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Showing posts from July, 2020

Library Click and Collect Service for Staff & PGRs

The library are pleased to announce that from Wednesday 29 July we will be providing a Click & Collect service to support essential University research for University Staff and Postgraduate Research students. Current University of Leicester staff and Postgraduate Research students can request items to be retrieved from the David Wilson Library’s lending collections (excluding Archives and Special Collections). Requests should be made through  Library Search . When your book is ready for collection an email will be sent to your University email address, you can then collect your book from the designated collection point in the David Wilson Library foyer.  You will need your University ID and to have downloaded the University Safe Zone app when coming onto the campus. You will be able to collect items Monday to Friday, between 11am and 3pm. Please note that there are no toilet facilities near the collection point, and parking spaces are limited. Please see the Library Webs

Slavery and Britain's Built Environment: a guide to resources

Updated 08/02/21 The removal of the statute of the Bristol merchant and slave trader Edward Colston has focused public attention on the historic connections between places in Britain and the combined histories of slavery and imperialism. Physical legacies of the past - some, but not all, memorials - have become touchstones for debating this controversial legacy. This guide is intended to document resources that may help people research these connections.  Leicester’s traditional strengths in local and urban history mean that the David Wilson Library’s collections have a strong focus on the history of places, the built environment and public heritage. Hopefully this guide will allow you to answer questions like: who does this statute represent? Or what were there links between a town and the slave trade? Note: there are a number of print books listed here. Hopefully, these will become more accessible as we come out of lockdown. For our current services, please see our website .  Free on

Journal Citation Reports 2020

The 2020 update to the annual Web of Science Journal Citation Reports (JCR) is now available via Web of Science . This is based on 2019 data compiled from the Web of Science Core Collection. You can read more about the highlights and construction of the JCR reports on the Clarivate News Announcement . One of the main reasons people use the Journal Citation Reports is to check the Impact Factor of a journal, which identifies the frequency with which an average article from a journal is cited in a particular year. Please remember to use publication metrics, such as Impact Factors, responsibly and never make decisions based on one metric. Also be aware that the University of Leicester is a signatory of   DORA  which has several recommendations with regards to Journal Impact Factors, including: the need to eliminate the use of journal-based metrics, such as Journal Impact Factors, in funding, appointment, and promotion considerations Do not use journal-based metrics, such a

Open Research Practice: trends, publications, and a local survey

The Library research services team and its services pivoted to an online/virtual only service delivery offering in March 2020 due to COVID-19 lockdown, and we have been connecting and meeting with our users and internal and external stakeholders this way since. We regularly update our blog post , which outlines the services and support we are providing for our PhD students and researchers during this period. Source: Image by  Abdessamad Jdaia  from  Pixabay We have had to adjust and in some ways reinvent and evolve some of our services to reflect the COVID-19 restrictions and we are also doing our annual planning as well as specific COVID-19 service and scenario planning. I attended (virtually of course) some of the excellent LIBER2020 conference sessions and workshop sessions last week, and I was particularly struck by something that Dr Bertil F. Dorch, Library Director and Associate Professor, University Southern Denmark, said in his presentation, along the lines of: "P