St Stephen's House Library

Welcome back!

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:31:00 +0000

It's the beginning of another term, which means a new round of WISER training sessions on electronic resources: the programme for Trinity Term is available here.

The sessions are free to attend, but you do need to book a place in advance, either through the OUCS booking system or (if you do not have a blue University card) by emailing usered@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

New URLs for key resources

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:12:00 +0000

As some of you may have noticed, the entity formerly known as OULS has now been renamed the 'Bodleian Libraries'. (The change officially took place on 2nd March, the 465th anniversary of Sir Thomas Bodley's birth.)

As part of this change, key resources such as SOLO now have new URLs (details below). Although the old ones will continue to work for a while, it is recommended that you update your bookmarks now.

SOLO: http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
OxLIP+: http://oxlip-plus.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
OU eJournals: http://ejournals.bodleian.ox.ac.uk. (Remember that you can also access OU eJournals by going to OxLIP+ and selecting the 'Find e-Journal' tab.)

The URL for OLIS remains unchanged at http://library.ox.ac.uk.

World Book Day at the Bodleian

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:44:00 +0000

If you're a Tolkien fan, you may be interested in this one-day display, marking World Book Day, of material relating to The Hobbit. 'There and back again: The Hobbit at the Bodleian Library' features original artwork used in the book, a unique manuscript of hobbit doodles, and a rare first edition owned by the Bodleian.

The exhibition will take place in the Divinity School on Thursday 4th March, 10am to 5pm (last entry 4.30pm). Admission is free.

(More information about World Book Day is available here.)

New database for theology: Religious and Theological Abstracts

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:57:00 +0000

Religious and Theological Abstracts (accessible via OxLIP+) provides bibliographical details and abstracts of articles from over 400 international journals relating to theology and world religions, with coverage going back to 1948. You may find it a useful alternative to ATLA (also on OxLIP+) - but bear in mind that identical searches run on the two databases will probably return different sets of results. (ATLA's coverage also extends back some sixty years, but it indexes around 600 titles. In addition, ATLA allows you to link directly to the full text of articles that are available electronically, which RTA does not.)

Why not give them both a try and see which you prefer? If you have any questions about using them, please let me know!

Resources for education on Delicious

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:52:00 +0000

I have added the Education Library to our network on Delicious - simply go to our Delicious page and click on 'Network' to see their links. Alternatively you can visit their page directly here.

If you use a feed reader and would like to be automatically updated when new bookmarks are added, an RSS feed is available at the bottom of the Delicious page.

Survey on OLIS and SOLO

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Do you use OLIS and/or SOLO? A former colleague of mine is conducting an online survey on attitudes to OLIS and SOLO as part of her MSc dissertation, and would be grateful for responses from users of these services. The survey should take no longer than fifteen minutes to complete, and your answers will be completely anonymous.

The survey is available here.

Reference management courses

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:33:00 +0000

OUCS is running a course on RefWorks on Wednesday 17th February from 2.00-5.00pm.

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 introductory course is open to all, but the section on importing references will focus on Humanities examples.

For further information and to book a place, visit the OUCS website. Please note that you will need to use your Oxford SSO username and password to book, and also that a course book (price £6.00) must be purchased when you attend the course.

Alternatively, there is a WISER session on reference management on Thursday 25th February from 2.30-4.30pm, which gives an introductory overview of various reference management tools including RefWorks, EndNote and Zotero. This course also takes place at OUCS; it is free of charge, but you still need to book a place.

Refworks and EndNote Web are both available free of charge to University members (i.e. blue card holders); you just need to complete a simple registration process to start using them. See the links at the bottom of this page for further information about these services.

WISER sessions this term

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:34:00 +0000

WISER (Workshops in Information Skills and Electronic Research) sessions coming up this term include:

WISER Technology Tools: Getting Organised on the Web

This session will look at some tools that can help you organise yourself on the web, including social bookmarking services like delicious.com, bibliophile sites like LibraryThing and My WorldCat, and customised start pages.

Presenters: Jane Rawson and Emma Cragg

Date: Fri 12 Feb 12.30-1.30. Book a place.

(delicious.com lets you save bookmarks online instead of in your browser, which means you can access them from any computer; it also makes it easy to organise large numbers of bookmarks on lots of different topics. Well worth checking out, if you haven't already tried it! The library's delicious.com page is here.)

