UCP Library Resources Survey

UCP Library Resources Survey Feedback

In November we carried out a specific survey for our Higher Education students. 39 of you responded (about 5%) and results were analysed and also split between level 4s and the level 6s who use UCP's Canvas and the students who use ARU's Digital Library. A report has been shared with lecturers and UCP management as well as library staff.

The survey focused on the following topics:

Inductions

72% if you had either had an induction from a tutor, librarian or followed one online. This meant that there are still some students who have never had a library induction. The link to our Online induction and quiz can be found either on the Introduction to Library Services in your subject guide in Canvas (level 4) or via the LRC pages on the PRC student portal - there is a specific version for UCP students.

Photo - publicdomainpictures.net

Confidence in Accessing Online Library Resources

You said: Most students said they felt confident in accessing resources online although a number said they had never used a database. Students added that more guidance could be given including being shown in tutorials, demonstrations by a librarian, 1:1 help or providing guides.
We say: Remember that access will be easier if you use the links we give you in your subject guide, within the Student Portal or in ARU's library catalogue as these are specific to us and usually take you directly to our logging in page. Otherwise look for Institutional Access (or Campus access) or it may say via Shibboleth. You will probably have to select Peterborough Regional College from a list and you will then find yourself at the logging in page.
For level 4 students guidance for using specific databases is gradually being added to your guides.

Reading Lists

You said: Students indicated that they like their reading lists and most lecturers provide them (although not all). You wanted more varied texts, earlier access (before your module starts), information on the level and importance of the item to read and copies available in the LRC.
We say: The LRC has ordered copies of all items listed on level 4 and top-up degree reading lists (ARU provide them for levels 5 and 6 except top up degrees) where still in print. Where possible we have ordered eBooks so that more students can use the book at the same time. Sections can then be downloaded, copied and printed if preferred.

Study Excellence Sessions

You said. You said that you would attend a library study excellence session.
We say: So far this year no students have attended them. Responses to other questions suggest you might like this in tutorial time. We are also happy to help at any time in the LRC.

Photo by Startup Stock Photos from Pexels 

Where you like to study

You said: Most of you prefer UCP or home saying that the LRC is too busy and noisy with not enough tables and chairs.
We say: We do not have enough space for more tables and chairs. However we do have benching in the various rooms. We try to ensure that the noise is kept to a reasonable level. It is quieter first thing in the morning and late afternoon.

Other comments include: "great selection of relevant books in the LRC", "Staff at LRC are always really helpful and friendly, I like how easy it is to renew books via email or phone also".

Welcome to new students and 6 things.

Welcome to PRC 

Whether you are a new student or a returning student (or even a new or returning member of staff) - Welcome to the LRC and the College from all Learning Resource Centre (i.e. library) staff!

Do you know 6 things about the LRC?

The LRC is running a student induction quiz this year themed around "6 things that you need to know about the LRC".

It includes things such as how to set up a pin, how to register for an LRC loyalty card and finding the opening times of the LRC.

It will help you with using the Learning Resource Centre and should make it easier to use for your studies.

Every completed induction quiz gets entered into a prize draw so, by taking part, not only are you finding out how to use the LRC but you could also win a prize.

Chester the Puffin -our LRC mascot.
Photo: Peterborough Regional College

We look forward to receiving your entries and helping you familiarise yourself with the LRC.

National Libraries Week

National Libraries Week

During the week 8th - 12th October we marked National Libraries Week with some activities which focused on Well being (the theme had been chosen nationally due to World Mental Health Day being in the same week).

Libraries Week Wellbeing display
Photo: Peterborough Regional College

At the beginning of the week, beauty students offered hand massages to students studying in the LRC. In the middle of the week, we hosted a cake and green ribbon badge sale with the proceeds going to the Mental Health Foundation. We also promoted our mental health resource leaflet. Thank you to everyone who supported the event - including the Student Union and College Counsellor who had stands at the event.

Libraries Week event cake stand
Photo: Peterborough Regional College

Some interesting facts about libraries

To finish, Reader's Digest (American) put together 10 fascinating facts about libraries which you might find interesting.

Chester's first year at the Learning Resource Centre

This week’s blog is an interview with everyone’s favourite LRC puffin…Chester!

So Chester, to start why not introduce yourself…

Hi all. I’m really glad to finally be able to talk to you all and introduce myself. My name’s Chester and you’ll usually find me somewhere in the LRC, generally with my beak in a book. If you haven’t met me yet you can ask to see me at the main desk! 

How do you like the LRC?

I love my home here! I’ve been learning to use the LRC all year and I love how many resources I can access. I’ve learnt how to use the catalogues so I can always find what I want and if not the staff are always really helpful.

What’s your favourite area of the LRC?

My favourite place is the fiction area, it’s really cosy and lots of people sit there to read their favourite books. I also like the silent study area though because nobody talks in there.

