Category Archives: Other libraries

Library Enquiry of the Month: Where is this journal article?

When you’re searching for a journal article on a topic, or for an assignment, you can go to LibrarySearch. Either type the title of the article and the author’s surname into the ‘All’ search box, or search for the journal title in the ‘Journals by Title’ box (this does take longer!)

Always click ‘View Online’ to follow a link to the journal article PDF.

If the journal article doesn’t show up in LibrarySearch, try using Senate House Library’s catalogue – they have a wide range of resources too. If you haven’t already, pre-register for access to their online resources here.

If that still doesn’t work, try Google Scholar to see if a PDF is available.

gscholarpdf

Still nothing? Request the article using Royal Holloway’s inter-library loan service and if possible, we’ll email you the article. You’ll need an inter-library loans voucher from your departmental administrator, and then complete the online form above – the team will let you know how your request is going!

So what with all those options, you should be able to get hold of almost any article!

Senate House returns drop-box is now open 24/7!

Open24 hours
Image by Gareth Simpson https://www.flickr.com/photos/xurble/1328278000/

As a student of Royal Holloway, you have access to Senate House Library.

There is a Senate House returns drop-box on campus, which until recently has had limited opening hours. However, from now you can return your Senate House Library books whenever you wish. There is a security light to make it safe to deposit items when it’s dark.

A further improvement is that the box will now be emptied twice, rather than once, a day.

You can find the box at the University of London Despository – Building 39 on the campus plan.

 

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

 

Senate House Drop Box

Drop box on campus

There is a drop box on campus at the University of London book depository where Royal Holloway students and staff can return books which they have borrowed from Senate House library. The drop box is located just outside the main entrance at the top of the stairs and there are a few things to note:

  • Senate House books can be returned to the drop box between 9am and 4pm
  • Items will be taken off users accounts on the same day, after 4pm
  • Fines money cannot be taken at the Depository, and nor can fines disputes be dealt with there

For directions to the depository, use the campus map to find building 39 (Library depository).

Library loves…Dissertations

April is the final push to many dissertation deadlines, and we know that this is a very busy time. For those of you finishing, or even for those of you just starting, this month is about all things dissertation (not forgetting projects and portfolios too!).

Here’s a list of things the library can help with:

  • More Books: if you need a book, just fill in the book suggestions form. In the Autumn Term we bought over 100 individual titles based on your requests, and it’s never too late to ask.

MoreBooks

  • Visiting other libraries: if you want to borrow/visit another UK university Library, SCONUL is a great national scheme that allows you to do so for free. Fill in the online form, and take your approval email with your RHUL RCS card to other libraries taking part in the scheme and you’re in!
  • Inter-Library Loan: did you know you can request to borrow books, journals, journal articles, even doctoral theses from other libraries? There’s lots of information here, and if you’re after something in particular, this can be great.
  • Referencing and bibliographies: referencing is important, but it can be time-consuming. We know you’d rather spend that time reading up and writing, so don’t forget that the Library can help with referencing styles and referencing tools – in fact, we’ve a whole guide dedicated to it! Keep watching the blog for in depth information on the different tools available so you can choose the best one for you and your dissertation.

 

"Bibliography" by Alexandre Duret-Lutz. C BY-SA. Flickr.
“Bibliography” by Alexandre Duret-Lutz. C BY-SA. Flickr.

 

  • Opening hours: Bedford Library is already open 24/5 (8.30 Sunday – 21.00 Friday, 8.30 – 21.00 Saturday) but from Sunday 20th April to Friday 30th May the library will be open 24/7. This is a very busy time for us, so please take care of the space, and yourselves: keep things clean, free up study spaces for others if you don’t need them, keep the noise down, and remember to go home from time to time!
  • Space to Study: if you’re looking for another place to study on campus, be sure to check the Space to Study webpages. We’ve teamed up with departments across campus to free up more study space you can use when inspiration strikes, and the list will continue to grow!
  • Your Librarians: every subject has its own librarian, and our job is to help you find information, get hold of the right books and journals, and help you with those tricky bibliographies. Drop us an email, or pop into Bedford Library for a chat – it’s what we’re here for!

And finally – don’t forget that there’s another department dedicated to helping you write the best essays and build the best study skills. Visit the Academic Support webpages for access to the online skills4studycampus course, help with time management, essay structure, and much more.

Follow the #librarylovesdissertations hashtag and click on librarylovesdissertations tagcloud on the blog for further updates.

Best of luck!

Metropolitan Museum of Art books

New York’s famous Metropolitan Museum of Art has a catalogue of 1,300 books published in the last five years available for free via Google Books. Current book titles that are in-print may be previewed and fully searched online, with a link to purchase the book. The full contents of almost all other book titles may be read online, searched, or downloaded as a PDF.

