Online Study Tool Kit

Library Latest - Spring Term 2024

  Spring Semester

We hope you have found the library resources useful so far and a warm welcome to our new students joining us in January and February! In case you need it, here’s a reminder of what we have to offer you. In addition to our range of different study spaces, we also have collections tailored to support your learning and can help you to make the most of these and develop the skills to become an independent learner. Support on offer includes:

• Library opening hours – to help you plan when to come to our state-of-the-art Library
• Library FAQs – answers to many common library questions
• New & returning students study checklist – gives an overview of essential Library information
• Online Study Toolkit – guidance and training on research skills and referencing(for more in-depth info, see the “Supporting Your Studies” section below!)
• UR Library Search – search the Library’s physical and electronic resources
• Library Subject Resource Guides – specialist resources recommended for your specific subject

• NEST website – your home for all student support information, including live chat, NEST site opening hours, useful links and FAQs

  Library Displays

In March we celebrate Women's History Month in the Library Foyer; this year's theme is women who have campaigned for equality, diversity and inclusion.                            

We also have a display from our Wellbeing Collection, as well as some highlights from our collections on African literature and culture.   

Missed a past library display, or can't come to campus? Have a look at our online Archive of Displays to see some of our previous themes.   

Library displays can be used to mark key historical, social or national awareness events, showcase academic work and achievements, and to promote societies or other University events. Have an idea for a future library display? Complete our Display and Exhibition Space Booking Form. 

  Library Resources and Learning Spaces

NEW for March 2024! Lean Library: A library-approved tool to unlock access to academic content. 

The Lean Library (LL) extension is a free tool which enables your library to deliver seamless access to subscribed content, such as academic papers and e-books, direct to you via your preferred search engine and browser.  With the Roehampton LL extension installed, you no longer have to go to the UR Library Search platform to access an article you have found via Google, or even a book on Amazon: LL will pop up with the Roehampton link then and there. This will streamline your access to the university-subscribed content to which you are entitled, reducing the number of clicks and login screens you have to navigate, especially when you are off campus. Full details about Lean Library can be found on the Library’s web pages: https://library.roehampton.ac.uk/studytoolkit/leanlibrary. If you have any issues with installing the extension on campus, please contact library@roehampton.ac.uk attaching a screenshot, your location and the name of your browser if possible, and we will investigate.

You will need to install the LL extension on the browser of each device or computer you are using. This is very simple - just visit https://download.leanlibrary.com/roehampton for details.  

Improvements to the Inter Library Loan service 

Our free-to-access Inter Library Loan (ILL) service enables you to access resources that we don’t hold in our print or online collections. We can borrow books from other libraries for you, or send scanned articles and book chapters to you by email, free of charge.  

We’ve recently upgraded our ILL service in partnership with the UR Library Search provider, enabling us to easily obtain items from other libraries that share the WorldCat search platform.  

We’ve also subscribed to a service called Rapid ILL, enabling us to satisfy article or chapter requests in just 8 hours on average, and to share resources with many more libraries worldwide.  

You can request items very easily via UR Library Search; please see the Library website for details. 

New Resources

*NEW* February 2024: BFI Player for Higher Education : The British Film Institute's curated streaming service for higher education, with a focus on British and European independent films.

New resources for health sciences:

AMED: Allied and Complementary Medicine: An index of content from books, academic journals and newspapers relating to allied health and complementary (or “alternative”) medicine. Coverage is international and includes nursing, physiotherapy, speech & language, occupational and sports therapy.

Clinical Key Physiotherapy - A collection of over 70 e-books from major medical publisher Elsevier, on physiotherapy, anatomy & physiology, neuroscience, rehabilitation, and more, plus image and video content. 

A-Z Library Database list - new look & feel

New features include:

• Coloured tags to indicate what types of resources are in each database.
• Icons linking to further information about each, including accessibility statements and help guides (where available), and a tick to show if the content is indexed "in UR Library Search".
• Clearer font.
• Helpful links to Database Access FAQs and reporting problems.

EBSCO databases - new look & feel

EBSCO have released new and improved features across all their databases, including a brand new search interface. The results page has also improved to ease filtering results and available access options.

Spotlight on Library Resources

Spotlight on: Library resources for Nursing and Healthcare - a close look at the CINAHL, Medline/PubMed, and RCNi databases.

Spotlight On: Drama Online - for  filmed performances, play scripts, criticism and much much more!

• Previous posts can be found on our Spotlight on Library Resources blog.

Update to Library opening hours

From Saturday 27th January, we will be opening the Library on Saturdays from 9am-7pm instead of 10am-7pm. This is a temporary change to facilitate teaching onsite, initially until 9th June 2024. Weekend hours will now be:

• Saturday, 9am-7pm
• Sunday, 10am-7pm

Filming and Photography in the Library

We are happy to consider requests for filming and photo shoots in the library space, but we do have to take into account the needs of all library users. If you would like to film in the library or use the library space for a photoshoot, you will need to fill in a request form. Click here to see full details and the request forms.

