30 PM in the Archives Reading Room (Founder’s Library)

Tuesday December 9, 2014 from 1:45 PM to 4:30 PM in the Archives Reading Room (Founder’s Library)

Tuesday January 20, 2015 from 1:45 PM to 4:30 PM in the Archives Reading Room (Founder’s Library)

Tuesday February 17, 2015 from 1:45 PM to 4:30 PM in the Archives Reading Room (Founder’s Library)

This year we’re thinking about adding another date to the schedule for a new Shut Up and Cite workshop – dealing with all of your referencing worries. If you’re interested comment below, and we’ll keep you posted!

As ever, if you’ve got a subject enquiry, contact library@royalholloway.ac.uk to contact your Information Consultant.

Literature Online (LION)

Literature Online has a new look! So what better time to feature it as Resource of the Week. If you’ve never used Literature Online, it’s got some really useful features and a huge collection of over 330,000 works of English and American literature covering poetry, drama, and prose from the 8th to the 21st centuries. LION also includes thousands of critical articles, essays, biographies and encyclopedia entries.

How to find it:

On your subject guide

OR

Go to the Databases A-Z
Go to L
Click on the Literature Online link

Quick Search: searches all content, including texts (poetry, prose, drama), literary works, criticism and reference.

LitOnlinequicksearch

Text Search: find full texts of poetry, prose and drama, but author or literary movement.

Use the ‘Look up’ function to get more reliable results.

LitOnlinetextsearch

View texts by this author to read full texts of their works. You can also search for works in a particular genre, or by an author in a certain time period, or of a particular nationality.

LitOnlinetextsby Bryon

Author search: find biographies, full texts, criticism and reference on a particular author

LitOnlinesearchwithinausten

Use the ‘search within text’ function to search for instances of words of phrases in a particular work

LitOnlinesearchwithinresults

Criticism search: find full texts of articles on a topic of your choice.

LitOnlinecriticism

Reference search: find biographies of authors, bibliographies on certain topics, and more. Use the ‘look up’ function to be more specific.

Tick ‘biographies’ to search for biographical information on authors.

LitOnlinereferencebiography

For more hints and tips, go to the Literature Online guide.

 

[screenshot]

Book moves in Founder’s Library

Summer update 2: Moving!

There have been 5 moves over the summer – all related to creating a bit of space for study, and for lots more books.

1. French Collection move

The French Literature Collection (840-849) has been moved from Founder’s First Floor East & Founder’s Ground Floor East to Founder’s Basement West (where the Founder’s print journals used to be, just below the linguistics and Shakespeare collections). This is to enable us to create 32 extra and much needed study spaces in Founder’s First Floor East.

FrenchCollection

2. Hispanic Collection move

The Hispanic Literature Collection (860 – 869) used to belocated along the wall in the room below Founder’s Help Desk. It has been moved to Founder’s Ground Floor East (just before the Classics Collection).

SpanishCollection

3. Music Collection expansion

In order to create much needed space in the Music book and scores collections, these will now be spaced out in both sections of Founder’s First Floor East (Music previously occupied just the back section).

MusicCollection

4. Print journals move

The Arts & Humanities print journals collection in Founder’s (which used to live in the Founder’s basement)  has now been moved to Bedford Level 1. This means that all of our print journals for all subjects are in one place, and one continuous alphabetical sequence. (NB – material previously housed in the off-site Depository has remained there).
This move has taken place in order to move the French collection into Founder’s basement and create the 32 study spaces mentioned above. And it should make browsing print journals much, much easier!

JournalCollection

Finally, the big move:

5. Classics Re-classification & move of some material to Bedford

The Classics Collection classification in Founder’s (870 – 889) was over 30 years out of date and had created a major problem as large numbers of texts had the same classmark (e.g. 100’s of books all at 888 ARI – argh!). Over the years concerns have been raised by staff and students about the difficulty of locating the books that they needed.

Some Classics books (classmarks 888 etc) remain in Founder's Library.
Some Classics books (classmarks 888 etc) remain in Founder’s Library.

We have now re-classified the Classics Collection to the latest Dewey classification standard. The re-classification has resulted in a substantial number of books being moved to Bedford as they were re-classified under Philosophy, Ethics, Politics etc.

Some books will be classified under Philosophy (100s), some under Politics (320s).
Some books will be classified under Philosophy (100s), some under Politics (320s).

 

However, all of the new classification numbers are listed on the library catalogue. So when you’re checking your reading list, look out for ‘Bedford Library’ under location.

Using the books in Founder’s Library

There is a collection of older Classics books located at the end of the reclassified run of Classics books in Founder’s with blue dots on the spines. These books are not on the catalogue and will be reviewed over the coming year and those that are to be kept will be catalogued and reclassified. Russell Burke will liaise closely with the Classics Department staff on this matter.

Please note that whilst these books are not on the catalogue, they are security tagged and can be taken out if you present them at the Help Desk. A member of staff will create a short record for them, and then issue them to you. Please do this!

New Study Space in Founder’s Library

Summer update 1: 32 new study spaces

Where?

In the First Floor East Reading Room of Founder’s Library. This is one up the stairs, and on the left (or right, if you’re using the lift).

map

 

The lovely Victorian reading room on the right (First Floor West) remains intact and beautiful as ever.

This photograph is very wonky (!), but it's of the Victorian Reading Room in the West of the Library (up the stairs and right).
This photograph is very wonky (!), but it’s of the Victorian Reading Room in the West of the Library (up the stairs and right).

How?

Old metal shelves in that section have been removed, leaving behind wooden shelves and a lot of space for seats.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154513630890298.1073741826.228847215297&type=3
Empty metal shelves in First Floor East.

The metal shelves were dismantled, and replaced with new seating, which made it look a  bit like this for a while:

No more metal shelves! Taken from the Music collection, facing out into the corridor (Victorian reading room through the green doors at the end of the picture).
No more metal shelves!
Taken from the Music collection, facing out into the corridor (Victorian reading room through the green doors at the end of the picture).

And once it was tidied up, this was the finished product.

FFEfinal

desk

So where did the books go?

The French Literature Collection (840-849) has been moved from Founder’s First Floor East & Founder’s Ground Floor East to Founder’s Basement West (where the Founder’s print journals used to be, just below the linguistics collections).

AND in order to create much needed space in the Music book and scores collections, these have been spaced out in both sections of Founder’s First Floor East – on the shelves in the photo above. (Music previously occupied just the back section).

Why?

The Libraries always need more space, and in recent years there haven’t been many changes to Founder’s Library. This should make it a bit easier to find somewhere silent to study in the Libraries. It’s also given the Music collection lots of room to spread out – no more peering up at the high shelves for scores!