Library PC access and printing - redux

Last month we switched over to individual logins on library, and indeed all campus student network PCs. Students now login with their student id number and their date of birth, in dd/mm/yyyy format, with the relevant information taken from our management information system. It has recently become apparent however, that some students' date of birth has been entered into our management information system in American date format, mm/dd/yyyy. Hence, if you can't login to student PCs in the library, please try entering your password in the format mm/dd/yyyy. If that doesn't help, inform a member of library staff at the issue desk, and we should have the problem rectified within 24 hours.

Getting access to e-books: a gentle reminder

The library has purchased subscriptions to a number of e-books accessible through Dawsonera. In order to view books through Dawsonera, you need a username and password. We have tried to be super efficient and have created usernames and passwords for as many students as possible. You can perhaps save yourself a little time by checking to see if your account already exists. If it doesn't, we'll make one for you, but you may have to wait up to 24 hours before we reply to you. Suppose your name is Clark Kent. There are two rules we use for creating usernames: if your name is Clark Kent
1) Join together the first name and the last name, in lower case. Hence your username would be clarkkent OR
2) Join the first initial to the first name, in lower case. Hence your username would be ckent.

Your password is always your student number

If neither option works, contact myself or Laura Rooney-Ferris

Website feature of the day

Library Blog

If you’re reading this, then you’ve already located the library blog under ‘library information’ on the home page.

The library blog is your way of keeping up to date with events in the library, not just during library week but throughout the term. We use the blog to post details of new resources, databases and trials, alert you to events in the library and generally keep up to date with library news which may be of interest to DBS students and staff.
It’s also your way of commenting on new features and services or just getting your voice across to us.

Now that you’ve located the blog…make sure to keep coming back!

Website of the day

We close out website week with a subject focus on Law.

Today's website of the day is;

Cardiff Legal Abbreviations

This site is a good place for new law students to get to grips with legal abbreviations. It provides a database of legal terminology which can be searched by the abbreviation or the title.

Some other general law sites worth exploring are...

Constitutional Law by country

LLRX –Law Library Resource Xchange

Library quote of the day

'I've been drunk for about a week now, and I thought it might sober me up to sit in a library'

'The Great Gatsby', Ch. 3.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, American Novelist (1896-1940),

Website feature of the day

Subject Portals

Want help locating good resources in your subject area?

Located under ‘library resources/subject portals’

Library staff have compiled documents indicating reputable sources in all the subject areas covered at DBS. Subject portals let you know; the classification numbers for locating books on your subject in the library, provide links to your subject journal holdings on the A-Z and a valuable list of reputable web resources. The subject portals are a good place to get started if you are gathering information for an assignment.

Website of the day

The subject focus today is Philosophy, website of the day is...

Critical Thinking web

This site is an online resource with tutorials, guides and downloads to help students develop reasoned, logical arguments and sharpen their critical thinking skills. As the site is based out of the University of Hong Kong, it is available in Chinese as well as English

Some other useful sites worth investigating are;

Guidelines on reading Philosophy


Essay writing handbook for philosophy students

Library quote of the day

'The student has his Rome, his Florence, his whole glowing Italy, within the four walls of his library. He has in his books the ruins of an antique world and the glories of a modern one’

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American Poet (1807-1882)

Website feature of the day

Multilingual audio tours

Want to get an introduction to DBS libraries in your own language?

Located under ‘library information/audio tours’ are podcasts in; English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Mandarin and Hindi

These podcasts can be downloaded so you can take a walking tour of the library or listen on your MP3 player in your own time.

Website of the day

Saturday's feature is on Business, management and current affairs sites.

Website of the day is ...

Docuticker

Provides daily reports from Government agencies, NGOs, think tanks and public organisations. It’s archive is searchable back to 2004 and reports cover a range of sectors including; Investments, entrepreneurship, political processes, consumer issues, social & cultural issues and technology. Adding an RSS feed to Docu ticker is a good way to keep up with current affairs

Other sites worth investigating are...

Biz/ed

Management gurus

MBA Depot

MIT course materials

Silo breaker news feed

Library quote of the day

'The true University of these days is a Collection of Books'
Thomas Carlyle, Scottish essayist & historian (1797-1881)

Website feature of the day...Library Virtual Tour

Library Virtual Tour

Want to get an introduction to DBS libraries and their collections?