Check out this list of full-text items freely available online!

The Met is a great source of Art history material – a perfect Resource of the Week for LibraryLovesArt Month!

MetPubs_SmallBanner

I can’t find a journal article what do I do now?

Sometimes you may have found an article you think will be very useful for your research but you can’t quickly find it on Library Search. Don’t give up!

Before you do anything else register for Senate House 

1. Check the journal title on  Library Search

Not all articles will appear when you search Library Search for them by title but we may still have a subscription to the journal. Go to the Journals by Title option on Library Search. Type in the Journal title. If you were looking for this article:

Ver Straeten, C. A. (2013), Beneath it all: bedrock geology of the Catskill Mountains and implications of its weathering. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1298: 1–29. doi: 10.1111/nyas.12221

The title of the journal is Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

Search for this and you go to the main page for the journal. Select the year, volume and issue to find the article. In most cases you could search within the title by author or article title.

2. Check Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a useful resource when you are trying to track down articles. As a database it won’t cover as much as our databases but it can help you find ways to access material.

Note:  Set your Google Scholar Settings to link to Senate House and RHUL – more information here.

As well as allowing you to check both RHUL libraries and Senate Hose it also brings back information from some Online Repositories.

3. Check Senate House

Although most of the time Google Scholar will tell you if Senate House has something online it is always worth double checking.  Search for the Journal Title at Senate house 

4. Inter-Library Loan

If we don’t have the journal and neither does Senate House, consider requesting an Inter-Library Loan.  This service is available to members of College.

5. Other Libraries

See if another library has it, and visit yourself: use the information on the Other Libraries page.

If in doubt, always check with your Information Consultant before spending any money online.

Linking Google Scholar to Royal Holloway and Senate House Library

Did you know that you can link Google Scholar to the library here at Royal Holloway and also Senate House? It’s a really useful thing to do as it means when you search for things you can check both collections.

Go to Google Scholar

Login with or create a Google Account if you don’t already have one.

From the Google Scholar home page click on Settings in top right hand corner.

Gogole Scholar Settings

 

 

From the Settings Page click on Library links from the left hand side

Library Links

 

 

 

 

 

If you are on campus Royal Holloway will automatically appear, along with Open WorldCat. Off campus you may need to search for Royal Holloway (if you log in and  save this you will only need to search once).

Search for Senate House.

Library links 2

 

Check both boxes next to Senate House Libraries – Available at Senate House and University of London Senate House – Full Text @ My Library.

You will need to register to use Senate House resources.

There is more information on Senate House in this post.

Now when you search using Google Scholar you will be able to see if the article is available through Royal Holloway library or Senate House.

Find it @ RHUL will often appear to the right of the citation but if it doesn’t click More below the citations to see options for Senate House and if appropriate Find it @ RHUL

Scholar senate house and find it at RHUL

 

Senate House Library

With many students thinking about dissertations it seemed a good time to remind you about Senate House Library. This amazing resource is open to all students and provides many excellent resources for all disciplines.

Online Resources

You can use their online resources without visiting. Simply register online to use Senate House Library e-resources

You can view their database collections here either by subject area or as a complete A-Z list.

These are some particularly useful databases for Royal Holloway students which you can access via Senate House:

 

Online Journals

You will also find many journals that will be relevant for your studies. If you find the Royal Holloway Library Service don’t subscribe to a journal or our subscription doesn’t cover the years you require then you should also check the Senate House catalogue.

Print Resources

You can access the print collections of Senate House by visiting them in central London. You can borrow books and return them to the drop box on campus at the University of London Depository (Building 39 on campus map). The drop box is located just outside the main entrance at the top of the stairs and there are a few things to note:

  • The box is open 24/7
  • Items deposited will be taken off your account on the same working day
  • Fines money cannot be taken at the Depository, and nor can fines disputes be dealt with there

Getting Started Videos from the British Library

Have you used the British Library? If you haven’t but are interested in going there and (to quote them) exploring the world’s knowledge these videos will give you tips before you go (so it is a little less scary).

It is a great resource for researchers, staff and dissertation students.

1. Registering with the library

2. Using the Reading Rooms 

There are a few rules about using them so this is a great video so you know what to do before you go.

3. Exploring the Collections – Researcher

4. Exploring the Collections – Designer

Even if you don’t want to use it I’d recommend visiting the permanent Treasures of the British Library exhibition (see Jane Austen’s writing desk, The Magna Carta and Gutenberg Bible or any of their temporary ones.