Library Book Sale

The library is holding a used book sale today and tomorrow, Wednesday 21st & Thursday 22nd of November outside the Library entrance. Each book is one euro.

UPDATE 26/11/12: All remaining books are now free to take away! They will be available outside the Library only until tomorrow, Tuesday 27th November so come up and give a few lonely books a good home!

Library Ireland Week

This week is Library Ireland Week and to mark it we're having a competition!  Yipee!!

We have two book vouchers to give away to two lucky winners.  To be in with a chance of winning one all you have to do is send us in a picture which promotes the "literacy: everyday, everyway" theme of Library Ireland Week 2012.

It could be a photo of you reading something somewhere interesting...even if it's the back of a tin of beans, though obviously we'd prefer if it's something more high-brow...

So get a snap, send it in to info.library@spd.dcu.ie and the two best entries will receive a €50 or €25 book voucher!  Closing date for entries is November 30.

If you're short on ideas, we've hung up a few of Library staff (or volunteered friends/family) at the Library to get the ball rolling, along with reviews of some of our favourite books.

Happy Library Week!

Turn-it-in for Staff

The Library is running starter sessions for staff looking to use turnitin OriginalityCheck software this week.

Our sessions are in the E-block boardroom at the following times:
13:05 / 13:35
Tuesday / Wednesday, 13th / 14 November 

The seminars will take no longer than 20 minutes and will cover the basics of how to get up an running with the program.

These sessions are complemented by a more advanced session hosted by Teaching and Learning Committee next Tuesday which will look at the pedagogical aspects and implications of using turnitin with students.

October/November Hours

Please note that the Library will be closed on the following days:

Monday, 29 Oct
Thursday, 1st Nov
Friday, 9th Nov
Saturday, 10th Nov

For our full opening hours around these dates check our website.  

Open Access Week

This week is Open Access Week, a global event in its sixth year which promotes awareness of and participation in open access initiatives.

When the fancy takes us we like to point out relevant and interesting open access resources here, so for the week that's in it we'll list a couple of our current favourites...

World Digital Library
Created by UNESCO and Library of Congress, WDL is a digital collection and portal for "significant primary materials" from countries and cultures around the world.  Digitised objects vary from a first edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass to a map of Ireland from Abraham Ortelius' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.  

BambooDIRT
A great one-stop shop for digital tools for researchers and teachers. Not all the resources listed are open access but the majority are, and the site itself is a really quick way of seeing what tools or resources can help you in your line of research or work.  They are neatly categorised into typical research tasks such as

• analyse data
• make a dynamic map
• organise research materials
• annotate resources
• write collaboratively

Clicking on a task opens up a list of what online tools are available for that particular aspect of research, along with brief descriptions and links.  The lists can be further narrowed by cost (including 'free'!) and platform (Windows, Apple etc.) so you can quickly see what you're looking for.

Happy Open Access Week!

Booker Shortlist

The 2012 Man Booker Prize winner is announced tonight.  We don't like to leave anyone out so we have all six shortlisted titles available for loan in the Library...

• Tan Twan Eng, The Garden of Evening Mists (Myrmidon Books) 
• Deborah Levy, Swimming Home (And Other Stories/Faber & Faber) 
• Hilary Mantel, Bring up the Bodies (Fourth Estate) 
• Alison Moore, The Lighthouse (Salt) 
• Will Self, Umbrella (Bloomsbury) 
• Jeet Thayil, Narcopolis (Faber & Faber)

Catalogue Access

Our Catalogue is down at present due to a technical problem. This is currently being investigated.
If you want to check whether a book is in stock at present please ask at the issue or information desk or contact us at 8842170 / info.library@spd.dcu.ie.
Our apologies for any inconvenience.
***UPDATE 17/10/12 - Access has now been restored***