Proposed move of the HFL: have your say

A proposal to transfer the services and collections of the History Faculty Library from the Old Indian Institute Building to the Old Bodleian Library and Radcliffe Camera has been circulated for consultation and is being reviewed by a number of University bodies.

The proposal reflects the strategic vision of the Bodleian Libraries to provide improved services through the integration and consolidation of a number of its satellite libraries, thereby reducing costs to Divisions and enabling improved services, such as longer hours of operation.

If the proposal is implemented, the savings achieved by the relocation of the history collections to the Bodleian would free up resources for the purchase of additional books, journals, and databases and for the support of Sunday hours in both the Radcliffe Camera and Old Bodleian Library.  The Libraries are consulting with other faculties who are users of the Camera and the Old Bodleian to ensure that their needs are also taken into consideration in planning for these service adjustments.

At their meeting on 23 January 2012 the Curators of the University Libraries endorsed  the proposal  in principle, subject to satisfactory conclusion of the consultation process underway in Hilary Term, the results of which will be reviewed by Curators in their 8th week meeting.

In recognition of the need to more effectively galvanise student views and to assist the student representatives in their role, students should note that their reps will attend an Extraordinary History Committee for Library Provision meeting on Monday 30 January as the start of the consultation dialogue. We look towards working with the student reps who are liaising with the student constituencies and will be receiving any official documentation which will be issued in the course of the consultation period. Here is a reminder of your student reps:

Undergraduates:

Isabel Stokholm (St Edmund Hall), isabel.stokholm@seh.ox.ac.uk

Madeleine Foote (St Peter’s College), madeleine.foote@spc.ox.ac.uk

Postgraduates:
Kathleen Vongsathorn (Green Templeton College), kathleen.vongsathorn@gtc.ox.ac.uk

Rouven Kunstmann (St Antony’s College), rouven.kunstmann@sant.ox.ac.uk

Related links:  HFL Library Management, StudentZone

New History books in the Bodleian (week 16 Jan)

23 new books on British and Western European history  have now been added to LibraryThing, covering most European languages and countries and all periods. A lot is being published on the Peninsular War 1808-1814. In this month 7 books on this subject alone have been received.

Here are some more tasters:

WISER sessions on finding resources and depositing your thesis

There are lots of helpful WISER training sessions coming up in the coming weeks.  You can subscribe to a feed of upcoming sessions to keep track too.

WISER: Finding Stuff – Books etc on SOLO [Monday 23 January 9.15 - 10.00] – Effective search techniques for finding books and other library materials using SOLO, ordering from the book stacks and using the SOLO eshelf and saved searches > Book Now

WISER: Finding Stuff – Journal Articles Monday [23 January 10.00 - 11.30] - How to find articles and papers to support your research using a wide range of bibliographic databases and how to develop your search strategy.  This workshop will include plenty of time for participants to try out their own searches using databases for their subject as well as a demonstration. >Book Now

WISER: Finding Stuff – Theses and Dissertations [Monday 23 January 11.30 - 12.15] - How to find dissertations and theses from Oxford, other UK institutions and overseas.   >Book Now

WISER: Your thesis, copyright and ORA [Friday 27 January 9.15 - 10.15] -  Oxford DPhil students are required to deposit a copy of their thesis in ORA (Oxford University Research Archive).  This session will focus on copyright and other issues that DPhil students need to take into account when preparing and writing their thesis so that they do not encounter problems when they deposit.      DPhils are encouraged to attend this session early so that they can make sensible decisions regarding rights from the start of their research. >Find out more    > Book now.

WISER: Getting information to come to you [Friday 27 January 10.30 - 12.00] – How to keep abreast of new publications and papers in your research area and research news and opportunities on the web using RSS feeds and email alerts. The session will include a demonstration and also time to set up your an RSS reader or email notifications.>Book Now

Keeping up to date with the WISER programme – Why not follow  us on Twitter at  https://webmail.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://twitter.com/oxwiser” href=”http://bodwiser.wordpress.com/”>http://bodwiser.wordpress.com You can also check the timetable on the WISER web site at wiser-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk

Not a member of Oxford University? – If you are not a current member of Oxford University but would like to attend a WISER workshop please contact usered@bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Please quote your Bodleian readers card barcode number.

If you have any questions please contact usered@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

OBS Lecture by Brian Cummings 23 Jan 2012

Details of the next Oxford Bibliographical Society lecture

Date: Monday, 23 January 2012

Location: Taylor Institution, Seminar Room 3, at 5.15 p.m.

Lecture: The Book of Common Prayer and the History of the Book – Brian Cummings

Brian Cummings  is currently Professor of English at the University of Sussex. He specialises in many aspects of early modern English literature, especially More, Wyatt, Shakespeare, Donne, and Milton. He also works on the history of the Reformation, the history of theology and of heresy, the English Bible and the Book of Common Prayer, medieval and Renaissance philosophy, humanism, especially Erasmus, the European Renaissance and the reception of the classics, grammar, logic and rhetoric and on literary theory and the philosophy of language. He has recently published The Book of Common Prayer: The Texts of 1549, 1559, and 1662 (Oxford University Press, 2011), a unique edition of the Book of Common Prayer that brings together the texts of three different versions – 1549, 1559, and 1662 – to provide a panorama of the history of ritual in England from the Reformation to the twentieth century. He is also the author of The Literary Culture of the Reformation: Grammar and Grace (Oxford University Press, 2002), a Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year for 2003. A paperback edition of this book appeared in July 2007. He has also published widely in journals such as English Literary Renaissance and Studies in Church History, and is a contributor to The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature (1999) and The Oxford Companion to the Book (2010). This year Professor Cummings is guest curating an exhibition for the 350th anniversary of the BCP at Lambeth Palace Library which will run  from May to July 2012, entitled Royal Devotion: the Monarchy and the Book of Common Prayer. Later in 2012 he will be giving the Clarendon Lectures in Oxford.

