Hey, Hey, we have a new BSL-signed, Captioned Library Video

We wanted to share the new library video with you - we're absolutely delighted with it!  We hope it will help explain some of the important things about the library here at RCS.

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You can find it on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/eTmyDRCF-Pk

And on the Portal at the library's Help and Support page:- https://portal.rcs.ac.uk/library/help-support/

The captions can be turned on using the CC button on YouTube. 

Our thanks go to our RCS alumnus actor, and to our RCS colleagues for helping us put this all together!

Discovery Layer - our Latest Library Buzzword

Twittaker at the Whittaker Library Catalogue

We have a new catalogue system in the Whittaker Library.  This one's a great advance on the old one, because you can look for online resources actually *in the catalogue*.  The software that makes this all possible is called a "discovery layer".  So we looked for a colleague's scholarly article, and lo and behold! there it was, without having to go and look on a different website.

Where's the article? Why, here it is! Ace!

Of course, this really opens up our resources for students and colleagues when they're offsite, because they can check the catalogue and discover lots of electronic resources - articles, database searches, streamed sound and more - which they can access anywhere.

We'll be posting hints and tips to help people get the most out of this very clever new system, so watch this space - and Twitter, of course!  Extra kudos for anyone who asks the staff to demonstrate our new discovery layer ...

Check out the Catalogue!

https://rcs.koha-ptfs.co.uk/

Group Presentations and Solitary Composers?

Remember, remember, in early December ...

Here in the Whittaker Library, we have a huge spreadsheet to help us remember when different classes have assignment deadlines.  For example, there will soon be group presentations about music history and music in society, whilst the electroacoustic composition elective students will be submitting their work with accompanying documentation.

The library has shelves full of conventional books, web-pages full of e-resources, and well-qualified music librarians to help our students find suitable materials for their assignments.  Admittedly, we can't do the compositions, or give the presentations! But we have plenty of literature on compositional techniques, oodles of materials on music history or music in society - and can probably also source resources on how to give presentations!  We can also advise on referencing or compiling a bibliography.

So what are you waiting for?  Just ask!

Ghostly Goings On in the Library at Halloween

We'd love to tell you we have a library ghost, but sadly there's no evidence of one. If you want to spice up your Halloween celebrations tonight, the best we can suggest is to check our catalogue for ghosts, witches, or pumpkins.  Or even just look up halloween.  We're surprisingly well-supplied in that direction!

We can also supply the theme-tune for Ghostbusters ....

However, Karen has blogged often enough about historical Scottish music collectors - and historical Scottish music borrowers, in St Andrews - so if you want musical ghosts, that's where to look.  Rumour has it that there's a ghost at the University of Glasgow! We can't comment on that.

 For today, and today only, let's resurrect Karen's old blog - True Imaginary Friends (well, it was about Georgian and Victorian Scottish musicians!).  More recently, Karen has given papers on Ghosts of Borrowers Past, ‘The Legal Deposit Music at St. Andrews: Scottish airs, Irish and Hebrew Melodies and other late Georgian favourites', and various other aspects of music usage at the University of St Andrews between 1801-1849. 

Getting to Know the Neighbours: Glasgow School of Art

Glasgow School of Art was sadly thrust into the headlines earlier this summer when there was a catastrophic fire at the main GSA building, destroying the iconic Charles Rennie Mackintosh Library.  It was a tragedy, but the local fire brigade were the heroes of the day, saving more than anyone imagined could be saved.  Work is under way both restoring the building and trying to replace some of the priceless books that were in that library.

However, the main GSA Library is in a different building, so that collection was unaffected.  It's a great resource for anyone needing visual inspiration, so will be particularly interesting to our theatrical production community.  If you're an undergraduate or taught postgraduate, you can go and read there but won't be able to borrow books.  (We can arrange inter library loans, though.)  And if you're a research student or member of staff, your SCONUL Access will let you borrow books too. 