Quick links

• Book a Study Room– book up to one week in advance
• Support for Disabled & Dyslexic Students
• Services for Whitelands Students – Click and Collect service
• UR Library Search – search the online and physical resources
• Finding & Using Resources – borrowing items and accessing items we don’t have. 
• Library Subject Resource Guides – specialist resources by subject

  Supporting Your Studies and Top Tips

Online Study Toolkit

Curated by our Learning & Teaching Librarian, this is an essential platform of learning resources for new and returning students. You'll find a collection of workshops and webinar recordings covering a variety of topics, as well as interactive tutorials and links to subject specific research and referencing tools. These 24/7 learning resources provide some excellent tips and tools to help you succeed at university, whether you feel you are struggling and need extra support, or you are quite confident and just wish to enhance your skills and grades.

Finding Resources Step-by-Step Guide

This brand new curated guide for Roehampton students can be found on the Online Study Tool Kit and takes you through researching step by step. It is packed full of tips, tricks and advice to help you navigate the world of resource searching. Start here and your searching experience will be all the better for it! Covering text, video and images, this guide is highly recommend as a quick “go to” place when you’re just starting out on research for your assignment.

Topics covered include:

• Google vs Library resources
• Primary and secondary sources
• How to search for sources
• Search strategies
• Results filtering and saving
• Evaluating credibility of sources
• Setting up alerts for the latest publications matching your search criteria

Cite Them Right

Unsure how to reference a book in Harvard, a journal article in APA, or an Act of Parliament in OSCOLA? Cite Them Right has the answers! A one-stop shop covering all the referencing styles used across all Roehampton’s schools, Cite Them Right provides in-depth guidance for referencing every type of resource imaginable.

For a deeper dive into Cite Them Right do make time to look at this Spotlight on Cite them Right blog post from our Learning & Teaching Librarian.
You can also take a look at our detailed Referencing at Roehampton webpage, covering all things Cite them Right, plus the RefWorks tool for managing your references, and much more!

Studiosity

Get free online study help 24/7 with Studiosity - a trusted and approved service brought to you by University of Roehampton. Studiosity works alongside the existing advice provided by the Academic Achievement Team via the Learning Skills Hub. 

Studiosity allows you to:
- submit a draft of an essay (up to 5,500 words) via the 'Writing Feedback' service
- ask for assistance on a specific study question via the "Connect Live" option

Students are granted 20 interactions to use on Studiosity "Connect Live" over the course of the academic year.

Academic Achievement Team

The AA Team are here to provide one-to-one support with academic skills such as critical thinking and writing, structuring essays, preparing for exams, managing your time, and working with statistics. Learning Skills Hub is the home of the Academic Achievement Team on Moodle, where you can find a wide selection of online resources to assist with your assignments, including workshop recordings and slides, interactive guides and quizzes, and useful study skills links from around the web.

There are also links to attend workshops and appointments with members of the AA Team. Book via the Learning Skills Hub link above, or go to our Events and Workshops calendar and select any 'Academic Skills' or 'Statistics' options from the menu.

  Archives 

Snapshot from the Archives

Update, March: Our latest Snapshot from the Archives celebrates Mother's Day with a look at Froebel's Mother Songs, part of the Froebel collections in the University Library's archives. Read the full post here: Froebel Mother Songs.  

February 8th marked the 205th birthday of Victorian polymath John Ruskin, a great friend of Whitelands College who  was apparently  "ashamed to have pretty books and never use them." Read more about Ruskin's special relationship with the College and its "little birds" in this latest Snapshot from the Archives blog post by Whitelands Archivist, Gemma Bentley.

Southlands Archives holds a beautiful collection of albums compiled by former students, many containing drawings, paintings and messages from their colleagues over 100 years ago. This charming picture of poppies was painted by Rya Yates in 1903, and is accompanied by a verse from Horatius Bonar's strident hymn "Let Us Go Forth!"

"Tis but a little, and we come
To our reward, our crown, our home!
Another year, it may be less,
And we have crossed the wilderness,
Finished the toil, the rest begun,
The battle fought, the triumph won!"

This seems an appropriate message with which to start the new term!
More former student albums will feature in future Snapshots from the Archives. 

See the Special Collections and Archives guide for more information about our historical treasures. 

  School Experience Collection

For the child in your life - or the child in you! If you love children's books, check out the School Experience Collection on the first floor of the library. The collection includes a wide range of children's books for all ages (picture books, fiction, poetry and non-fiction) and other items (such as toys, games and puppets) that can be borrowed by all students.

  Library Feedback and Suggestions

Have you had a good experience with the library recently, or feel like there's something we can do better? Let us know by filling out our quick Feedback Form, filling in the yellow feedback forms found across all floors of the Library, or email us at: library@roehampton.ac.uk.

To engage with all of the latest Library news, developments, new resources and to also say hello to our lovely Library staff, follow us on Instagram and Twitter/X.