Hello Europe. This is Durham Calling.

A post by Collections Coordinator Tim Buckle

It can’t have escaped your attention that it is Eurovision again, and this year the UK are hosting the event on behalf of Ukraine. The contest is taking place in Liverpool.

I know Eurovision divides opinion, but whatever your views are about the music, one thing that is clear is the message of inclusion and equality that it sends out. Having just got back from Liverpool from the event, this sense of inclusion was everywhere to see and as a gay man it means a lot to be yourself and feel safe at the same time.

Whoever you are and whatever your background, Eurovision allows you to be yourself without any judgement. This is something that we encourage here at Durham University, especially in Library and Collections. Whether it is having a safe space for you to be yourself while studying, or seeing yourself represented in our collections we will continue to improve services and listen your feedback about collections and study spaces.

To celebrate Eurovision we have looked through our library collections and picked out some titles from countries that have previously won the contest. The titles we have picked have been published in the year the Country selected last won the Contest.

Continue reading “Hello Europe. This is Durham Calling.”

Getting to know eBooks better

We have talked about eBooks a few times on the blog over the years. Whether you love or loathe eBooks, one thing is for sure – they are a big part of our library and academic lives.

Last academic year (21/22) we purchased almost 6000 new individual eBook titles and just over 300 additional licenses. In addition to the individual purchases, we continue to have access to a large range of eBook packages. The eBooks in our collection were used over 2.7 million times and we expect that to increase even more this year.

Although we maybe using eBooks more, we are aware it isn’t always straightforward getting started with them or using them. One day you may have access to a title, and then the next you don’t – or you receive a message saying there are no available licenses…

So, in this blog post we thought we would explain some of these queries.

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Getting started with making purchase requests

At the end of 2021 we held some focus groups to get feedback on the acquisitions service at the library. One of the big messages to come out of these sessions was that our users wanted more information about making purchase requests and delivery times.

So, alongside a review of our process, we went away and created a LibGuide to explain things. The aim of the guide is for it to be good starting point for making a purchase request, get information about delivery times, and to provide an FAQ’s section to help answer some questions you may have.

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Five from the Hive: Top 5 Fictional Librarians.

Welcome to the latest Five From the Hive blog post! Who are your favourite fictional librarians? We often have this conversation, so for this latest Five from the Hive we are looking at the 5 Most Popular Fictional Librarians (as voted for by staff at Durham University Library and Collections). Then we’ll look beyond the stereotypes of librarians to highlight the diverse work we really do!

Continue reading “Five from the Hive: Top 5 Fictional Librarians.”

Five From The Hive … Top 5 Most Used EBooks (2021)

Welcome to the start of a new blog series called ‘Five From The Hive’! Librarians love many things, like books (especially the smell of old books ), food and running. Whilst restraining myself from bursting into song like Maria in ‘The Sound of Music’, one of our most favourite things is a list. We do love a good list. Whether it’s a top 5 or a to-do list, we don’t mind. Lists make us feel good! And organised! So, we thought we would put together this series where we can share our top 5 lists on library and Durham-related topics.

We are starting the series with ‘Top 5 Most Used EBooks (2021). The titles featured are the 5 most used individually used EBooks so far in 2021 (Titles from eBook Packages not included, and all information was correct at the time of writing).

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Making the most of your reading list

As term is now underway, many of our new and returning students and colleagues will have been exploring our new Reading Lists. We thought we’d take this opportunity to highlight and explore some of the additional functionality they offer to you – from adding notes, to managing your reading progress and references for your bibliography.

To help, we spoke to one of our Faculty Librarians, Richard Holmes, who was part of a team of colleagues across the service who got this up and running in record time for the start of term.

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Acquisitions in Lockdown – moving from print books to eBooks

Since the start of lockdown on 23rd March the way we all buy items has changed. From following social distancing rules in the supermarket, trying to find an online delivery slot or not being able to buy products we used to buy regularly. We are all adapting to this new shopping experience and this is no different for libraries and how they buy and provide access to books. Continue reading “Acquisitions in Lockdown – moving from print books to eBooks”

Early Career Librarians: CILIP* Conference 2019

Earlier this summer, two of our colleagues attended this year’s CILIP conference in Manchester, and we asked them if they would be willing to share their experiences and thoughts. If you’d like to know some of the hot-topics in librarianship, get a feel for the personal and professional approaches of our colleagues behind the desk, or just want that reassurance that you’re not alone in experiencing first (or 101st) conference nerves, read on…

*CILIP: Chartered Institute for Information and Library Professionals (https://www.cilip.org.uk/

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