My Harry Potter "shelfie"

What are your interests?

I like the seaside, reading and most of all fish, especially herring!

What do you think of the rules in the LRC?

I sometimes wish I could eat my lunch in the LRC but I understand that the students don’t want the place to smell of fish whilst they’re studying.

Not everyone is as fond as
my tuna fish lattes as I am!

What has been your favourite event this year?

I liked Star Wars day. It was so much fun and everyone worked so hard. I also really enjoyed dressing up and I got to be a Jedi knight and Darth Chester! Also did you know that Porgs were based on puffins?

What side do you choose the light or the dark?

Tell us a fact about the LRC that you think many people might not know?

The LRC has a returns box just outside the main door, this way you don’t need to return items to the desk. I have even used it myself!

Me using the returns box!

What would your advice be to students coming back/starting next academic year?

Come and explore the LRC early. Find where your books are, look at the PC rooms and just enjoy the space. It’s one of the best resources available in the college.

I love all the different study areas that the LRC has to offer.

Book Boxes

Book Boxes

Did you know that the LRC can put together a book box for tutors/lecturers to use in their lessons?

Ideally we like a week's notice of the topic (but we can do this quicker) and we do need to be sure that we have stock on the particular subject.

Please contact the LRC in person, by phone or email and let us know the topic, when you need it and how many students there are in the group. We will have the box ready for you to collect before your lesson and then you can return it at the end. We can also suggest other resources such as e-books. If you would like a librarian to come to your class and do an activity with your group using the box, then we can help with this also.

Pile of 5 books
https://www.pexels.com/photo/pile-of-five-books-51342/

5 things to do with a book box

1) Introduce books as a way to research

    a) Give each student a book and ask them to find a topic

    b) After 5 minutes ask students to then say how they found the information.

    c) Talk about the index and the contents pages. (Tip: go to the sections where there are the most 

        pages first before the individual pages e.g. 33-37).

    d) Discuss other ways students can know whether a book is useful for their research

        i.e. blurb on the back, author, how old it is, which country it's published in

2) Use a box of books to practice Harvard Referencing

    a) Ask students to use the plagiarism and referencing blended learning activity on the LRC 24/7             page to learn about how to reference.

    b) Then give out books and ask students to reference them either in teams or individually.

3) Use the box of books to help introduce a topic by asking the students to research it themselves

     a) Set some questions

     b) Ask students to research the answers using the books from the box (with or instead of   

         websites) either individually or as teams.

4) Use the books to inspire students when they are choosing what to do for an assignment. e.g. an art  

     assignment/ project or make up/ hair activity.

    (One of our most challenging book boxes was for an art assignment on "Containment". We had to

      find images which portrayed the idea of being contained, imprisoned, caged etc.).   

5) Use a box of fiction to encourage students to look at books to read for pleasure or to introduce 

     them to poetry. One lecturer who worked at the college in the past read with/to his students in
     their tutorials!

    

LRC Halloween book display
Photo: Peterborough Regional College

Dissertation Research

Dissertations

FE students are on catch up week (half term) this week but UCP students still have lectures and the LRC stays open for all students and staff who want to use us.

Over the past few weeks, LRC librarians have been in to a number of tutorials at UCP to talk to students about finding information for their dissertations. Here are a few tips from the LRC team for getting started:

Getting started on your literature review/ dissertation research

Choose a topic that you are interested in - you will be living with it for a long time.

If you know a broad area you are interested in, you might find it useful to look in a journal dedicated to the subject (if there is one) and have a look through recent contents lists for issues that are currently topical.

You need to find a subject with enough literature, but not so much that you get too many results and your research becomes unmanageable. Even if you are doing primary research, you will need to find enough literature to show the context in which your research fits.

You can refine your subject by focusing on a particular age range (e.g. teenagers, the elderly), country or area (e.g UK) or a particular time period (since 2000), for example.

Before you start searching

Plan your search terms - list synonyms (words that mean the same), acronyms (and what they stand for), wider concepts (things that affect/ are affected by your topic), narrower subjects (specifics), different forms of a word (woman, women).

Set up a system to record everything you find which is useful -why not decide to write a Harvard reference for each source you find as you go along so that it isn't a massive task at the end. Note key page numbers too so you can find sources again.

Laptop image from www.pixabay.com (Stocksnap) CC0

Searching for information

Combine the different terms you listed in your planning in different combinations and search the ARU Digital library and the PRC LRC catalogue on Moodle.  (You can also use Google Scholar if you prefer but you won't find links to the PRC catalogue on there and you need to log in to the ARU Digital Library first to view anything, anyway. Note down other keywords and phrases that you find authors have used as you discover them and integrate them in to your searches. There is always likely to be some trial and error involved and different search terms will yield different results.

