The newsletter of UCL Library Services Issue 13: Autumn 2003
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 This June marked the centenary of the birth of George Orwell, one of the twentieth century's most significant and enduring writers. To commemorate this an exhibition is being held at the Guardian & Observer Archive & Visitor Centre from 4 November 2003. Called 'Orwell Observed', it draws on may items from the Orwell Archive in UCL Library Services' Special Collections.
The
exhibition aims to observe and celebrate rather than evaluate Orwell, focusing
on his life
as a journalist, from his fist publications in a Paris magazine
in the late 1920s, to his Observer and Tribune days and
after, as well as his lterary output. It looks at the different ways the
conflicts
in Europe of the 1930s and '40s, particularly the Spanish Civil War, impacted
on him as a writer and person as well as on his political views.
 UCL's archive is the most comprehensive body of research material realting to
Orwell anywhere in the world, and UCL is considered as the international centre
for studies on the author. Manuscripts, notebooks and personal material were
presented to UCL in 1960 by his widow on behalf of the George Orwell Archive
Trust. the archive brings together all of Orwell's printed works, including
newspaper items, priovate correspondence, private papers and printed materials
and tape recordings realted to the author.
'Orwell
Observed' runs from 5 November 2003 - 9 January 2004. A series of seminars
will take place on 11, 18 and 25 November at 7pm at the Archive & Visitor
Centre, and a week of Orwell-realted educational workshops cpmmences on 10
November 2003. The animated Animal Farm will also be screened on four consecutive
Saturdays at 2pm, from 22 November.
Further information: g.furlong@ucl.ac.uk
Library Services has upgraded its print subscription to Chemical
Abstracts to the publication's on-line successor, SciFinder
Scholar.
SciFinder is produced by CAS, a division of the American Chemical Society. It
provides a wealth of chemical and related scientific information, offering
desktop access to the CAPlus database of journals and patents all the way back
to 1907, to the CAS registry of substances, and to CASREACT, the organic chemical
reactions database, again back to 1907. UCL staff
and students may acquire a copy of the SciFinder Scholar client by contacting
Charles Willoughby (Chemistry) (l.c.willoughby@ucl.ac.uk.
Library Services is grateful to Charles for his willingness to configure and
distribute the SciFinder client on the Library's behalf.
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This summer, some large-scale collection moves took place in the Science Library. Most significantly, the Natural Sciences periodicals collection was broken up into 3 smaller collections:
- Geoscience (covering Earth Sciences and Physical Geography)
- Biological Sciences (covering Botany, Zoology, Biology and Ecology)
- Geoscience (covering Human Geography)
The project involved a large amount of detailed work, as each
individual journal part had to be re-labeled and the catalogue holdings records
for each journal title to be amended. However, it was judged that it was
worth investing the time and effort to achieve this now. The Natural Sciences
collection had grown to become unmanageably large, and creating the three
new journal collections in this way has freed up periodicals growth
space in these subjects for the next few years.
The Geoscience periodicals may be found on the third floor
in room 302, the space which formerly housed the Natural Sciences Collection.
The Geology book collection has been brought upstairs and is also now housed
there. The Biological Sciences journals are on the first floor in room 114,
together with the Botany, Biology and Zoology books, while the Geography
periodicals have been moved to room 108, outside the main Geogrpahy book
room.
In addition, the Management Studies books and journals have been brought together in room 206. Management is one of the Library's newer collections, and it has expanded to outgrow several homes in recent years, but it is hoped that the latest move will provide long-term accommodation for the collection.
We are grateful to users of the Science Library for their forbearance while the moves were taking place during the Summer.
Further information: m.moyle@ucl.ac.uk
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Between 13 October and 21 November 2003, the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) will be carrying out a survey of the photocopying done in UCL academic departments. The purpose of the survey is to gather data on what copyright material is being copied so that the CLA can distribute the fees it collects to copyright owners more accurately.
Over 40 departments across all non-medical faculties are being surveyed and departmental administrators in the affected departments have been notified.
