Wednesday 11 January 2012

The Librarian's New Year Goodie Bag

Happy New Year!

I'm impressed at all the good stuff around at the moment! Loads of nice new resources out there for you all.
Below - just a taster of some things to explore:

If you have had one particular shiny new Xmas present and are looking for apps to download for either iPhone or iPad, can I recommend for starters:

1. First Folio of Shakespeare available as an ebook

2. The Waste Land app available for iPad

3. Dickens Dark London by the Museum of London - for iPhone or iPad

4. British Library - constantly providing more e-treasures all the time e.g. for a full list:

(BTW the Faculty Library is considering purchasing several iPad 3s later this year for lending to students - watch this space. Feel free to comment below...)

Some other nice resources to explore:

1. Connected Histories website - cross search 1500-1900 up to 15 historic collections (not all free just to warn you, but some good stuff all the same) http://www.connectedhistories.org/

2. Library of Congress National Jukebox - try the recordings for 'New Year's Day' - and so much more. But try the UK's National Sound archive as well

3. Literature Compass - an online only journal from Wiley, very recently purchased. The website claims ''Literature Compass has much broader horizons: a state-of-the-art site with the section editors providing expert coverage of every period,'' or look in the UL's A-Z list of journals for the link.

4. The British Newspaper Archive - search for free

5. The TLS Archive is now available in Cambridge up to 2006! Much improved access!

6. Oh - and go on - have a look at the Faculty Library's subject guides - you can add comments there, make suggestions etc etc.

7. An interesting site I've just heard of - AWE - a guide to academic writing in English from Hull, might be useful. It's not prescriptive.

8. Don't forget that we now have ARTstor in Cambridge - excellent set of images for educational use.

Not forgetting that this year is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. There is a celebration website. Famous manuscripts can be seen online on the V& A website along with other research resources. The Museum of London is hosting an exhibition. On a much smaller scale watch for the opening of the new display gallery in the Faculty Library which will feature a Dickens exhibition.

A good youtube video for the procrastinators amongst you......The Joy of Books

FINALLY - want to get your fines under control?

Did you know that you can set up RSS feeds for books you have out and when they are due back at most of the libraries in Cambridge? Have a look at this webpage for instruction on setting up a feed. I have it set up to go to my Google calendar (which is the best thing ever invented for keeping my life together) and it works really well.

2 comments:

  1. Lending iPads? Great idea, will look forward to hearing how it goes!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oxford are doing it - looks feasible!!

    ReplyDelete