As the new academic year begins...

…I thought I would summarise the range of help points available from the library. The ‘Ask a Librarian’ service offers live webchat on weekday afternoons and an email response service during other hours and can be accessed from the front page of the library website. If you are a student or member of staff in the School of Psychology, then you are also free to contact me at any point by e-mail or phone call. In addition to this, there are also lots of guides and helpsheets available to read and print from the library website, professionally-staffed enquiry desks in all our libraries and various self-service facilities, such as the 'my account' feature on the library catalogue which allows you to renew your books, place requests, change your PIN and so on. For more information just ask anyone in the library.

Advice on getting more out of PsycINFO...

…is, of course, available from UEL library. Check out the downloadable guide or contact me directly. APA, the people who produce PsycINFO, also offer some support, including some very helpful videos which guide you through some of the main features. They are available to view on YouTube and can be found by either heading to: http://www.youtube.com/user/PsycINFO and choosing the EBSCO videos, or by running a search on YouTube for: EBSCO PsycINFO.

Whether you reference with APA or Harvard…

…depends upon the requirements of your particular course. In the School of Psychology, most modules require you to use APA Style, although some, particularly in the Field of Guidance, Counselling and Coaching, use Harvard Style. Always check your module handbook or with your tutor! 

Whichever of the two referencing styles you are required to use, make sure you check out the new referencing section on the library’s psychology subject page. It contains some pointers to the latest referencing guides, in line with UEL regulations.

New books in the library...

...added to stock during the month of August 2010 can be viewed from this link: August 2010 new books list. Please note that it only lists items purchased for stock from the library's 'psychology' book funds.

There are quite a few new books in stock this month, including lots of additional copies of existing texts. This is largely because the library received some extra funds to buy more copies of some core texts. Some notable new additions to stock include coaching books such as Jonathan Passmore's "Leadership coaching: working with leaders" and Thornton's "Group and team coaching". We also have some new study skills books, including the brand new 8th edition of the referencing guide, "Cite Them Right" and Stella Cottrell's "Skills for success: personal development planning handbook".

As ever, all new books can be located using the library catalogue.

roar@UEL – the University’s institutional repository...

…is where you can find full-text copies of UEL’s own research output. As the blurb says, “It has been established to facilitate both dissemination and preservation of scholarly work created by members of the University of East London”.

The School of Psychology is well represented with over 100 items currently deposited. Everything in roar@UEL is available to read in full text, completely free of charge, all of which is aimed at achieving wider readership and increased citations for UEL research. For further information, check the repository support pages or contact Rachel Graham, the University’s Research Services Librarian.

Going beyond PsycINFO with ScienceDirect...

... is highly recommended. Although PsycINFO is an excellent source of journal articles, the library also offers access to other databases which cover psychology. ScienceDirect is perhaps the best of these, containing well over 200 psychology journals, with 128 available with immediate full text access. ScienceDirect can be accessed from the A-Z list on the ‘e-journals and databases’ page on the library website.

To search ScienceDirect specifically for articles published in psychology journals, click on the green ‘search’ button to go to the full search screen. After entering your search terms, you should then select ‘psychology’ from the subject listing before running the search. This will restrict your results to articles from psychology journals. If you want to browse the available psychology journals on ScienceDirect, then select ‘psychology’ from the browse section on the ScienceDirect home page.

Accessing the Internet from another university...

...can often be difficult as most universities only allow their own students and staff to log on to their computers and wi-fi network. However, UEL is now a member of EduRoam (‘educational roaming’) which means that if you are visiting another university library, either because it is closer to where you live or because they have a special collection you wish to use, then you should be able to log-in using your UEL username and password.

For further information, including how to take advantage of EduRoam and which universities it works at, check out the UEL EduRoam page.