Where? - Located under 'library information/video tours' on the home page of the library site (or just click the link above)

The Library's virtual tour serves as a guide through DBS Library for current and prospective students. It provides an overview of the locations, layout, collections and services of the Library's which should help new students navigate the library and find out what is on offer there.

Take the tour now and find out what the library can offer you...

Website of the day

Today's featured subject area is Film Studies.

Website of the day is ...

FILM PHILOSOPHY MAGAZINE

Website of the academic journal Film Philosophy this site features a full text searchable archive of articles on film aesthetics and philosophy dating back to 1997. Also features book reviews and an open forum email discussion group for cinephiles eager to share their enthusiasm for film.

Some other sites worth looking at are;

David Bordwell's Cinema site

6degreesfilm

Drews script-o-rama

Daily Script

Library quote of the day

In my day the library was a wonderful place.... We didn't have visual aids and didn't have various programs...it was a sanctuary.... So I tend to think the library should remain a center of knowledge

Norman Mailer - American Novelist (1923-2007)

Librarian of the day

Benjamin Franklin (1706 -1790)

American founding father, diplomat, writer and inventor, Benjamin Franklin – now most recognisable as the face of the 100 dollar bill, was also a librarian. Though he left school at the age of 10, Franklin’s name would become eternally linked to the pursuit of personal liberty and freedom of speech. On leaving school, Franklin was apprenticed to his half brother, a printer and publisher of the New England Courant to which the young Franklin also made clandestine contributions. Franklin later acquired The Pennslyvania Gazette (around 1730) and between 1732-1757 his editorial skills and urbane writing style in the Gazette Magazine, General Magazine and the hugely successful Poor Richard’s Almanack which initiated into common usage many well known American proverbs and sayings (largely on the virtues of frugality). Such titles raised the distribution and popularity of serial publications. He would later attribute his ability to better himself to his time in the printing and publishing trade and among his achievements during this phase of life he is credited with establishing the first franchised printing shops. Eager to spread the printed word to all sections of society, Franklin established America’s first lending library and the first free public library; The Library Company of Philadelphia in 1731 which also served as the Library of Congress from the revolutionary war until 1800. Franklin served as its Librarian and then its secretary from 1746 to1757. His impact on the growth and development of libraries in America went further and he is also credited with contributing to the founding of America’s first medical library; The Pennslyvania Hospital Library, the Library of the American Philosophical Society and the University of Pennslyvania Library. He also contributed personal texts to the libraries of Harvard and Yale and at the time of his death in 1790 his personal library was said to have held 4276 volumes.

Tell us what you think - and you might win a €50 HMV voucher!

Remember to have your say on the new library website by filling in the online survey on the home page and you could be in with a chance of winning a €50 HMV voucher.

We'll use the comments and suggestions you give us to inform future development of the library's online presence...so what are you waiting for - tell us what you think!

Website feature of the day

Electronic Reading Lists


Want to see the core text books on your course and the details of their availability in the library?
Where? Located under 'Library Resources' on the library website

Electronic reading lists on the library site link directly to the course code group of core titles on the library catalogue allowing you to see all titles on your modules’ reading list at once and their availability in the library.
The reading lists indicate the codes and titles for the module (ie PSH182/PH185 Introduction to philosophy). The module code or title can be used as a search term in the advanced search function on the library catalogue to return details of all the titles on that module and links to other module reading lists these titles are recommended on.

Further details on how to search for your reading lists through the library catalogue are detailed below in the Oct 17th post titled 'reading lists on the catalogue'

Note that not e-reading lists are not yet loaded for all modules, if you module is not there please advise the library or email laura.rooney@dbs.ie with a copy of your reading list

Website of the day

Today's focus is on Psychology and Psychoanalysis

Website of the day is ...
Experimental Psychology Lab


This award winning site pioneered web based psychological experiments. Allows you to participate in and view experiments as well as providing help on conducting experiments and featuring recommended texts. The archive & history section gives an overview of completed experiments. Current experiments include: views on the US presidential election and computer game player strategies

Other useful sites are...

Scholarly psychology resources on the web
British Psychological Society - Consciousness and experimental psychology section

Classics in the history of Psychology

Library quote of the day

Libraries are as the shrines where all the relics of the ancient saints, full of true virtue, and that without delusion or imposture, are preserved and reposed

Francis BACON, English Philosopher (1561-1626)

Librarian of the day

David Hume (1711-1776)

Described by no less an authority than the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy as the “most important philosopher ever to write in English” served as librarian to the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh between 1752 and 1757, where he found the time to write his History of England.

