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University of London Online Library Newsletter Issue 10 Autumn/Winter 2019

The Online Library- Here for you

As distance learning students to be successful in your studies, we know you need access to and help from excellent library services and resources equivalent to those provided for students and faculty in traditional campus settings.

We are a team of qualified professional librarians supporting nearly 50,000 students to gain access to over 100 million electronic items including ‘essential’ e-textbooks, journal articles, databases, and conference proceedings. We can also obtain interlibrary loans from the British Library for core readings which may be missing from the Online Library and for your project/dissertations.

We offer an enquiry service via email, contact us form, telephone and Ask a Librarian Live Chat. If you need to speak to member of the library team please contact us between the hours of 9-5 London time. We aim to provide you with everything you need to develop Information Literacy skills so that you can fully exploit library resources, gain independence, avoid unwitting plagiarism and of course successfully complete your studies.

Improvements to your library this year

One of the major improvements the Online library has undertaken this year in response to your comments and feedback in a recent student experience survey, has been the implementation of a Single Sign-On authentication system which allows you to access all your learning materials including ‘essential’ readings from the Online Library with the same username/password i.e. your student portal password. However, if you are taking a SOAS Programme please note that you will still need to request and continue to use your Athens username and password.

Other improvements include an increase in our e-book collection. This year, 850 new essential textbooks have been added to the Online Library. We have also added several new databases including FT. Com, Lloyds Law reports, HSTalks, and Science Direct Freedom Collection. In response to these improvements, we have seen an a huge increase in Online Library resource usage (an average of 230%) across all programmes.) This is great news and means that many of you are benefiting from the library collections.

This year the top 5 highest users of the Online Library this year were : MA Human Rights this was followed by Refugee Protection, OPHRM, Professional Accountancy, and Computer Science. Please don’t worry if your programme has not made in the top five this year, there is still time to make it this academic year.

The entire Online Library team is here for you, please contact us whenever you need assistance.

We wish you every success in your studies this Autumn term!

The Online Library Team

Using the Online Library for your studies

Before you begin to use the Online Library you can view the Getting Started Tutorial, this is available on the Online Library portal page and also on the Library site. It is also available in the Student Support section of the Online Library website.

You can access Online Library resources with the same username/password you use to access the student portal. Find out more about this here. (If you are taking a SOAS programme please note you will still need to request an Athens username and password.)

Summon is a good starting point for your Online Library searches. Search Summon from the Online Library homepage. Find E-books and journal articles from your course reading lists by entering the author and title. You can also enter keywords into Summon to get an overview of what is available in the Library on your research topic.

To find resources and guides that are specific to your course go to the Study Programme tab and select your course from the list.

On your Study Programme gateway you will find links to the databases that have been selected for your course. These will be a mixture of multi-disciplinary databases that most courses have access to and more specialist databases relevant to your subject area. Examples of multi-disciplinary databases are JSTOR, Academic Search Complete, and Cambridge Core. Examples of the specialist databases are:

Quick Links

Follow these links for further help with using the Online Library

  • Database Login guides When accessing resources from the Summon search you may need to take a few steps to login. If you need assistance these guides will help you access databases.
  • Nutshell guides Nutshell guides are designed to give you a short introduction to the Online Library to help you get started.
  • Enquiry Service If you have any questions about the Online Library, or if you're having difficulties finding or accessing readings, please contact the Online Library Enquiry Service.

You can find links to all the above in our Student Support section. This brings together all our guidance information to help you resolve any problems quickly.

Online Library webinar

Are you unsure how to use the Online Library, or feel like you could benefit from a refresher? On the 10th of July, the Online Library conducted a webinar with students, which included a short video demonstration of the Online Library, followed by a Question and Answer session. There is some great advice on conducting searches, and information about downloading E-books.

Spotlight on E-Books

Our E-Books collection is constantly growing. We now have over 2000 in the Dawsons E-Book Collection, including a selection of essential reading texts as well as books for wider reading.

We have recently added another E-book database E-Book Central (Proquest)

Select Browse Subjects and then your subject area to see which E-Books are available for your course. Check back regularly as this collection is constantly growing.

How to find your course texts

Enter the title and author of the book into the Summon search. On the results page select the E-Books filter on the left to narrow the search just to E-books. If you cannot find a book in Summon that you know should be available please contact the enquiry service

Our E-book page will help you to download the Adobe digital editions software you need to read E-books in Dawsons and there is also a link to the E-books nutshell guide which gives an overview of all E-books available.

Resource News

The ScienceDirect Freedom Collection provides access to the full text of articles from the journals published by Elsevier Science. Coverage is from 1995 onwards with access across all Elsevier subject collections. The main subject areas of the collection include the sciences, technology, medicine and psychology. A smaller number of titles from arts, humanities, economics and finance, and the social sciences are also covered.

You can discover the content via our Summon search or by logging into the database directly.

Looking for current information on business or economics?

The Financial Times is one of the world's most renowned publications with a focus on global business, finance and economic news.

  • News from around the world on companies, technology, the financial markets, life and the arts, all aspects of personal finance and science.
  • In-depth analysis – on trade, emerging markets, Mergers & Acquisitions, investing and more.
  • Ability to search FT stories through charts and graphics.
  • Special reports on all types of industries and themes
  • Lex Column - features analyses and opinions covering global economics and finance.
  • Alphaville – for live markets commentary.
  • EM Squared – for news and analysis on emerging markets.
  • Lunch with the FT – a weekly interview with leading cultural and business figures.
  • FT Confidential Research – data based analytical in-depth insight into China and Southeast.
  • Daily ePaper – and an archive of past editions of the newspaper from 2005 – 2019
  • Personalised features such as subject-focused newsletters, news alerts and more.

Do take a look at our quick start guide explaining how to use the FT.com and see how it can help you with your course..

Resource News for Law

New Westlaw UK Interface

On the 1st August 2019 Westlaw launched a new interface.

The user friendly interface includes new personalisation features such as; folders, favorites, and sharing and annotation options. A new ‘legislation compare’ tool enables you to compare to versions of a provision, marking up the differences. Find out more by viewing the Westlaw UK User Guides.

Starting using the new Westlaw today.

LexisLibrary International:

LexisLibrary International Content can now be accessed from a new interface.

Access LexisLibrary then to access International content select the resource type from the top navigation menu e.g. journals, cases, legislation, then select the link to International Content on the left side of the screen.

International Content can also be accessed from the Sources section, where you will find a link to International Content at the top of the page.

Find out more in the International Content User Guide at:

Student Library Ambassadors

The Online Library is looking for student Library Ambassadors to help with promoting the library to other students, especially independent students who may be isolated. If you are interested in taking part (even on a trial basis) please get in touch with us by email at Onlinelibrary@london.ac.uk for further information. Training and support will be provided.