WISER Finding Stuff: Books

This session will focus on finding books for your research in Oxford and beyond. We will cover a number of search tools and catalogues and cover more advanced subject searching as well as basic author/title searches.The session will be mainly hands on with some demonstrations.

Presenters: Kerry Webb and Angela Carritt.

Date: Mon 15 Feb 9.15-10.15. Book a place.

WISER Finding Stuff: Journal Articles

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.

Presenters: Kerry Webb and Angela Carritt

Date: Mon 15 Feb 10.15-11.15. Book a place.

A full listing of courses taking place this term is available here. All the courses are free to attend (although you still need to book a place) and take place at OUCS on Banbury Road. If you would like to have more information about a workshop, or need assistance with booking please email usered@ouls.ox.ac.uk.

'Theology and Mental Health' Lecture by Richard Harries

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:33:00 +0000

From the Balliol College website:

Tuesday 9 February, 4-6pm, at Balliol College.

Lord Richard Harries of Pentregarth, formerly Bishop of Oxford, is coming to Balliol to give a lecture entitled: 'Religion and guilt - burden or blessing?'

Christianity encourages people to think of themselves as sinful. Yet some people, for the sake of their health, need to be liberated from feelings of guilt. The problem will be illustrated with particular reference to William Cowper and Samuel Johnson. Is it possible to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate forms of guilt?

Richard Harries was Bishop of Oxford from 1987-2006. On his retirement he was made a Life Peer. He is currently Gresham Professor of Divinity and an Honorary Professor of Theology at King’s College, London. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Biology and the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Convener: Dr Alex Popescu, Chair, ‘Theology and Mental Health’ Sub-Committee, ‘Faith Communities and Mental Health’ Reference Group, World Council of Churches.

Books on library desks

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:13:00 +0000

If you are using books in the library without checking them out, please reshelve them when you have finished with them so that other readers can find them. Ideally, any books that you wish to use for an extended period of time should be checked out on Heritage, so that it is clear on the catalogue that they are not available; once checked out, they should not be left out on library desks. Where this is not possible (e.g. with reference-only books), books that you wish to consult again may be left out on library desks, provided that they are accompanied by a note with your name and the date indicating that the books are still in use.

I intend to shelve on Wednesday morning any books that are out on the desks without notes, so if before then you could reshelve the items you no longer need, or check out or leave a note with those you're still using, I'd be extremely grateful!

Hebrew manuscripts on display at the Bodleian Library

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:30:00 +0000

From the latest OULS news page:

'The Bodleian Library’s winter exhibition tells the story of how together Jews, Christians and Muslims have contributed to the development of the book. Crossing Borders: Hebrew Manuscripts as a Meeting-place of Cultures draws on the Bodleian’s Hebrew holdings, one of the largest and most important collections of Hebrew manuscripts in the world.

Covering a time span of 300 years between the thirteenth century and fifteenth century, the exhibition brings to light different aspects of Jewish life in a non-Jewish medieval society....

By importing elements of the host culture, the Hebrew manuscripts are proof of coexistence and cultural affinity, as well as practical cooperation between Jews and their non-Jewish neighbours in the Middle Ages. The assortment of manuscripts is not restricted to religious texts, but extends to literary and scientific works as well.'

The manuscripts are on display in the Bodleian's Exhibition Room, accessible via the Old Schools Quadrangle. The exhibition opened yesterday, and will run until 3 May 2010 (opening hours: 9.00-5.00, Monday to Friday; 9.00-4.30, Saturday; 11.00-5.00, Sunday). Admission is free. For more information, read the news item in full here.

A gentle reminder...

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:24:00 +0000

As well as returning them on Heritage, please reshelve your books when you bring them back to the library. Thanks!

Past Masters online

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Past Masters provides online access to the full text of many major works of philisophy, theology, and literature. It is accessible via OxLIP+ (select the Title tab, search for 'past masters', and click on 'Past Masters - Humanities Full Text Works').

Theological writings available via Past Masters include:

Anselm - major works (in English), complete works (in Latin)
Thomas Aquinas - collected works (in English)
Augustine - major works (in English), complete works (in Latin)
Calvin - works and correspondence (in English)
Francis of Assisi - early works (in English and Italian)
Kierkegaard - journals and papers (in English), collected works (in Danish)
Knox - works
Luther - sermons (in English)
Newman - letters and diaries
Ockham - Work of Ninety Days (in English)
Pascal - complete works (in French)

The collection also includes the works of many other authors in the fields of philosophy and literature.