Born in Edinburgh, the young David was something of a child prodigy, attending the University of Edinburgh before his 12th birthday. Rejecting a career in law, Hume spent time in England, and then France, where after many discussions with the Jesuits of La Fléche College, he wrote A Treatise of Human Nature. Although recognised today as a widely and deeply influential work, Hume himself had no illusions concerning its reception at the time stating "It fell dead-born from the press, without reaching such distinction as even to excite a murmur among the zealots". It did however attract sufficient notice to mark him as a sceptic and an atheist in a time and a place that looked unfavourably upon such attitudes. As recently as 15 years before his birth, an 18 year old Edinburgh university student named Thomas Aitkenhead was hanged for charging that Christianity, and indeed theology in general was a load of “nonsense”. Thankfully Hume was not subjected to the same fate, but his atheism denied him a number of academic positions. Instead of settling into academia, Hume accompanied his diplomat cousin on trips to France and Italy, where in 1748, Philosophical Essays concerning Human Understanding (later published as An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding) was written. After returning to Edinburgh in 1752, in his own words "the Faculty of Advocates chose me their Librarian, an office from which I received little or no emolument, but which gave me the command of a large library." Hume’s time as a librarian was controversial, and after pressure from “zealots” he resigned in 1757. In 1763 he moved to Paris as private secretary to the British Ambassador, where he befriended the likes of Diderot and Rousseau. The latter accompanied Hume back to England in 1766, before the friendship ended with a paranoid Rousseau accusing Hume of masterminding an international anti-Rousseau conspiracy. Hume moved back to Edinburgh in 1769 and died in 1776, not before arranging the posthumous publication of the Dialogues concerning Natural Religion, his most controversial work.

In his writings Hume questioned ideas of personal identity arguing that there is no enduring "self". He dismissed standard accounts of causality asserting that our ideas of cause and effect (falsely) come from our experience and not though reasoning. Hume argued against accepting the testimonies of seemingly miraculous events, unless the possibility of falsehood of those testimonies are even more miraculous and as a consequence, suggests the rejection of religions that are founded on such testimonies. Hume provided powerful criticisms of the standard theistic proofs for the existence of God, including the argument from design. Reinforcing his atheistic reputation, he also advocated purely secular moral theories, basing morality in the pleasing and useful consequences that result from our actions

Hume’s influence on modern philosophy cannot be understated. Among the many thinkers who acknowledge debts to Hume are Adam Smith, Immanuel Kant (another librarian!) Jeremy Bentham and Charles Darwin.

To sum up his genius here is a quote from the man himself...

“The plain consequence is (and it is a general maxim worthy of our attention), `That no testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous, than the fact, which it endeavours to establish; and even in that case there is a mutual destruction of arguments, and the superior only gives us an assurance suitable to that degree of force, which remains, after deducting the inferior.' When anyone tells me, that he saw a dead man restored to life, I immediately consider with myself, whether it be more probable, that this person should either deceive or be deceived, or that the fact, which he relates, should really have happened. I weigh the one miracle against the other; and according to the superiority, which I discover, I pronounce my decision, and always reject the greater miracle. If the falsehood of his testimony would be more miraculous, than the event which he relates; then, and not till then, can he pretend to command my belief or opinion.”

Website feature of the day

Getting Good Grades’ Online academic support

Want to know what makes a good essay, brush up on your referencing skills, prepare for exams or find out how to locate and assess information for assignments, essays or disserations?

The library’s online academic support programme ‘Getting Good Grades’ features podcasts, online tutorials, interactive quizzes and tips to help you research, write and reference your coursework.

The ‘Getting Good Grades’ section of the website aims to provide practical academic support which can be accessed anytime anywhere

‘Getting good grades’ can be accessed from the site by clicking the ‘Getting Good Grades’ icon

Website of the day

Todays sites focus on English Literature and drama

The site of the day is ...

Postcolonial & Postimperial Literature: an overview

An exhaustive overview of Postcolonial Literature broken down by author and geographical area, includes extensive listings of 20th century British writers like Anthony Burgess, Hanif Kureishi and Zadie Smith. There are also links to theoretical sections on themes, gender issues and political influences.

