Crowdsourcing and archives

I listened to a fascinating talk last week by an academic called Stuart Lee who's taken a crowdsourcing approach to building an archive of Great War (incl poetry) materials.  The audio file is available from Oxford Brookes University's website:  http://ah.brookes.ac.uk/publishing/podcast/crowd-sourcing-stuart_lee/.  But you can also download it from iTunes.  

The project originated from a much smaller JISC-funded initiative but the Archive now contains over 6,500 items contributed by the general public, 150 audio and movie clips and other materials like timelines.  So it can fit with the curricula for English and History lessons at all levels.  It is all accessible from their fantastic website: http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/.  They have extensive "permitted use" rights for teachers and students.

Vera Brittain in V. A. D. uniform

The First World War Poetry Digital Archive has a section on Vera Brittain (mother of Shirley Williams).  She was great friends with Winifred Holtby (author of South Riding which is currently being serialized on the BBC) and her best-loved books, Testament of Friendship, records their campaigning (for peace and equal rights for women).  A truly inspirational woman.

Tell us what else you think we should buy

As you will see from the previous post, we have recently received a lot of extra money to spend on the collection.  Whilst our priority is to buy from unit reading lists, we are always pleased to receive recommendations from you for books you think we should purchase to broaden the collection.  All you need to do is complete this form and we will do the rest.

New books

The Library was recently given an extra 100k to spend on books and ebooks. The Librarians supporting the Faculty of Education, Sport and Tourism have been busy buying stock recommended on reading lists and suggested by staff and students. Click here to access the list of material ordered.

If you have any recommendations please let us know here.

Web Literacy amongst Secondary pupils

Teachers.TV have produced an excellent 14 minute programme about the critical importance for teachers to provide guidance to their pupils when using the Internet for research.

The film focuses on a group of Year 9 pupils in Leeds who are researching three topics: Martin Luther King; the holocaust; and, Victorian robots.  The exercise reveals that they struggle to spot problems with validity, reliability or authority.  (And don't get me started on plagiarism!)

It brings up lots of issues which clearly impact subjects beyond ICT lessons.

Help in the Hub

Adele, surfing, before her coffee

If you are struggling with an assignment and want to ask Adele or me for any tips or tricks (finding journal articles and other references), remember you can always book for an appointment in the Library (or at Putteridge Bury).

But, you may also see us in the Polhill Hub on our fancy new laptops (topping up on our caffeine) and we'd be very happy to answer any questions (about the Digital Library, RefWorks...).  The wireless access is really good so we can help you there and then.  And save you a trip through the turnstile.

Christmas opening hours

Please remember that Polhill Library and the university campuses will be closed between 25 December and 3 January.  We will reopen at 08.30 on 4th January 2011.

For further details please see the Learning Resources Opening Hours page which will be updated regularly.

This week: Spolight on assignments

Need advice on how to research your assignments? 
Could do with help on planning and presenting your work?
We are putting on a special week of training sessions on the skills you need to research, plan and present your assignments.

The sessions are free and open to all students of the University

• no need to book, just turn up
• each session is 1 hour long
• come to as many sessions as you like

More information is available on the Learning Resources website.  If you can't make any of the Microsoft Office sessions this week, remember you can always book to see our ICT Trainer for Polhill, Linda Martin.