Important: let us know what you need digitised

If your Aspire module reading list(s) contains chapters of books or journal articles that you want to appear in digitised form on BlackBoard you must add the phrase “Please Digitise” in the Note for library field.

The deadlines for adding/updating reading lists are

• Distance Learning: June 30th
• Semester One and modules taught over both semesters: July 31st
• Semester Two: November 30th

To add the Note for library in an existing list:

• Log in to Aspire
• Click My Lists
• Click on the list that you want to edit
• Click the Edit drop down menu and then click Edit list
• For each chapter or article needing digitisation, click Edit notes and importance

In the middle of the box that appears you will see the Note for library field.

• Type: Please digitise
• Click Save

Now republish your list.

Please find here instructions for adding chapters or articles to Aspire reading lists.

If you have any questions please contact the Academic Engagement librarians acastaff@aber.ac.uk / (0197062)1896.

Are you interested in a module? Why not take a look at the reading list

• Visit the Modules Information page
• Find the webpage for a module by searching for the module code or browsing by department
• If a reading list has been created for this module there will be a View on Aspire link to click on 

This will take you to the module reading list in Aspire for this academic year

N.B. If you are choosing modules for the next academic year, remember to check on the Modules Information page that the module you are interested in is running next year.

Boost your employability with our Keynote trial

There is currently a trial to Keynote until the 6^th April 2016.  This database is a great resource for all students across all disciplines.  It’s easy to navigate and allows students to research potential employers before interviews.

In summary:

·         Research a company (UK) – includes financials, key contacts

·         Analyse a markets strengths and weakness

·         Current issues that may impact on future employer/market place

·         Future trends and developments with 5 year forecasts

·         Research opportunities for new business growth

·         Relevant for all students’ employability across the University.

Access the trial on campus (VPN off-campus): https://www.keynote.co.uk/content/employability  or www.keynote.co.uk

Tickell Independent Review of Progress in Open Access Models

Published on 11 February 2016, this independent review of recent progress in the Open Access publications market "Open Access to Research Publications: Independent Advice", commissioned by the UK Government and authored by Adam Tickell, Vice-Principal of the University of Birmingham, summarises the current position on Open Access and makes recommendations as follows:

i) The UK Government should continue supporting the Gold Open Access model but should note that few research funding bodies internationally have an explicit preference for the Gold model and that the vast majority of funders support Green OA, with flexibility for authors to publish via Gold if they wish and have the funds available.

ii) Business models for Open Access journals publishing have proved less responsive to market pressures than envisaged and costs continue to rise, with there being a ‘consistent and sharp’ increase in the average cost of purchasing Gold Open Access papers and corresponding falls in subscription costs not being commensurate. The costs of driving a strong preference for Gold OA could rise from £33m in 2014 to between £40-£83m by 2020, with around three-quarters of this rise being due to inflation of OA Article Processing Charges in hybrid subscription/open access titles

iii) Whereas the UK is widely recognised as being the leading nation in the Open Access and Open Data movements, the journal publications market has a global reach. As such, UK Open Access policy developments must be considered in light of international approaches and preferences.

iv) That all UK universities should sign up to the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) at http://www.ascb.org/dora/ to ensure that the pressures of research quality assessment (e.g. REF) do not place too much inflationary pressure on the Gold Open Access market.

v) That the UK Open Access Coordination Group should support the development of agreed service standards around Gold Open Access, in recognition of concerns about poor service and market response from some publishers.  To support this objective, the Group should convene an Efficiency Forum sub-group to look at OA market operation, a Repositories sub-group to ensure continuing inter-operability between UK repositories, and an OA Monographs sub-group to develop policies for open access in the book market.

vi) Open Access to research data has developed more slowly than for research publications. The Concordat on Open Research Data will be finalised in early 2016, and while there are major scientific and public good advantages in pursuing open research data, the cost implications surrounding the distribution of such data to the commercial sector are not yet fully understood.

vii) The UK Open Data Forum should coordinate work relating to furthering the Research Data Management roadmap in the UK
viii) the Dutch Government have committed to making Open Access a priority of their Presidency of the Council of the European Union – January to June 2016

Jo Johnson, as Minister for Universities and Science, has welcomed the report and backed future efforts in making OA/subscription off-setting arrangements more economic
for the academic and research sectors.   A further progress report has been requested by the end of 2017.

Steve Smith
11 February 2016

Jisc Historical Texts: new features

We’re pleased to announce several new features have been released in Jisc Historical Texts in December to help you find and filter your resources:

Matches within text
Once you’ve searched your topic, and found a publication ‘Matches within text’ will feature in the information. If you click this, it will display your search term in context on matching pages within the publication

New filters in viewer
Once you’ve found the publication and click to view it, you can search it more thoroughly by using the filters shown below, which are found in the ‘Pages’ tab of the ‘Search’ panel.

My Tags
To create and save tags on individual pages within a publication to return to later, go into the Details panel and click Tags. Then enter a title for the Tag and click Add Tag. You could leave yourself notes, references or key words to help you.

To get to your saved tags quickly, go to the top of the page and click My Texts and then select My Tags.

Date Range
Once you’ve searched a topic, you are also shown a date range, showing the years around which your search results centre

Default collection searches
You can now choose to only search EEBO, ECCO, or BL by default by selection options in the settings.

First go to Settings 

Then go to the Collections option and select which collection you want to search by default. If you want to reset the search terms to search all of the collections simply

click Reset. 

Inter-site delivery now available to School of Art

Staff and Students at the School of Art can now use Primo, the library catalogue to request books be delivered to the department.

Lloyd Roderick, Panoramic classmark N, 2015

In a new service, students (and staff) at the School of Art can now request books be delivered to the department.  Doing so is easy - find the book you need in Primo, then click Find and Request.  Then, click Request.  You then need to fill in the form and choose School of Art as the Pickup Location, and a date after which you do not require the item anymore.

You'll then be sent a message via email saying where the book can be picked up and by when.  When you collect the book, a slip will be included saying where and how to return the book.

Some of the books in section N, level F, Hugh Owen Library, awaiting perusal.

You can still use the library as normal and there's no better way of finding useful material than browsing the stacks of materials in the art section (section N, Level F).  If you need any help with using this service, or for any library and information question, you can drop by to see me at the School of Art on Tuesday afternoons (restarting this term on 19 January 2016), or contact me by email to arrange an appointment.

Lloyd Roderick
Subject Librarian - Art