Some other useful sites English Literature students might like to check out are;

Brief outline of Medieval English Literature

Midsummer nights dream; annotated hypertext version

Dictionary of symbolism

English Literature on the web

Library Quote of the day

"I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library."

Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges

Argentine Poet, Novelist, short story writer and critic Jorge Luis Borges' library career began in 1937 with his appointment to the post of assistant librarian in a small Library in Buenos Aries. Borges, along with the other members of the Argentine Ultraism movement gained a reputation for radicalism and unconventionality. For his criticism of the military regime of Juan Peron (which began in 1946) Borges was removed from his library position and reassigned the job of chicken inspector. Following the fall of the Peronist regime in 1955 Borges was appointed director of the National Library of Argentina, though by now his eyesight was deteriorating rapidly. He also accepted the position of chair of English and North American Literature at the University of Buenos Aires. His literary career continued to garner him international accolades; he shared the international publishers’ for mentor prize with Samuel Beckett in 1961.

Following Juan Peron’s return to power in 1973, Borges relinquished his directorship of the National Library. Within his prolific literary output his lifelong passion for the printed word (which endured after the loss of his sight) is evident. His short story ‘The Library of Babel’ features several of his central themes; infinity, reason, scholarly pursuit and in its evocation of an infinite library has recently been seen as a prophetic statement on the internet.

Website feature of the day - Webfeat /Search all resources

Want to search across all the library’s resources at once?

Clicking the ‘search all resources’ button on the home page of the website brings you into a full list of all the library’s resources (catalogues, databases and ebooks). Enter your search terms, select a date range & the resources you want to search across to access all the library’s holdings on the topic in seconds.

Off campus Webfeat provides access to all the Library’s electronic resources. Login through the ‘search all resources’ button using your student number & date of birth to reach the list of resources & search all or select the individual database you want to browse.

Website of the day - Marketing & Market Research

Todays focus is on Marketing and market research.

Free Research

A very useful source of FREE MARKET RESEARCH reports
covering a comprehensive range of companies and industry sectors. You will need to register to receive reports, but as the name implies – its free!

Another good site is - Know This - A useful source of marketing information, tutorials and case studies

Library quote of the day

'When we run over libraries persuaded of these principles, what havoc must we make? If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames; for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion'

David Hume, Scottish Philosopher

Famous Librarian of the day

Giovanni Giacomo Casanova
Writer, soldier, spy, legendary seducer... Librarian (?).
The worlds most infamous lover spent his twilight years as Librarian to the Count Von Waldstein of Bohemia taking up the role in 1785 and remaining there until his death in 1798. It was while working as Librarian to the Count that Casanova wrote his memoirs (published in 1797) which documented his amorous escapades and sealed his reputation as an erotic adventurer and the least stereotypical librarian likely to appear in this weeks list.

Website Week Trivia...Famous Librarian of the day

Philip Larkin

Original grumpy old man, English poet, novelist and Jazz critic Philip Larkin may be immortalised for a poetic output which gave us lines like ‘they f**k you up, your Mum and Dad./they may not mean to but they do’ and ‘ I work all day, and get half drunk at night’ but Philip Larkin is equally revered as a Librarian. His library career began in 1943 at Wellington Library, Shropshire and included a stint as Sub librarian of Queens University Belfast in 1950. It is the role of University of Hull Librarian which he assumed in 1955 for which he is most remembered. Among his notable achievements in this post was his decision to computerise the library’s catalogue, making Hull the first library in Europe to install the GEAC system in 1979.

Library Quote of the day

'Libraries are reservoirs of strength, grace and wit, reminders of order, calm and continuity, lakes of mental energy, neither warm nor cold, light nor dark. The pleasure they give is steady, unorgastic, reliable, deep and long-lasting. In any library in the world, I am at home, unselfconscious, still and absorbed..'

Germaine Greer

Website of the day

Each day during website week we will recommend a website of the day within a specific subject area, hopefully covering the full range of subjects offered at DBS across the week.

To start off website week we're focusing on general reference sites, so there should be something here for everyone.

Todays website of the day is...

Internet Public Library
A useful reference site which acts as a complete library online covering everything from Dictionaries & encyclopaedias to subject specific collections and useful links and tips on searching the internet

Some other useful general reference sites are;

Bartleby.com (Columbia reference) - In addition to dictionaries and encyclodedias Bartleby also includes full text of classic fiction and verse as well as the famous Bartleby quotations section.

