eResource of the month: Mass Observation Online


A pioneering social research organisation, Mass Observation was founded in 1937 by anthropologist Tom Harrisson, film-maker Humphrey Jennings and poet Charles Madge. Their aim was to create an ‘anthropology of ourselves’, and by recruiting a team of observers and a panel of volunteer writers they studied the everyday lives of ordinary people in Britain. This resource covers the original Mass Observation project, the bulk of which was carried out from 1937 until the mid-1950s, offering an unparalleled insight into everyday life in Britain during these transformative years.

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eResource of the month: BIOSIS Citation Index

A post by Faculty Librarian Colin Theakston

Some of you may not know this, but the BIOSIS Citation Index is included within Web of Science.

This database includes cited references to primary journal literature on biological research, medical research findings, and discoveries of new organisms. It covers original research reports and reviews in botany, zoology, and microbiology, and related fields such as biomedical, agriculture, pharmacology, and ecology, and interdisciplinary fields such as medicine, biochemistry, biophysics, bioengineering, and biotechnology.

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eResource of the month: MarketLine

Business and economic information is not just something that business students need – it affects everyone. Knowing how to find and use business information is a great skill to develop – it shows prospective or current employers that you can do research outside your field of study and demonstrates commitment. It means you can prepare well for interviews and understand and talk knowledgably about the strengths and weaknesses of a company or the challenges faced by a particular sector. In short, it can help you stand out from the crowd by presenting information and facts that others may not have found. 

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New library engagement system incoming!

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. 

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Having issues accessing articles off campus?

We all have those moments, having found 5 minutes where we can actually read that journal article our friend/colleague/supervisor/lecturer/mum sent us. We might be nestled in our nice comfy chair, laptop at the ready. Or we may be perched uncomfortably between the washing machine and fridge; the safest place to steal a few moments peace and quiet from the increasingly feral children running rampant through our homes.

And then it happens. That journal article, in the journal we know we could access at the click of a mouse when we were on campus, tells us we have to pay $38 to have 24 hours access. Why can’t it be easy? Why!!?

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A (Global) National Emergency Library

The Internet Archive is a huge resource, used by many students and researchers across Durham University (we suspect some without realising what a treasure trove they have stumbled upon). It provides immediate access to:

But during the current Global Covid-19 Pandemic, their services for displaced scholars globally have temporarily removed a further barrier to access to one of their services…

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We are your library… wherever you are right now.

To all of our amazing colleagues across academic and professional support departments, and our wonderful students, whether you’re playing football in the field outside the Bill Bryson Library, or at home caring for family and loved ones, our thoughts and best wishes are with you at a time which many of us are trying to struggle for normalcy as everything is changing rapidly around us.

University Library and Collections colleagues are working flat out (both on campus, and working from home – we’ll be sharing pictures and experiences in the near future!) to try to ensure that our existing collections are made as accessible as possible and we are providing support wherever we can, in challenging times (see our web pages for more details and updates including click & collect services, expanded virtual library help and live chat support).

But we are also working with publishers and library colleagues at other universities to ensure we can ease access online to resources wherever we can, for both students and staff. We have highlighted some of those new developments below:

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A judgement on prorogation: floundering in legal citation

Down the road in London Town this morning, a judgment was handed down by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Whilst the judgment itself has attracted far more attention than many others in recent memory, we imagine that for some of our students, and both academic and professional colleagues (denizens of Durham Law School excepted), some of the many citations that peppered the pronouncement may prove particularly perturbing. But help interpreting these is available…

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Over a decade of television and radio programming at your fingertips

We’re always excited to highlight new additions to our collections, but from a personal perspective this is one I have been keen for us to get since I first arrived at Durham. If you’re:

  • a student wanting free access to over a decade of archived tv and radio content (whether that’s a Panorama documentary you recall watching that would be useful to recap for your current essay, the entire first season of Bake-off, one of the film’s of the “Grandmother of the French New Wave”, Agnès Varda… or the latest edition of Hollyoaks Omnibus);
  • a member of academic teaching staff, looking to expand module reading lists or ensure students have access to a recent news programme, documentary or film for discussion at an upcoming seminar;
  • a researcher who engages with the media, and wants to keep track of when and where your appearances on the news or at a recent Parliamentary Select Committee were broadcast…

… read on.

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