Books are a good starting point to familiarise yourself with a topic. Use the bibliographies in these to find other authors and sources which might be useful (note them down as you find them).

For success in your dissertation, you want to be using a range of different, yet appropriate, resources. Have you tried searching for theses or conference proceedings, for example? How about open access databases or  websites of accredited organisations?

Get a quick idea of whether a resource is relevant by reading the abstract.

Be disciplined - it is easy to go off on a tangent - keep to your topic. Only reassess what you are searching for if you are getting too few or too many results.

Asking for help

Remember that the librarians in the LRC at PRC are here to help you if you are having problems finding what you need or indeed if you are justlooking for some other places to explore. We can also suggest ways to put searches together to retrieve the most relevant results. We can help you quickly there and then or set up a 1:1 appointment for a more in depth session.

National Map Reading Week and Digimap

National Map Reading Week

This week is National Map Reading Week and organisations like the Ordnance Survey are using this to publicise and highlight the importance of having skills like being able to use a compass, plotting a map reference and using the right type of map for different activities.

• The latest research suggests the average British person ends up going the wrong way, or getting lost, 24 times a year.
• Mountain Rescue England and Wales call outs were up 170 in 2016 on the previous year and of the 1812 call outs, 360 were serious or fatal.

Given that we live in the age of the Sat Nav and smartphone, is it still necessary to know how to use a map? The statistics above suggest it is.

Being able to read a map and plan a route is still an invaluable life skill and maps can give us a lot of information. For example, a map will help you visually plan your route and see where you are in relation to other places. It can give you an idea of distance or how a hill is as well as what features are found in different areas.You do not need a battery, a mobile/ satellite signal or the ability to hear.

Sometimes a map or diagram is the best way to present information so directions can be understood easily.

Imagine explaining to someone new how to get from the Learning Resource Centre to Parcs Restaurant. Perhaps the best solution would be to take them there yourself. 

However, the alternative would be to explain to them that they need to turn left out of the LRC, past the Apprenticeship Centre, then turn left, follow the corridor round past the Enterprise lounge until they get to Alexandra Foyer when they need to go past the entrance gate and take the corridor to the left of the Pantry and follow this down to Parcs!

Or… you could draw a map!

Resources for learning map reading skills

For the beginner, Ordnance Survey provides a range of guides and videos to show you how to read maps. For example, understanding contours so you know whether you will be walking up a steep hill or not.

See below for Steve Backshall's short video guide to taking a 4 digit map reference.

Ordnance Survey have also devised a short quiz for you to test your map reading skills. Have a go!

Digimap

The Learning Resource Centre subscribes to Digimap which is an online service giving access to Ordnance Survey mapping of Great Britain. Students and staff can access it from the Electronic Resources Page under the Learning Resource Centre tab on Moodle. It is only accessible in College. Students and staff can save and/or print out their A4 maps.

The great thing about it is that you can search by postcode or place and then once you have centred your map, you can annotate it with shapes, labels, photos as well as measure distances. You might want to add starting points, places to camp, places to stop for lunch based on how long a walk is. Will you have to cross a river? Will you walk through woodland? Will there be steep hills? Will you pass through any villages? 

Public Services students have used this when planning for their week away walking the Pennine Way in the past.

Libraries Week

Libraries Week

PRC Learning Resource Centre Facts

This is week is the first ever Libraries Week and so this We hope you will forgive us this slightly self-indulgent blog post. We are using it to promote what we do for students at PRC and UCP and the difference we can make (not that we can be complacent - we always aim to improve!).  During the week we have been tweeting (@lrc_prc) a number of facts about the LRC throughout the week. Here are some statistics for you.

• At PRC we had 14,000 visits to the Learning Resource Centre in September this year.

Last academic year

• we had 118,342 visits between September 2016 and April 2017. March 2017 was the busiest month with 21,966 visits.  
• we had over 8000 visits to our Moodle pages.
• there were over 10,000 search sessions on our electronic databases. (Apart from e-books, Childlink is our most-used database).
• of these, over 3600 were for access to e-books.
• we loaned out laptops over 6500 times 

So what does the Learning Resource Centre at PRC do? (This is not an exhaustive list)

We help students (and staff) learn by

• providing an environment and equipment for independent learning
• help students find resources for their assignments/ courses.
• purchasing print resources to help students research and learn including books and a number of magazine subscriptions.
• delivering training sessions and activities to give students the skills to research and find information
• providing blended learning activities or training on Harvard Referencing
• helping students navigate the internet and promote e-safety.
• purchasing and set up access to quality electronic resources (including authentification in and outside college)
• providing and administering a computer system which manages the loan of books, fines, overdue letters and notifications  and includes providing a catalogue of everything available so it is searchable.
• promoting literacy and reading to help improve language and vocabulary as well as for pleasure/ wellbeing and as a way to relax and unwind (e.g. our Loyalty scheme)
• helping with queries around using the PCs.

