With exams and deadlines and other miscellaneous stresses looming large of late, as a form of light relief we thought it might be nice to share what we are currently reading and/or watching in our spare time. After a brief and quite literal dash around the office in the Bill Bryson Library, here’s a selection of responses:
Continue reading “What are we watching and/or reading?”
By Graduate Intern Nancy Harber
Exam season is a familiar beast. Though admittedly many of the staff members here at the Bill Bryson Library have not met that beast head on in years, it’s not an experience that you easily forget.
The library has been filled (almost) to the brim these last few weeks with our students, just wanting to get their heads down and lock into the study zone. Seats have been sat in, study rooms have been constantly occupied, and when the sun decides to shine at midday our students congregate on the steps outside the library doors, soaking up some well-deserved Vitamin D and having a natter.
Continue reading “WellBEEing”
You may remember back in February, we had a stand in the Billy B asking you “Tell us how you feel this Valentine’s Day.” You could write a note to us to tell us about something we’re doing that you love, or if you would like us to make some changes.
We loved hearing from everyone and got some great feedback from the people we spoke to; with both things you really like and things you want us to improve. We’ve gone through all the feedback and just wanted to share a brief update with where we’re up to with addressing some of the improvements.
Continue reading “Valentine’s Day feedback: you said, we did”
What is a library, without a celebration of its contents?
For the last few months, Book Of The Month has been revived, and this time all the titles in the running are suggested by our students!
When we put the word out via Instagram, students will suggest their favourite titles to compete for the crown. We’ll then choose three of those suggestions (that we have physical copies of) and pit them against one another. To keep the options balanced, we’ll usually try to include at least one fiction and one non-fiction title in the running, so everyone has an opportunity to vote for something that appeals to them. In a second Instagram vote, students will then have 24 hours to pick their favourite of the three!
Continue reading “Book Of The Month is BACK!”
A post by Open Access Publications Officer Katie Skellett
As an Open Access Publications Officer, my work day revolves around the mechanics of how research is shared and accessed. It’s an all-too-rare occurrence that I get to see the real-world impact of research. So, when I heard I was one of the lucky few to be selected to visit the House of Commons Library for its Open Day, I jumped at the opportunity to explore how research supports decision-making at the highest levels.
Continue reading “Behind the Scenes at the House of Commons Library: A Visit on 19th February 2025”
A post by Graduate Intern Nancy Harber
According to Wikipedia, ‘Blue Monday’ (or, the most depressing day of the year) is calculated using an actual equation. The formula uses many factors, including W (weather), T (time since Christmas), Q (time since the failure of new year’s resolutions), and Na (the feeling of needing to take action). Some have dismissed this theory as pseudoscience, but clearly those people have never faced the bitter cold months of winter in the North of England.
Continue reading “Blind date with a book”
A post by Sarah Cleeve
Optimistic climate scientists, “doughnut” economics, problem-solving fungi and rewilding are some of the topics on a newly-created Talis reading list: “Greenspace: reading on environment and sustainability”. This is now available to anyone in the university community wishing to know how best to navigate the often overwhelming problems of environmental sustainability while keeping a sense of wellbeing.
Continue reading “New library reading list for Greenspace hopes to deliver wellbeing boost”
A post by Maria Carnegie, Head of Customer Services, and Simon Speight, Head of Education, Learning and Engagement.
What we learn is inherently political. From what we are taught to how we are taught, certain values and voices are prioritised, and others marginalised. Decolonisation centres the impact of colonialism, both historic and ongoing, on how we understand the world in which we live and the information that we teach.
Durham SU: Decolonise Durham Network Manifesto
When did you last challenge your reading list? No, not to a duel! But by asking questions.
Continue reading “How do you decolonise a Reading List? One step at a time… “
A post by Faculty Librarian Ben Taylorson
I’m not really one for new year’s resolutions, but one thing I wanted to make sure I did in 2023 was make full use of the volunteering time that Durham University generously provides for staff. I have done a bit of volunteering through work before, at a foodbank and preparing Christmas treats for children. But with an entitlement of 35 hours of volunteering time to use, I set about finding something that I could do across the course of the whole year, via the Staff Volunteering Newsletter.
I’m quite an outdoorsy type, so I settled on litter picking/beach cleaning. The university work closely with SeaScapes to improve the state of our beaches and ultimately protect the fragile marine environment, and run monthly beach cleans (starting in April) on 1st Wednesday of every month 10 – 12pm.
Continue reading “Cleaning up”
A post by Dr Richard Pears
On 1st August, the new library management system (which provides the catalogue and the means to borrow and renew books) will be available. Our current system, called Millennium, was introduced in 1996, so it’s older than most students. It will be replaced with a much more up-to-date system called Alma, which is used by many UK and European university libraries. We already use the Discover search engine from the same company, and introducing Alma within Discover will make it much quicker and simpler to see live information on books in the library, place reservations and renew books.
Continue reading “New library engagement system incoming!”
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