Visiting us over Christmas and using other libraries

Some of you may be thinking about visiting us or visiting other libraries closer to home over the Christmas period. Our library is open 24/7 throughout the festive season, see the library website for more information and also details of when staff will be available to help if you need us. The majority of university libraries in the UK and Ireland belong to a reciprocal borrowing scheme called SCONUL Access. This enables students to access university libraries nearer to their home. You can apply online, see this short video guide on how to apply for SCONUL Access. Your application will be processed in the Library and an authorisation email sent to you. Take the email along with your Leeds Beckett student card, to the university library you wish to access (if you haven’t been sent your student card yet please contact your course administrator). Click here for more information on using other libraries. Do not hesitate to get in touch with your friendly Offsite team if you have any questions about this.

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Join us on the Leeds Beckett Distance Learning Community.

Leeds Beckett Distance Learning Community is a place for all Leeds Beckett distance learning students, across all courses, to chat to each other and to ask questions to the Distance Learning Unit.

Sign up here to become part of the community.

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Holiday countdown…

Semester One finishes on Friday 16th December and it’s worth thinking in advance if you’d like to do any studying over the break. Once the festivities have settled down, you might want to catch up with course work, so if this is you, then please:

  • leave plenty of time for the books to reach you as postal services will be busier than usual
  • remember the last date for posting Library items out by the Offsite team is Thursday 22nd December
  • check the Library catalogue before you request items to make sure they’re in stock
  • books requested after Thursday 22nd December will be posted out (if available) on Tuesdachristmas_bellsy 3rd Jan
  • remember to renew your books over the holiday period – by logging in to the Library catalogue using your MyBeckett login details and going to the self-service tab
  • think about if we usually send books to your work address – will there be someone there to receive them?
  • think about if you will be at home – if we usually post to your home address, but you’re going away, please tell us  the alternative address where you’d like us to post to – offsite@leedsbeckett.ac.uk
  • remember that 24-hour IT support is available over the break via our out of hours service – please see contact us
  • remember that the Library will still be open 24/7 for anyone in Leeds over the holiday – please bring your Leeds Beckett card with you if you would like to visit

Last, but not least, we hope you all have a happy, relaxing holiday!

 

Find out about your Academic Librarian!

If you are based off campus, don’t forget that you have an Academic Librarian to help you with those tricky subject specific resource questions.  Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with yours (preferably by email in the first instance).  To find yours and your relevant subject page (packed with relevant resources), head here:

http://libguides.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/welcome/subject_support

One prime example is Laurence Morris who is an Academic Librarian for many a Distance Learning course:  Art Psychotherapy Practice, Play Therapy, Practice-based Play Therapy, Sports Therapy, and Therapeutic Play Skills.  He has kindly written a fascinating piece which gives an insight to his world of work (and walk):

Hello, my name is Laurence Morris, and I am one of the two Academic Librarians for Health and Social Sciences, looking after the Library services for staff and students of Biomedical Sciences, Physiotherapy, Sports and Exercise Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Youth and Community Development, Social Work, Playwork, Mental Health, Art Therapy, other Psychological Therapies and Nursing.

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Essentially, my job is to ensure that the students, researchers and academic staff of these subject areas have access to the library resources which they need. In practice this makes my role enjoyably varied – it involves lecturing large groups of students on how best to use the Library, email exchanges to assist individuals with their specific work, maintaining subject-specific support pages on the Library website, providing referencing tuition, supporting researchers, advising on open access publishing, allocating the acquisition budget for the subject areas I support, and – most importantly – extensive liaison with staff and students, both to see what they want from the Library and to ensure that they are aware of everything that the Library can do for them.

In practice, cliché as it might be, this means that there’s no such thing as a typical day! Usually, though, I come to work expecting to teach for two or three hours (whether one-to-one or to large groups), attend one or two liaison meetings, and then spend the remainder of the time working on any ongoing tasks from the list above. In reality, my plan for the day rarely survives first contact with email or voicemail – there’s usually something happening to react to! If I find that I have six emails from students on one course, all asking for help with the same topic, then that’s a good sign that I should speak to their tutor and arrange to provide additional support to their whole class ASAP, rather than spending my free time ordering a couple more textbooks!

The variety is definitely what I like most about the job. The diversity of the Academic Librarian role enables me to use all of my past professional experience to help students – and there’s usually a real feel of doing something useful. At the end of the day, I can always go home thinking of something tangible I’ve done to assist someone with their studies.

On the basis of common questions I receive, there are two tips that I would pass on to any students reading this:

  • Your library subject pages can often be very helpful, providing a range of subject-specific advice and guidance. Rather than working in isolation, this is your chance to benefit from the accumulated wisdom of past students, academics and librarians!
  • If I’m ever not round, you can still contact the Library – and have your questions answered 24/7.

Finally… when not in the Library, I’m a keen hillwalker and mountaineer, becoming a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society earlier this year. Some of the photos from my outings to places like Lapland, Hong Kong and the Sierra Nevada are viewable online.

Stay tuned for next week’s bumper Christmas edition!

The festive season has arrived in the Library!

20161201_140612We arrived in the library this week to discover that the festive season has begun! The Christmas tree is now up just outside the library’s main entrance! I know that lots of you will have assignments to complete in December so it’s a good idea to request any books you need from the library as early as possible to avoid any last minute panic as the postal services at this time of year are busier than normal.

Check out this handy video guide that explains how to request books by mail.

And don’t forget there is lots of help on the Library web pages for help with your assignments, check out the Subject Support and Skills for Learning web pages.

Any questions please contact the Offsite team and we will be happy to help!
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