2012 Bodleian Library: Modern Papers seminar series: authorship, memory & manuscripts

The schedule of the 2012 Modern Papers seminar series: authorship, memory & manuscripts is now available.

Co-chairs: Professor Martin Ceadel (New College) and Professor Anne Deighton (Wolfson College).

Tuesday 24 January

Lord (Peter) Hennessy
‘The documentary spoor of Clement Attlee.’
Convocation House, Bodleian Library, 5 pm

Monday 6 February

John Campbell
‘The Roy Jenkins papers.’
Pitt Rivers Museum Lecture Room, 5 pm

Monday 13 February

‘Work in Progress: archiving political papers in the Bodleian Libraries.’
Pitt Rivers Museum Lecture Room, 5 pm

Monday 20 February

Mary, Lady Jay
‘The diary of Douglas Jay: from dictation to online resource.’
Pitt Rivers Museum Lecture Room, 5 pm

Monday 27 February

Sir David Butler and Professor Dennis Kavanagh
‘The David Butler papers: Sixty years of interviews.’
Pitt Rivers Museum Lecture Room, 5 pm

Term-time opening hours have begun!

Welcome back everyone!

Our current opening hours are Monday to Friday 9:00am to 7:00pm and on Saturdays 10:00am to 1:00pm.

We look forward to seeing you all again soon.

New History books in the Bodleian (week 5 Jan)

After a rather nice but long Christmas break, I’m pleased to report that Santa has delivered a bumper crop of 149 new books on British and Western European history. They  have now been added to LibraryThing.  There is too much to describe what has been added. There is a lot for medievalists, Tudor historians, books on the Reformation, Renaissance and Enlightenment, Victorian Britain, the Holocaust and WWII, and post-1945 history and much more. Check these out by using the browse and tag features in LibraryThing to see what is there.

I would like to highlight some titles with an Oxford connection: our very own Conrad Leyser and Lesley Smith have published Motherhood, Religion, and Society in Medieval Europe, 400-1400: essays presented to Henrietta Leyser (2011). Also, Peter Raina, currently Visiting Academic to Oxford, has published House of Lords reform : a history (2011).

Here are some more tasters:

Default sort order within clustered search results in SOLO is now by “relevancy”

We have implemented the first stage of a plan to improve the display of records in SOLO with clusters of versions (where SOLO has grouped together ‘versions’ of the same work).

To achieve this, the default sort order for search results within clusters will be changed to relevance rather than date-newest. If you prefer to see your results in date order you can still do so. Please use the sort option at the top of the results screen.

While clustering is beneficial to and highly valued by a large number of readers, it can cause problems for others, particularly where searching for very specific editions or antiquarian/non-book material. The long-term aim is to exclude certain categories of material from clustering, which will solve the small number of problematic cases while retaining the benefits of clustering for the majority of searches and readers.

The decision to retain clustering in SOLO and work to improve it was taken following extensive consultation and user testing, including discussion at the Bodleian Libraries Cabinet. The change to sort order within clusters is a first step to mitigate against some of the major problems caused by clustering while we work to develop an improved solution for everyone.

Email solo@bodleian.ox.ac.uk if you have any feedback on these changes.

 

2012 InterLibrary Loan price increase

Herewith a reminder to our readers that Bodleian Libraries charges for InterLibrary Loans have increased. This represents an annual increase since the charges were last revised in January 2011. They increase by a modest 25p but will help to cover the costs of the annual price rise imposed by the British Library in August 2011.

The ILL charge increases are as follows:

•  Loan, photocopy, or delivery of an item by secure electronic delivery for University members from £4.50 to £4.75
•  Urgent requests for University members from £10.50 to £10.75.
•  Worldwide searches for University members from £12.50 to £12.75

What is InterLibrary Loan?

The Bodleian Libraries offer an Inter-library Loan (ILL) service to all members of Oxford University, as well as to non-University members. This service seeks to provide access to material not held at the University.

More on InterLibrary Loan services.

Most read posts in HFL blog for 2011

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Crunchy numbers

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. The HFL blog was viewed about 7,300 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

In 2011, there were 186 new posts, growing the total archive of the HFL blog to 343 posts. There were 148 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 9mb. That’s about 3 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was July 5th with 109 views. The most popular post that day was Bodleian: Gladstone Link open today .

Most read blogs

These are the posts that got the most views in 2011.

1 Bodleian: Gladstone Link open today July 2011
2 New: U.S. Congressional Serial Set 1817-1994 (with American State Papers) December 2009
3 *New*: New York Amsterdam News, 1922-1993 & Pittsburgh Courier, 1911-2002 January 2011
4 Trial until 31 May: Times of India Historical Archive (1838-2001) April 2011
5 New ejournal: Journal of Modern European History March 2010

Where do our readers come from?

Most visitors came from the United Kingdom. The United States & Spain were not far behind.