Aspire Self-Paced Training Now Available.

Information Services has just published a comprehensive guide to creating and publishing your reading lists in Aspire.

The guide will take you through what you need to know before actually creating a list; setting up your personal profile; building a module reading list; adding the Aspire bookmarklet tool to your browser; using this to create bookmarks for your resources and adding those resources to your list before going on to publish your list. The handbook can be found here and can either be viewed on the website or downloaded for quick access.

Box of Broadcasts - Now Available!

Aberystwyth University’s ongoing investment in its library resources continues with the fantastic Box of Broadcasts (or “BoB"!) This “user-friendly system allows staff and students to record and catch-up on missed programmes on and off-campus, schedule recordings in advance, edit programmes into clips, create playlists, embed clips into VLEs, share what they are watching with others, [and] search a growing archive of material”. This archive currently runs to over one million programmes and the site provides access to over 60 radio and TV channels.

Latest enhancements listed on the site include:

• “the addition of all BBC TV and radio content dating from 2007 (800,000+ programmes)
• over 10 foreign language channels, including French, German and Italian
• an extended 30 day recording buffer – more time to record missed programmes
• a new look website, improved navigation
• Apple iOS compatibility – watch BoB on handheld devices
• searchable transcripts
• links to social media – share what you’re watching online
• a one-click citation reference, allowing you to cite programmes in your work”

There is also a Twitter feed: @bufc_bob where not only are site updates posted but there are tweets from users reporting interesting finds in the BoB archive.
Click Box of Broadcasts  to access the site, sign in with your Aber credentials and enjoy unparalleled access to a wealth of TV and radio broadcasts.

Mass Observation Parts III and IV – Now Available!

As part of its commitment to continued investment in its libraries, Aberystwyth University has recently purchased two additions to complete the Mass Observation Online resource, the famous study of “the everyday lives of ordinary people in Britain”.
Parts III and IV extend the coverage begun in the previous two parts. With extensive use being made of material drawn from diaries of men and women from 1946-1950 and Directives from the years 1946 and 1947, 65 new Topic Collections have been created. These include:

• Propaganda and Morale
• Conscientious Objection and Pacifism
• Police, Law and Invasion Preparations, 1939-1941
• Personal Appearance and Clothes, 1938-54
• Children and Education, 1937-1952
• Women in Wartime, 1939-1945

In addition, and as stated on the Mass Observation Online website: “The new content provides opportunities for in-depth research of subjects from an age of post-war austerity and the rise of consumerism and the welfare state: demobilization, health and the NHS, reconstruction, industry, sport, holidays and leisure”

The Mass Observation Online website can also be found via Databases A-Z on Primo, if you are off-campus you will need to sign into Primo with you Aber username and password to access the resource.
Please email the Subject Librarians at: acastaff@aber.ac.uk with any comments or questions you have about Mass Observation Online.

Visitor from Fordham University, New York – June 2015

Alison Shea, Reference Librarian/ Foreign & International Specialist at Fordham Law School, Fordham University, New York visited Aberystwyth and the Department of Law and Criminology for the second year running as part of a series of visits and presentations in Europe. Alison lectures widely and is the co-author of Sources of State Practice in International Law with Ralph Gaebler, Martinus Nijhoff, 2nd ed, 2014.

As requested by students and staff this year, Alison provided an overview of US legal research (a shortened version of a lecture delivered to City legal information specialists) and explained how Fordham University Law School teaches legal research. It was pleasing to see so many staff and postgraduate students present and we hope Alison will continue to visit for years to come.

Refresh your existing Aspire reading lists for the new academic year

Since the Reading List Copy on June 23rd you can see your current reading lists for the coming academic year (2015-2016) and last years' lists (2014-2015) when you click My Lists in Aspire.

• You can remove last years’ lists from My Lists
• Now please update and re-publish your current reading lists for the new academic year

Library staff will buy any new books and acquire any other new resources on your lists.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for adding your Semester 1 and long thin module lists to Aspire well in advance of the new academic year.

If you have any further questions or would like some training or an update on using Aspire then please e-mail us on acastaff@aber.ac.uk or call 1896.

Link your Aspire lists for new modules to the hierarchy, and publish!

We now have new module codes available for you in Aspire to link your reading lists to the hierarchy.

• If your reading list is currently in draft form in Aspire you can link it to the hierarchy
• Check that the correct year and semester have been applied - if not you can change them
• Now publish your list

Library staff will begin buying books and acquiring other resources for your reading list.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for adding your Semester 1 and long thin module reading lists to Aspire well in advance of the new academic year.

If you have any further questions or would like some training or an update on using Aspire then please e-mail us on acastaff@aber.ac.uk or call 1896.