Staff will be asked to record the details of any copyright protected work they copy by making an additional copy of the title page of the book or journal concerned,
attaching a sticker to it (stocks of which will be supplied), writing the number of pages copied and number of copies made on the sticker, and then depositing the whole in a special box. A CLA Field Officer will be responsible for delivering, setting up and taking down all necessary materials.
Further information: m.j.reid
1. Help yourself to leaflets on a variety of subjects including How to Find a Book and How to find printed and electronic journals & journal articles. These and many others are on display in each Library. (Also see our full list of printed guides available electronically).
2. Ask for help and advice at an Enquiry desk on subjects such as how to search the Library Catalogue (eUCLid) effectively or how to find material for your essay or dissertation. The Enquiry Desks in the Main and Science Libraries are open Monday to Friday between 09:30 and 17:30. (See the Enquiry Services web page for more information).
3. Make sure that you know where to go when you find a book on eUCLid that you want to borrow:
(See information on Library sites,
Locations by subjects
or
Borrowing, Renewing and Reserving).
4. Find out who your Subject Librarian is: Who's who
5. Investigate the web page that has been specially created for your subject and which provides links to a wealth of other reliable information on the internet:
Subject guides
6. Find out what training is being offered in your subject area and what you can learn for yourself:
Information Skills training
7. Register for an ATHENS account* at an Enquiry desk:
Athens help page
* (This allows you to access databases (which you can search to find out what has been published in your chosen topic), as well as many full text electronic journals:
Databases page and E-Journals page).
8. Keep up-to-date with new electronic journal titles: E-Journal news
9. Explore resources like JSTOR, a collection of full text journals from many disciplines: JSTOR page
10. Search and find articles from hundreds of newspapers and journals on Lexis Nexis.
Further information: d.furness
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The libraries of the Institute of Orthopaedics (UCL) and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) are currently based on two floors of the same building in Stanmore, Middlesex. Between them they support the information needs of the staff and students of both institutions.
Although the libraries have worked collaboratively on small projects (such as joint information skills teaching and eradicating duplicate journal subscriptions) since 1999, more exciting times are ahead: ambitious plans for a single UCL-managed merged library have been agreed.
A joint Steering Group with representatives from both UCL and the RNOH convened at the end of 2000 to discuss the future of library service provision at Stanmore. The Group agreed that a new forward-looking, unified library and information service with equity of access for staff and students should be the aim of any strategic planning. After a consultation exercise with library users supporting this aim, work on a full merger of the services began.
The new merged service will be managed by UCL Library Services and a strong service level agreement between UCL and the RNOH has been written. July 2003 saw two library staff transferred from the RNOH to UCL. Many new initiatives are planned for the merged service, and it is hoped that in 2004 a newly refurbished single space for the library will be created.
Further information: bethan.adams@ucl.ac.uk
Each September, the Library takes on six full-time Graduate Trainees. these posts, which last for one year, aim to give the Trainees relevant work experience before they embark upon a professional qualification in librarianship or information management.
Generally, the Trainees spend half of their time working on an Issue Desk and the other half behind the scenes in one of the Library's departments e.g. Periodicals or the Teaching and Learning Support Section.
In addition to work experience, the Trainees also enjoy the benefit of a training programme which includes a series of talks from qualified Library Services staff covering many aspects of librarianship, such as budgeting and medical librarianship, and the chance to shadow members of the Library's Senior Management Team.
Visits to other libraries are also arranged: this year the Trainees have been to the Houses of Parliament Library, the National History Museum and the Norwich Millennium Library.
The Trainees are also taught to sue applications such as Dreamweaver and this year have applied these skills to design their own web page. the page, UNCLE (Understanding the Career in Librarianship Experience), gives information and advice to people considering or working towards a career in librarianship and shares some of the experiences of the 2002-03 Trainees: www.ucl.ac.uk/library/gradtrainees/.
Further information: bethan.adams@ucl.ac.uk
Library Services offers subject-specific training sessions as well as general, introductory ones. The latest programme can be found at www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/infoskills.shtml. If you have a training need that is not catered for, or if you wish to comment more on the programme, please contact Deborah Furness in Library Services: d.furness@ucl.ac.uk
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Last modified 26 April 2005
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