Monday 7 November 2016

Semester 2 deadline for Aspire reading lists: November 30th

Library staff are buying books and digitising now for modules being taught in Semester Two 2016-2017.
Reading lists for modules being taught in Semester 2 (or being taught over both semesters) must be added to Aspire, and existing Aspire lists must updated and republished, by the end of November or there is no guarantee that library materials and digitised documents will be available in time for teaching.

New: are you planning a reading list for a returning module? Check the reading list archive and let us know if you'd like a previously-published Aspire list retrieved for you to re-purpose.

Please contact your subject librarian if you have any questions about this.
You may find these links useful
Please contact your subject librarian or Academic Engagement acastaff@aber.ac.uk 01970621896 if you would like some training or a refresher. We're happy to visit at a time and place convenient for you.

Monday 5 September 2016

Meet your Academic Engagement Librarian #16

Hello! I’m George and I am the Graduate Trainee for 2016-2017. I graduated here in Aberystwyth during July 2016 with a degree in International Politics and Military History. I am originally from Chester, but decided Aber was the place for me after successfully completing the Summer University programme in 2012.

I had never considered Librarianship as a career up until now. Although after sorting all the books for my dissertation into numerous large stacks, the signs were probably there! Previously I had worked as a Betting Assistant at Chester Racecourse, a far-cry to a library environment. More recently I worked as a Student Leader at Aberystwyth’s Widening Participation department.  During my time as a Student Leader I worked on numerous outreach projects and a further two Summer University programmes. I was lucky enough to be one of the two coordinators of the 2016 Summer University, a truly rewarding experience!

Outside of work I love to watch and play football. I’m a long suffering supporter of Chester FC and I have travelled to many parts of the country, often watching us lose on a regular basis. I’m currently working towards becoming a football referee, so I can give something back to the game. I also have a keen interest in aviation, which heavily influenced my dissertation and degree scheme. I have undertaken flying lessons from my local airport of Hawarden, but have now adopted gliding to get my flying fix!

Monday 20 June 2016

Ebrary upgrades to "Ebook Central"

Between Tuesday 21st and Wednesday 22nd June, Ebrary will be upgraded to Proquest Ebook Central. Reading Ebook Central e-books you find in Primo should remain unchanged however there will be a new-look website if you are visiting Ebook Central directly:


All your saved books, highlighting and other personalised features will be available as before.

From ProQuest:

  • “Updated, modern patron experience featuring an entirely new and improved homepage and search
  • Increased copy and print limits; the default is 20% of the book for copy and 40% of the book for print or chapter download to real PDF”

If you have any questions or would like some training please contact your subject librarian or acastaff@aber.ac.uk 01970621896.

Wednesday 15 June 2016

The 2016 Aber LibTeachMeet held at Aberystwyth University was a great success.


The subject of this get together was How do libraries make you more employable?’ one of the hot button topics face by librarians at the moment.

Among the group were HE, public, FE, and NHS librarians, and we discovered we faced similar challenges in each of our sectors.
The LibTeachMeet was opened by Julie Hart, Aberystwyth University Librarian and Deputy Director of Services, who noted the difference between employment and employability within the context of HE skills.



 
            Our first speaker was yours truly, and I spoke on my experiences both as a recent student, and as a library trainee, and how in both cases the library contributes to employability. 

Next up was Anita Saycell, subject librarian, who gave a talk on the resources we have at Aberystwyth to help students keep up to date with industry developments and research companies. 

Our third speaker was Síona Murray from Coleg Llandrillo, who gave us an insight into Further Education’s contributions to employability, as well as touching on a range of topics such as Information Literacy, Digital Literacy, and social media skills as employability skills.

Next, Sarah Gwenlan, subject librarian, spoke about Aberystwyth University’s efforts to collaborate Library resources and skills with the Careers Service in our Employabilty group, and developing shared sessions, and discussions were had about the best time in the degree scheme to introduce these lectures to students.
Finally, Joy Cadwallader, subject librarian,  gave us a personal case study about how libraries were making people employable back in the 1980s, as libraries have to keep up with new technology, so do our students.

There was plenty of discussion about employability of students but also skills for librarians. Another key point that came up was how to market the library’s involvement and provision of skills, and the issue of ‘presumed knowledge’ with a phrase I particularly enjoyed which is ‘IT confident doesn’t equal IT competent’. We also discussed the importance of collaborating further with careers services to develop joint sessions on skills, and looking for ‘employability champions’ amongst colleagues and academic departments. We also touched on the challenge of finding a good hashtag to promote the value of libraries to employability, which proved to be a difficult one.  
I would like to thank everyone who attended and spoke, especially those who took the time to travel to Aber, as well as CILIP for sponsoring this event and helping us provide the lure of lunch and freebies.

All that’s left to say is I’ll be looking forward to Aber LibTeachMeet 2017

Friday 20 May 2016

Aber LibTeachMeet is coming on the 9th June 2016! 
This year's theme is: How do libraries make you more employable? 
Amongst librarians across all sectors, one of the most rapidly changing and increasingly important elements of our work is Employability.    

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We’re hoping to bring together librarians from different sectors to discuss and share experiences of how your work contributes to someone’s employability, and a chance to find out and exchange viewpoints on work-ready skills. 
So come along to our LibTeachMeet in Medrus 1Penglais Campus, Aberystwyth University on Thursday 9th June 2016, and share your experiences of contributing to employability. This event is being sponsored by the CILIP Information Literacy Group and is free to attend. 
To book your place please visit:  

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