There is a search facility which allows you to search for occurrences of relevant terms across the whole Past Masters collection, or within particular documents.

New subscription to Times Educational Supplement

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:35:00 +0000

We have now started to receive the TES every week - it should appear in the common room on Fridays (postal strikes permitting...). Please let me know if an issue fails to arrive.

Lots of resources, including archives of the paper back to 1994, are available on the TES website.

New books for October

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:42:00 +0000

A list of books added to the library so far this month is available here.

Amongst them is If you meet George Herbert on the road, kill him, by today's guest lecturer Justin Lewis-Anthony.

Blackwell Reader in Pastoral and Practical Theology

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:30:00 +0000

In addition to the lending copy, there is now a further copy of James Woodward and Stephen Pattison (eds.), The Blackwell reader in pastoral and practical theology on the reserve shelf for consultation in the library only.

If there are other heavily used books where an additional lending and/or reserve shelf copy might be helpful, please do let me know.

WISER sessions

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:42:00 +0000

Information about this term's WISER (Workshops in Information Skills and Electronic Resources) programme is available here. The sessions take place at lunchtimes at OUCS on Banbury Road and are free to attend, though you will need to book a place in advance.

Topics for the humanities sessions include:

SOLO - Friday 23rd October
OxLIP+ electronic resources - Friday 30th October
E-books - Monday 2nd November

Welcome...

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:57:00 +0000

... to all new students, and welcome back to all those who are returning.

The presentation from this morning's library induction is now available online here (and by clicking 'Using Heritage' under the Links menu on the right hand side of the screen). There are also a couple of print copies in the rack on top of the reference section for consultation in the library.

To all returning students, please return any books borrowed for the summer vacation by Monday 12th October. Many thanks!

WISER: The Google Project: update

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:29:00 +0000

Unfortunately, the WISER session on the Google Project that was scheduled for this Friday (5th) has been cancelled.

Linking to e-journals via SOLO: update

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:08:00 +0000

The problem with linking to e-journals from SOLO has now been resolved, so it is possible to access full text articles by clicking the 'Online access (Get it)' link again.

SOLO - E-journals link problem

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:11:00 +0000

Those of you who use SOLO to access e-journals may have noticed a problem with linking to the full text of journal articles: currently, clicking on the 'Online access' link produces the message 'No full text available' for all titles, even when full text is actually available.

To get around this, click on the journal title in the search results list, to go to the 'Details' screen.

There, you will see a 'Link for users in Oxford', clicking on which will take you to the usual full text options screen.

(The problem is the result of a software update over the weekend; the suppliers are working on a solution.)

WISER session on the Google Digitization Project

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:32:00 +0000

Anyone who needs to use nineteenth century material, or who is interested in accessing books online, may find the following session helpful:

WISER: The Google Project
Friday 5th June, 12.30 pm
OUCS, Banbury Road

The Library Services are working with Google to attempt the mass digitiztion of our entire holdings of out-of-copyright nineteenth-century material. This presentation will set our experiences and the outputs of the project in the context of Oxford's ambitions to provide a digital library service for the global community of readers.

Places are free, but need to booked in advance via the OUCS website.

More new books

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:12:00 +0000

Some more new books have been added to the library: you can see the full list on LibraryThing.

Amongst them are several volumes from the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series, and volumes 2, 3, and 4 of the New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible.

To leavers and returners

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Thu, 28 May 2009 10:50:00 +0000

Best wishes to all of you who are about to leave the House; I hope you take many happy memories with you - but please do not take any library books! Please return all library books by Friday 5th June.

Those of you who will be returning in the autumn can carry on borrowing books, and anything you borrow from now on will be due back on Monday 12th October. However, please do take this opportunity to bring back any books you have borrowed this term which you no longer need, so that others can use them.

Thank you!

New books

noreply@blogger.com (Gillian B.) — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:39:00 +0000

A selection of new books is now available in the library; details are available on LibraryThing.

Among the new items are is Constantine the Great: York's Roman Emperor, kindly presented to the library by Martin Henig, one of its editors.