New APA 6th edition output style in RefWorks

When RefWorks users who use the APA style login to complete a bibliography, it is now possible to use the latest, 6th edition. To do so, Click on the tab marked Bibliography and next to the drop-down menu marked Output Style select Output Style Manager. Select APA 6th edition and Add to Favorites. Please beware, though! RefWorks – as you can see from the message below – are still working on a few details:

“APA 6th style is not a major change from APA 5th output style. The new version does not use the database name with the exception of ERIC documents (reports). We have removed the database field from all reference types with the exception of reports. The new edition of APA has changed the manner in which authors are to be listed in the text and in the reference list. The new reference list guidelines state that when there are seven or more authors there should only be seven authors presented. When there are more than seven authors the first six are to be listed, ellipses added after the sixth, and the last author added at the end. In order for RefWorks to adhere to these changes, we will need to make modifications to our current Output Style Editor which will require program development. In the short-term, our new APA style will list all authors and will require the user to manually remove the extra authors and add the ellipses.

The new guidelines allow for the inclusion of up to five authors in the first instance of an in-text citation and the use of the first author with ‘et al.’ in all subsequent citations of the same reference. This too, will require APA specific development in RefWorks.”

If you have any comments please pass them on to the RefWorks administrator for Loughborough who is Frank Parry at f.parry@lboro.ac.uk

The E-Reference Library

Part of my library. Copyright: Hamzeh Karbasi www.flickr.com

There is a lot of debate currently about the respective merits of books in hard copy and electronic format but what cannot be questioned is the value of the electronic reference book. From your desktop you can now access the equivalent of  several shelves of reference works like the ones depicted in the photograph.  If you need to check the spelling of a word, you can consult the Oxford English Dictionary and find that you’ll be tempted to browse for a while to check how your word’s meaning has changed through time. If it is biographical information you are searching for, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography will provide the answer if  you need to find out about  a deceased British subject or a person who has influenced British history. Among the subject specific works you will discover many social science and humanities titles.  The Sage collection includes the encyclopedias of children, adolescents and the media; social science research methods and even murder.  Among the Oxford Digital Reference titles are works on decorative and performance arts, British and American literature; linguistics and economic history. Take a look at the Library’s e-Books webpage and find out exactly how many reference works are available to you.

Changes to the research assessment procedures

Research panel. Copyright: Scott Beale/Laughing Squid www.flickr.com

The first Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) was undertaken in 1986 and five further exercises have taken place since then. The RAE  introduced a formalised assessment of  British research and is thought to have improved its quality and impact. However there is now a consensus that the RAE in its present form has served its purpose. It is hoped that the new system, the Research Excellence Framework (REF), will be a less onerous process for universities but will  still be able to identify and fund quality research.  In the future there will be  distinct systems for the sciences and for other subjects.

At a  recent conference, the Higher Education Funding Council (Hefce) has outlined its proposed methods of assessment which will determine the allocations of £1.6 billion research funding from 2014.

Contrary to earlier thinking, citation analysis – a measurement of the number of times a work is cited by a peer - is to  play a lesser role in the future. Graeme Rosenberg, Hefce’s REF project manager said ” We just don’t think bibliometrics (a set of methods used to measure the impact of research papers) are sufficiently mature at this stage to be used in a formulaic way or, indeed to replace peer review” .  Hefce will draw up a list of subjects for which citation analysis is appropriate.  They have listened to the criticisms of engineering academics who think that the Web of Science – the database which Hefce was planning to use – has a patchy coverage in engineering. Citation analysis can be a blunt instrument for measuring engineering research because  it is not always possible to publish papers in this field quickly if the work has been done for companies who wish to protect their intellectual property. Any defence work is confidential and cannot fit into a metrics system.

The Hefce proposals have not yet been finalised , they will be considered by its board later on this year.

Database of the month: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

 

 .

Leslie Stephen, pictured here with his daughter, the novelist Virginia Woolf, was the founding editor of the Dictionary of National Biography – one of the great Victorian  projects. We are grateful to him for having helped create a work which has informed both general reader and scholar for over a hundred years.

