Connect XII: Home

Hello and welcome to the Connect newsletter which highlights service and resource updates to help you make effective use of your library and learning services.

Welcome to new and returning students and staff
If you are new to the library the best place to start is the Welcome to the Library which offers lots of information about resources and services.

A few highlights for this term -

• Newspapers and many more magazines are available online, along with dissertations and over 200,000 electronic books.
• There are new Academic Skills guides, including Scholarly Communications, Critical Thinking, Dissertation Writing and for all those unfamiliar new words we have created a Glossary.
• Virtual shelf browsing and you may also like... can now be found on LibrarySearch.
• Click & Collect and Scan & Deliver for everything you might need to support your studies.

Welcome back everyone...  and remember we are here to help - Contact the Library.

A new and exciting programme of library and learning webinars has been scheduled for the autumn term.  For more information and joining details see - Library & Learning Webinars.

Don't worry if you miss a webinar - Library & Learning Webinars also gives you access to recordings of these and previous webinars.

LibrarySearch enables you to search across many of the library collections from one place.  You can use it to search for books, chapters, journal articles, images and moving images. Find the search box in the header of every page in myLibrary. For more information see the video guide to LibrarySearch and for help with effective searching see Searching Techniques.

New for this year - 

• LibrarySearch now gives you the option to format your references in UCA Harvard using the 'Cite this item' tool.
• You can now refine your search to include print or electronic books.

If you are concerned about your mental health then we are here to help.  For more information see - Wellbeing and Counselling Services.

The Digitisation Studio, located in the Elaine Thomas Library, at Farnham is open for all staff and students to digitise their work.

The Studio is  open Monday to Friday 10:00 - 16:30 and if you are from another campus, email us and we will see how we can help you.

We have a wide range of specialist equipment including high-resolution scanners, video transfer, a copystand and an infinity table.  We look forward to seeing you soon!

For more information about how we can help with your digitisation project, contact us at digitisationservices@uca.ac.uk or book your appointment now.

Creative research makes global communities more vibrant, more innovative, more human.  Due to the complexity and sociocultural nature of creative research, it requires a more eclectic approach to methodology.

Research methodology is described as 'the fundamental assumptions and methods that guide decision making in a study'. Whiffin, C. (2020). For creative research, this is usually a reflective and reflexive approach to study; looking at how things, processes, industries and societies are formed, and the process and contexts from which they emerge.

For lots of resources about research methodologies and techniques see the Methodology Reading List.

Do you want to be confident you know about issues such as plagiarism, collusion, referencing and academic misconduct?  Then try the Academic Integrity Toolkit - this self paced online session will take you through the basics elements of academic integrity, provide you will opportunities to get yourself and you can get yourself a completion certificate to show you know about academic integrity. 

What is myReadingList?

myReadingList provides you with direct access to books, journals, images, web links, films and other resources selected by your course team to support your studies.

They provide you with essential resources which are required readings for your course and recommended readings which will enhance your studies by providing context and background information to enhance your learning.

myReadingList provides an excellent starting point for your research when writing essays and other assessments.

You will find your reading list in each unit area within myUCA or you can search within myReadingList for your unit code, unit title or tutors name.  If you can't find your reading list then contact your course tutor for details. 

Reading lists can be searched, filtered by resource type and the list can be displayed in the UCA Harvard.

The Library offers you access to a wide and diverse range of resources to support your learning, teaching and research, including -

Details of all these collections and how to access them can be found Finding and Accessing Collections.

If you can't find what you are looking for, we are can help -

• Scan and Deliver
  Scan and Deliver is an electronic document delivery service for staff and students which allows you to receive by email scans of book chapters and journal articles that the Library hold.
• Document Supply
  If the Library does not hold the resources you are looking for then the Document Supply Service is recommended.  The Library will do its best to obtain what you are looking for from another UK Library. You can request books, journal articles, reports and theses that the University does not hold. Requests must be for your own personal research and study.

For further information see Requesting Resources.

From Monday 3 October, our online chat service is extending.  Students can now chat online to the Gateway about any enquiries they may have relating to library, IT, wellbeing, financial advice and disability.

The service will be running between 09:00 - 17:00 Monday to Friday.

The chat service can be accessed via the Library Q&A tab (on the right hand side of the screen of myLibrary) or via Gateway & Student Services on the Student Portal.

Have you met BoB yet?
Whether you want to research current events or a particular theme, watch a film or a documentary, BoB has a wide range of possibilities. You have access to over two million TV and radio programmes from over 65 free-to-air channels, including BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Film4, Dave, Channel 5 and Sky News.  You can search using keywords of your choice and make clips, collating them in playlists; and most programmes have a searchable transcript.  Login to see more - BoB.

The top five views last year - 

1. Love Island
2. Grayson Perry: Who Are You?
3. Taskmaster
4. Harry Hill's TV Burp
5. Marvel's Agents  of S.H.I.E.L.D.

You'll find BoB, and lots more, on myLibrary - A-Z Databases.