In brief:

• Undergraduates or taught Masters students going to another Scottish Higher Education institution don't need SCONUL Access cards - just their normal matriculation card will get them in for reference purposes.  They do need SCONUL Access cards to go to university libraries beyond Scotland. 
• And researchers or staff need SCONUL Access cards in order to borrow books.
• Apply online for SCONUL Access.  The Whittaker Library has to approve your application.  Here's the SCONUL Access website:-
  
  • http://www.access.sconul.ac.uk/sconul-access

 And you'll need these, too:-

• GSA Library and Learning Resources website
• GSA Archives and Collections - blog

Queries: a Day in the Life of a Conservatoire Library

•  Q:  Have you got xxxxx, please?  A: Yes, of course.  (You told us the wrong song-cycle, but we've certainly got it ...)
• Q: Have you a second copy of xxxxx?  A: Thank you for flagging that up - we'll order it!
• Q: Sorry it's late ....  A (glancing inside at date-label. 1989):  Why, thank you very much!
• Q: I can't find xxxx!  A (after a careful search): Neither can we. Another order pending!
• Q - well, more of a statement than a question - "She lost it - it wisnae me!" 

And lastly, let's cheat a little. These queries from outside the Conservatoire weren't made the same day, but they were challenging:-

• I need a DVD travelogue about Scotland, and it has to be in French ... 
• I want a book that tells me ALL about music of ALL periods, and writing it, like a music student would be given.  (ONE book?!)

Jewish Music Institute

The Jewish Music Institute is an independent institute based at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.  An excellent resource for finding out about Jewish music, and the library staff are keen for their collections to be known about.

From the Jewish Music Institute's homepage:-

"We are the Jewish Music Institute. We curate, educate and celebrate – bringing to life this rich seam in world culture. Our mission encompasses the music of the Jewish people wherever they are and wherever they have been, preserving and developing this great heritage for the benefit of present and future generations.

We are an independent arts organisation, established in March 2000 at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, after 18 years of successful operation under the name of the Jewish Music Heritage Trust. JMI is a national focus bringing Jewish music to the mainstream British cultural arena for people of all ages, backgrounds and cultures."

Whittaker Library, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland - Library Opening Hours

Whittaker Library

Christmas Opening Hours

Friday 13 December           9-5

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No Weekend Opening

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Monday 16 December       9-5

Tuesday 17 December    11-5

Wednesday 18 December 9-5

Thursday 19 December    9-5

Friday 20 December     9-1.45

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No Weekend Opening

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Monday 23 December      9-5

Tuesday 24 December Closed

Christmas Day to 2 Jan closed

Friday 3 January                9-5

Saturday 4 January          10-4

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Normal hours from Monday 6 January 2013

 

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* If you've forgotten to renew library books, remember you can login via the library catalogue to access your account. You need your user number and PIN.

* There are plenty of useful library guides via Mahara, and course reading lists on Moodle, should you feel inspired to do a little studying after Christmas! 

Season's Greetings from the Whittaker Library Staff and a happy Hogmanay when it comes!

Progress in Library-Land (Whittaker Library Moves with the Times)

We found a picture of the old library in our first building, Glasgow's Athenaeum.  Things have moved on a bit since then!

 Then .... and Now!

Elevator Pitch - Promoting the Whittaker Library

A Very Brief Powerpoint!

How do you promote a library in three minutes?  Karen was up for the challenge, today.  After the Freshers' Week round of library introductions telling students what the library has to offer, this week it was time to share what the library can offer to academic staff.

Here's her Elevator Pitch for The Whittaker Library, devised for a meeting of part-time teachers and lecturers.

What We would Tell New Students

We're revising our Whittaker Library guides.  Whatever our staff and students play or sing, there's a guide to our library holdings.  And now we're working on the general guides - all the stuff about what we lend, how long we lend it for, how you can renew things, what happens with orchestral or choral materials ... and so on.  Sure, there's a lot on our website, but folk like to pick up a leaflet when they're in the library, too.