Library quotes

The author Neil Gaiman has said "Google can bring you back 100,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one". See the video below.

Stephen Fry has said "Libraries are where minds flourish and grow. They are like a kind of water supply".

See  #librariesweek on Twitter for more quotes, events and a general celebration of libraries. You may be surprised what goes on in a library and what librarians do! See the video below to see what one group of American librarians did to promote their library catalogue (and no we won't be doing anything similar!)

LRC Grand Opening and Student Feedback on new LRC

LRC Grand Opening and Student Feedback

On Monday we hosted the official opening of the newly refurbished Learning Resource Centre. We were privileged to be joined by Fiona Onasanya, MP for Peterborough, who cut the ribbon for us and local author, Eva Jordan.

Eva Jordan, Terry Jones (PRC Principal) Louise Auckland (LRC Manager) and Fiona Onasanya
at the official opening of the newly refurbished Learning Resource Centre.
Photograph used with permission of Peterborough Telegraph

Fiona Onasanya was given a tour of the centre and Eva Jordan signed copies of 183 Times a Year, a teenage novel about relationships between mothers and daughters.

Eva Jordan signing copies of her book
Photo: Peterborough Regional College

Thank you to PRC hospitality students who provided a super buffet for everyone who attended. You did a splendid job!

Student feedback on the new LRC (and other issues!)

We used Thinglink to create this image from our comments board to put on our Moodle pages. Roll your mouse over the information hotspots to see our responses.

Welcome (back) to College and the newly refurbished Learning Resource Centre

New Learning Resource Centre

Welcome (back) to College and to the new Learning Resource Centre (LRC). We have a new name (Learning Resource Centre) and therefore we have changed the URL for this blog too so if anyone bookmarked this last year, you will need to change it.

Having spent the last 3 months operating from 2 classrooms, we have now moved back into the newly refurbished space and groups of students have been visiting us for tours and to carry out tasks set by their tutors. We have also created a Kahoot quiz activity for students to do in class (all details for tutors are on the tutorial pages) which will introduce the basics of using the LRC and the resources we offer. If you want details or have any problems accessing this, please ask someone in the LRC.

 Before /during the refurbishment
Photo: Peterborough Regional College

After the refurbishment
Photo: Peterborough Regional College

Below is a walk-through video from the College's YouTube channel so you can get an idea of what the new LRC looks like.

The LRC team looks forward to welcoming students and staff to the new space. If you have any queries about using it, then please ask one of us for help.

"Fake news": Can you believe the news you read on social media?

"Fake news"

There has been a lot of talk about “fake news” especially around the whole issue of the US election. False stories were spread mainly through social media and some people even believe that this could have helped influence the election result!

I newspaper (which we take daily in Library+) highlights the problem of fake news in their article below from 17th November 2016:-
Don’t believe what you read: the worrying rise in fake news

Many news stories break on twitter, for example, as an immediate way of spreading details of something that has happened in the world and this can be invaluable. However, like anything, it is essential to check who initially tweeted the news. Can you find it mentioned on a trustworthy news website like the BBC news website or one of the main broad sheet newspaper websites? Do they all back up the story? If these sites don’t mention it, perhaps that means they haven’t been able to validate the story from their sources.

Photo: Peterborough Regional College

Of course newspapers (mainly tabloids) are often criticised themselves for being biased, reporting rumours and even making news up. If you are studying media, these “stories” may be of interest in themselves for your research as a way of demonstrating how the press influence society or what society is “thinking” for example. Similarly, if you are researching social media itself, the tweets/ Facebook news items may be key examples in themselves and worth quoting too, but qualify why you are using them and look at/ use them critically.

And finally to end this week…. perhaps you’d like to have a go at spotting some fake news using I newspaper's quiz....
Quiz -can you spot the fake news stories quiz?

Welcome to the Peterborough Regional College Library blog!

Introduction to the Peterborough Regional College Library blog

Welcome to our first blogpost!

In this blog we are planning to  

• keep you informed of all that the library has to offer
• share some tips to help you find the information you need
• throw a spotlight on different types of resources
• look at some academic skills such as Harvard referencing and plagiarism
• explore the area of e-safety
• focus on themes that many PRC students study (interviews, team building, health and safety).
• point you to resources on other skills you might want to learn just for fun (as learning in itself can be rewarding! ).
• tell you about special events that we put on as well (both College-wide and our own).
• feedback to you what you say in our surveys with our responses and let you know how we are performing.
• pass on anything else relevant we find that we think would be of interest to staff and/or students.
• pick up on stories in the press which show how important it is to evaluate information that you find - especially on the internet.
• review some good books.

Do let us know if you find posts particularly useful and any suggestions. Do this here or via our twitter account.