Digimap
You may have noticed that our library has just added Digimap to the A-Z of e-resources:
We now have access to the full collection of all current Ordnance Survey maps at all scales for the whole of Great Britain. This means that these digital maps will be available for use by all students and staff for project work, teaching and research (but not commercial work.) The OS maps will be accessible via the ATHENS login system. Map locations can be searched by grid reference, postcode, gazetteer entry or various other means. Basically type in your postcode and your house pops up in the middle of the screen. These can be printed directly from the online Digimap system, without any additional software, and the PDFs saved to your own computer.
The new interface of Digimap Ordnance Survey Collection by EDINA is much more user-friendly and allow users:
- a more flexible way to pan and zoom the map while selecting data
- to download more than one product for the area they are interested in
- to see how much data of a particular product they can take in a single download
- to improve the delivery of the data
- to access previous versions of products
Enjoy map searching!!
Propertydrum now available in the library
This journal covers all property-related topics: residential sales, lettings, auctions, commercial property, legislation, regulation, legal issues and much more, all informative and interesting to the property professional.
GeoHeritage now available in the library
This journal details all aspects of our global geoheritage, both in situ and portable. It examines conservation of sites and materials–use, protection and practical heritage management–as well as its interpretation through education, training and tourism. The journal covers all aspects of geoheritage and its protection. Key topics include:
- Identification, characterization, quantification and management of geoheritage
- Integration of biodiversity and geodiversity in nature conservation and land-use policies
- Geological heritage, sustainable development, community action, practical initiatives and tourism
- Geoparks: creation, management and outputs
- Conservation in the natural world, Man-made and natural impacts, climate change;
- Geotourism definitions, methodologies, and case studies
- Pedagogical use of geological heritage: publications, teaching media, trails, centers, on-site museums.
Library Catalogue – NEW LINK!!
Library is pleased now to be able to share with you the link to the new library catalogue.
The link is available at : http://catalogue.rac.ac.uk/
And remember to use the library catalogue (OPAC) to:
- search for items held in the library
- to reserve items out on loan
- to renew items you already have on loan
Please do let us know if you experience any problems using this new system which is called Heritage.
Update on recent additions to Library resources 2010/11!
UMF (university Modernisation Fund) provided additional library funding for:
- Replacement Library Management System. The system we have had for more than 10 years is being replaced by ‘Heritage’, supplied by IS Oxford http://www.isoxford.com/heritage/core
Heritage is due to go live mid-July. The new system is considerably cheaper than the previous one, and should integrate better with registry software, Gateway and ClickView. It also handles e-resource cataloguing better, and customer support is also significantly improved.
- New ‘Epod’ 6-seater hexagonal study ‘island’ installed in the main books area, and is proving popular.
- New 3-seater study carrel installed at the front of the library.
- Approximately 16 new computers purchased for the two new study areas mentioned above, and to meet student demand for additional computers in the Reading Room.
- A portfolio of 150 Case Studies from Datamonitor for use in teaching andlearning (predominantly food and drinks industries related).
- More than 700 e-book titles added to the Dawsonera
e-book platform www.dawsonera.com – this includes a significant number of key texts.
The library was also recently awarded another£5000 to spendon e-resources and we have used this primarily to increase our e-books provision, again on the Dawsonera platform. Some of this has been‘patron-driven acquisition’ in that a number of titles that we purchased have been recommended by students (who can preview all the titles available on Dawsonera, but not necessarily access as full-text until we buy them).
Some Quick facts and figures
- The Library is open for 73 hours per week during term-time.
- Our e-books provision now totals over 70,000 titles (across 2 different platforms)
- The number of open-access workstations in the library is now 32 (plus 3 library catalogue opacs).
- The total number of electronic databases is around 30 (a mixture of A & I, full-text, market research etc).
- In 09/10 we loaned 42,595 books to students (approx. 40 books per student) – in line with the national HE average. This was the highest figure for at least 7 years, and represents something like a 40% increase in ‘business’ at the issue desk.
- In total we receive over 4,000 journal titles per year (made up of print only, electronic only, print and e- combined, paid for and freely available, single title purchases and large ‘bundles’ of titles such as ScienceDirect).
- The exact number of visits made by students to the Library is difficult to calculate precisely but the percentage increase from 05/06 to 09/10 is around 36%.
Two new publications in the Library
Innovations in Food Technology and Innovations in Processing and Packaging contain technical articles on food ingredients, safety, packaging and processing for research, development and marketing departments in food companies.
Another addition to the Library Journals collection
The Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture publishes peer-reviewed original research, reviews, mini-reviews, perspectives and spotlights in these areas, with particular emphasis on interdisciplinary studies at the agriculture/ food interface. The journal covers fundamental and applied research, including:- Food – health and nutrition, materials and processing, agriculture, environment, biomass and bioenergy.
Another new journal
Since 1936, The Journal of Food Science has been the Institute of Food Technologists’ premier science journal, containing peer-reviewed reports of original research and critical reviews of all aspects of food science. Today it publishes more than 500 papers a year — over 3,000 pages of original research and scientific reviews. It provides knowledge of basic research on food science and technology critical to building new products, developing new processing efficiencies, and achieving cost savings.
New journal in the library
Environmental Conservation is one of the longest-standing, most highly-cited of the interdisciplinary environmental science journals. It includes research papers, reports, comments, subject reviews, and book reviews addressing environmental policy, practice, and natural and social science of environmental concern at the global level, informed by rigorous local level case studies. The journal’s scope is very broad, including issues in human institutions, ecosystem change, resource utilisation, terrestrial biomes, aquatic systems, and coastal and land use management. Environmental Conservation is essential reading for all environmentalists, managers, consultants, agency workers and scientists wishing to keep abreast of current developments in environmental science.