But then I started thinking.  What else would I tell new students?

Keep an accurate list of everything you read.  Keep it electronically, whether with software (Mendeley, Zotero, or Endnote) or just a well-formatted Word list.

Even if you haven't taken notes on a book or journal article, you could make a quick note of what it was about. Even a sentence will do - it might help you later when you're trying to remember what you read, or where you read something!

Always have a notebook handy, or use Evernote on your electronic devices - or some other cloud-based document.

If you're a research student, sign up to Zetoc (http://zetoc.mimas.ac.uk/) or JournalTocs (http://www.journaltocs.ac.uk/) - "Toc" stands for Table of Contents.  These services scan journal contents pages, then you get sent email alerts when new articles are published in your field.  Cool, eh?

https://twitter.com/

Tweet Tweet Tweet Tweet Tweet Tweet Tweet

The Whittaker Library is on Twitter.  Please follow us @WhittakerLib, then you'll get to hear breaking news immediately!

Donations to the Library - folksy but ...

Rather quaint, this - a book of Scottish tunes with a hand-embroidered cloth cover.  Lovely, you'd think.  This folksy charm comes with dust, pong, and a dried squished spider for added garnish.

Luckily we do already have several copies of this edition!

Ronnie Gibson extols virtues of Atholl Collection at A K Bell Library

Read Ronnie's blogpost here.  The Atholl Collection is a superb resource, and Ronnie's post comes as a timely reminder of the historic Scottish music treasures that it contains.

The Challenge!

Hello, everyone!  This blogpost is carefully crafted for our new first year music students here at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.  This is a link to the powerpoint that I used in our recent catalogue demo.

If you're one of this talented crowd, your assignment is this:-

Please use the catalogue to find three specific items (see below), then email details of these items to the CCS Coordinator, using your new Conservatoire email account.  Please state your name and course.

For each item, we need particular information:-

• Author or Composer,

• Title,

• Publisher,

• Date (if known) and

• Library shelfmark.

 

And this is what you'll be looking for:-

1. A book about your instrument (or composition/conducting)
2. A CD of music for your instrument (or a composer/conductor that you admire)
3. A piece of printed music for your instrument.

Does the library have a role to play?  I ask you! Of course we do! 

Read the JISC report here:

http://infteam.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2012/02/23/does-the-library-have-a-role-to-play-in-the-digital-humanities/

Here's how it begins:-

Does the library have a role to play in the Digital Humanities?

What role does the library have to play in the increasingly data driven, technologically evolving humanities?

Humanities and the social sciences have traditionally been disciplines aligned closely with the institutional library and its resources and services. Increasingly, in my conversations with librarians, there is a concern that while the library as a space remains popular, this masks a growing distance between the services the library provides and the needs and expectations of researchers (to say nothing of undergrads).

As subjects like digital humanities find themselves transformed by their engagement with technology, is the library facing the threat of redundancy?

There has been a flurry of research recently including the RLUK report: Re-skilling for Research and JISC Collections’ UK Scholarly Reading and the Value of Library Resources, exploring the evolving role of the library in supporting researchers....

Late 18th century hymns and psalms

You never know what'll turn up next ...

A donation of two old bound volumes is proving very interesting.  The first is a collection of late 18th century hymns and psalm tune publications - and an abbreviated Messiah for pianoforte or organ and voices!  Published in Dublin, who knows where they've spent the past 212 years or so before ending up in the Whittaker Library at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland?
Before 'Whittaker' gets over-excited, he's off to have a quick coffee, then it'll be time to catalogue the second volume.

Athenaeum Library

Before the RSAMD moved to Renfrew Street, we were in the old Athenaeum building, in Nelson Mandela Place / 179 Buchanan Street.

Before the Whittaker Library, we were just the Athenaeum Library.  And this is what we looked like:-

Athenaeum Library
(before RSAMD moved to Renfrew Street, Glasgow)

Lots more pictures of the Athenaeum here.