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%.