It was published in 1885 and quickly became the standard reference work of notable figures from British history. The second edition, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography was published in 2004 and online. In two previous posts I have written about the kind of material that can be found in this work and cannot recommend it highly enough. On Wednesday June 17th  we held a Database of the Month workshop on the ONDB in the Library. This work is invaluable for scholars of history and of English literature but since it seems very easy to consult you may wonder why you need to be instructed in its use.  It is in fact a sophisticated electronic resource which allows many kinds of searches. For those of you who were not able to get to the session, the PowerPoint presentation  and quiz is available from the Learn server. You will learn how to find lists of people connected by themes e.g. Victoria Cross holders or those buried in Highgate cemetery. Fascinating details are related in “Wealth at death” section of a biography: we find out that the architectural draughtsman, John Preston Neale 1780-1847 left his grandson a cabinet of insects! If you are researching a particular person, e.g. Isambard Kingdom Brunel you can learn how to list his contemporaries. This will enable you to put him in context and  thus learn how British nineteenth century engineers  influenced and interacted with each other.

The core of the ODNB is the 50,000 biographies but did you know that  as well as searching for specific individuals, you can browse  the work as you would the printed edition? ( shelved on Level 3 in the reference section at Dewey no. 920 OXF)

You can also browse by themes which guide you to the biographies of groups of people. Some themes are lists; others discuss a group, event or topic in history. The references search enables you to find the sources used in the preparation of each article and the archival deposits relating to people in the dictionary. The  images search allows you to search for records of known images of people – it is always enlightening to see all the photographs and portraits of an individual at the various stages of their life.

 

The indetail09 industrial design degree show 2009

 

June 12th – 19th 2009

The indetail09 industrial design degree show is a collection of undergraduate work from Loughborough University’s Design and Technology department.

This year’s event will be held at the Sir Denis Rooke Building in Holywell Park, Loughborough and will showcase over 100 student projects.

Admission is free and there is no need to book in advance.

We look forward to meeting you!

Opening Times

Friday       12th June        12pm – 5pm
Saturday  13th June        10am – 5pm
Sunday     14th June       10am – 5pm
Monday   15th June       10am – 5pm
Tuesday   16th June      10am – 12pm

The indetail09 industrial design degree show

SPORTDiscus with full text

 

Loughborough University Library now subscribes to SPORTDiscus with full text.

SPORTDiscus with full text is the most comprehensive, bibliographic database covering sport, physical fitness, exercise, sports medicine, sports science, physical education, kinesiology, coaching, training, sport administration, officiating, sport law & legislation, college & university sport, disabled persons, facility design & management, intramural & school sport, doping, health, health education, biomechanics, movement science, injury prevention rehabilitation, physical therapy, nutrition, exercise physiology, sport & exercise psychology, recreation, leisure studies, tourism, allied health, occupational health & therapy, public health and more.

For off-campus access either login to MetaLib via the Remote Working Portal or access the database with your Athens username and password. If you do not have your Athens username and password please contact Ask a Librarian.

Sport at Loughborough

School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences (SSEHS).

New President of the Royal Geographical Society

 

Press release from the Royal Geographical Society [with IBG].

“Michael Palin CBE has been elected President of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) at the Society’s Annual General Meeting….”

 

 

“Michael, who was elected unopposed for a three year term, takes over from Professor Sir Gordon Conway in this role as the Society’s figurehead and chair of its elected trustees.”

“Through his travels, Michael has become a great enthusiast and champion for geography and teaching people about the world around them. He has been an Honorary Vice President of the Society for some years.”

“Commenting on his appointment Michael Palin CBE, said: “To be asked to take over the Presidency of such an internationally acclaimed and respected body is an almost unbelievable honour and I am only too aware of the great and distinguished figures whose boots I will have to try and fill.”

If you would like to more more about the Royal Geographical Society, please see links below.

RGS Picture Library

RGS’s work

Geography Today

Loughborough University Library subscribes to over 480 geography related e-journals, which can be accessed via MetaLib   [ATHENS username and password required for off campus access]

Loughborough University Department of Geography

One hundred years of Education and Innovation

 

 

Centenary exhibition charts history of education and innovation in Loughborough

An exhibition charting the development of Loughborough University and its predecessor colleges is due to open at Charnwood Museum later this month.

Entitled ‘One hundred years of Education and Innovation’, the exhibition will run from 16 May to 5 July at Charnwood Museum in Granby Street in Loughborough town centre.  Produced in conjunction with the Friends of Charnwood Museum, it chronicles the University’s origins from Loughborough Technical Institute through to the leading university of today.

Alongside the historical exhibition there will be a display of the University’s world-renowned research in sports technology, including the science behind the rugby shirts, footballs and trainers used by sports men and women today.

There will also be a mini exhibition on Dr Herbert Schofield, Principal of Loughborough Technical Institute, subsequently Loughborough College, for 35 years.

The exhibition at Charnwood Museum is open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 4.30pm, and on Sundays from 2pm to 5pm.  Admission is free.

If you would like to learn more about the history of Loughborough University, please see our Centenary website.

TicToc

ticTOC

ticTOCs Journal Table of Contents service helps you keep up to date with what is being published in 12,000 journals from 430 publishers.

You can carry out a keyword search to discover the TOCs matching your research and you can quickly load the relevant references you find into RefWorks. You can retrieve the full text where we have a subscription and you can also import RSS feeds into your favourite feed reader such as Google Reader or BlogLines.   Access is from www.tictocs.ac.uk.

It is a free service but registering enables you to store your newsfeeds.

 

1911 Census

Copyright gjenkin

The records of more than 27 million people in England have become available online today at www.1911census.co.uk  At 6.30 am this morning  the site had already recorded forty thousand hits had  so the National Archives is hoping that there won’t be a repeat of the website crash that occurred in 2002 after the launch of the 1901 census. Since the compilers of the site are expecting the highest demand to be three times greater than it was for the 1901 records, they have prepared twenty six servers to cope with the traffic.

The 1911 census was the first for which the population’s completed forms were kept and important information was recorded on them for the first time: the name, age, address, place of birth, marital status and occupation as well as each person’s relationship to the head of the household.

The returns reflect the preoccupations of the time. Mary Howey, an artist and suffragette wrote “Votes for Women” on her return. Another activist refused to fill in her form and then wrote on it :  ’If I am intelligent enough to fill in this paper, I am intelligent enough to put a cross on a voting paper.’

Among the more idiosyncratic entries, a pet cat is listed as a servant (nationality Persian) and one househoulder annotates his form with some information about his human servant: “This woman calls herself  ‘about forty’ and refuses to say any more. She looks 60. She leaves my service tomorrow”.

  As well as researching their own families, it is expected that some searchers will be looking for some famous people and the ancestors of some current celebrities. Virginia Woolf is listed under her maiden name of Adeline Virginia Stephen, she was then 29 years old and describes herself at this time as a journalist. The records also include details of important historical figures : the future Prime Minister David Lloyd George and the then Prime Minister H.H. Asquith.

Ancestors of celebrities include Amy Winehouse’s great-great grandfather Abraham Grandish, a Russian immigrant living in Spitalfields and David Beckham’s great grandfather John who worked as a scavenger for Walworth Council.

The 1921 census results will be the last to go online for many years and they will not be opened early. It appears that the 1911 results have avoided the legislation which prevents viewing until a hundred years have elapsed.

The 1931 records were destroyed in a fire in 1942 and the census  was not taken in 1941 because of the second world war.

Earlier census data is available from the National Archives census page which provides links to their commercial partners’ databases. While it is free to search these sites, you will be charged to view and  to download images of individual census entries.

Family Search also known as the International Genealogical Index provides listings of Church records around the world. It is a large database maintained by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day saints.  It is useful but not always a reliable source of data.

Anonymised census data for 1981, 1991 and 2001 is available from the Census Dissemination Unit  You will need to register for this service and to use your Athens username and password each time you access it.