Thesaurus.com - Searchable online Thesaurus.

Citation Styles Online - Guide to referencing and citation styles.

Intute virtual training suite - Online training to help you navigate and assess internet sources.

Website feature of the day A-Z Journal finder

Want to know what print & electronic journals the library subscribes to?

Where: Located under 'Library resources' OR 'Electronic resources' on the library website

The AZ list provides a complete searchable source of information on DBS Library’s journal access detailing the full text availability and providing a direct link to the database or site where full text is available.
The AZ is searchable off campus but to access databases you will need to login through ‘search all resources’ with your student number & date of birth.

Click HERE to begin searching the AZ list

Welcome to DBS Library Website Week!

All this week (Oct 20-27th) we will be focusing on the new library website, highlighting some of the library's new online features and helping you get the most out of the library website.

Daily features of website week will be;

• a daily spotlight on one of the library's new online features


• a recommended website of the day


• some trivia, with a famous librarian of the day

There will also be a chance for you to have your say about the library website by filling in our survey questionnaire (either online using the link on the home page or filling in a copy in the library) and you could win €50 HMV voucher.

If you have any questions about any of the library's online facilities you can send them to laura.rooney@dbs.ie

So check in here throughout the week to learn more about what the library website has to offer ...

Reading Lists on the Catalogue

It is common practice to recommend texts to supplement what lecturers are teaching you in their classes. One of the functions of the library is to act as a repository for those texts. We hope students, as library users, will not just restrict themselves to material that appears on these reading lists, but anyway... We are currently adding to the online library catalogue the contents of these reading lists and grouping them together. To illustrate, if you were to search for “research and saunders”, one of the results would “Research methods for business students” (4th edition). If you look at the detailed record, you will see, the field “related”. Click on the image to expand it.



Each of the headings under "Related" represents a DBS course module. Thus you can see that the book appears on more than a few different reading lists. By clicking on the underlined text you can see all books on that reading list that are held by the library. Clicking on the second line, "HRM Dissertation (DUBPDM005)", will show you the all the books recommended for reading by students of that course that are held by the library. The library strives to have at least one copy of every book that appears on a reading list, but in a few instances, that simply isn't possible.



In the advanced search option, you can search specifically for reading lists by selecting "Group" in the "Fields" drop down menu, and either typing the module code or the module title.

Links to these module reading lists appear on the library website under library resources.

Library website week Oct 20 -27th

As you may have noticed the library has recently launched a new website.

To showcase the new site and highlight some of the Library's new online resources we will host a website week from October 20th to 27th.
Some of website weeks attractions include; website of the day, daily spotlight on new online resources, student feedback opportunities and prizes.

Keep an eye on the blog and the library homepage for updates.

Class numbers

Books in DBS libraries are classified using the Dewey Decimal System. All books in the library have a number from 000-999, with each number representing a different topic. In the near future, a small list of Dewey numbers of interest to DBS students will be posted. The books that interest you will all have a Dewey class number, the Dewey number for that topic. In the advanced search section of the online library catalogue, you can choose to search by class (select ‘Class’ in the ‘Field’ drop down menu). Enter the Dewey number for your topic and press enter. For example, selecting class number “658.83” [Market Research] will return all books with this class number.

If you are looking for books on your reading list, but they are all out on loan, why not use the class number of the book to find alternatives? It would be very unusual for the books on your reading lists to be the only books ever published on that subject :-)

Reservations Policy

A new term has started and queries by e-mail have shot through the roof. A subset of e-mail traffic that we receive could be described as book reservation queries and go something like this:

"Hi,

I'd like to reserve the following books... I will collect them on... Ta!"

Sorry,we'd love to comply but we simply cannot do this. Books in DBS libraries can only be reserved if there are no standard loan copies available on the shelves. We understand that it may be frustrating for you if it's difficult to get to the library on a regular basis to access essential materia. However it would be equally frustrating for other students who are looking for the same material, but would be told "sorry, you can't have those books, we're keeping them for Jane Smith who's going to collect them on Friday".

Once you have a PIN, you can reserve book from the online library catalogue To do so:
Click on 'Enter online library'
Click on 'Login', and enter your student number and PIN in the appropriate boxes on the right of the screen.
Search for a book, and go into the detailed display. Click on the box labelled 'Reserve'. If standard loan copies are available (coloured in green), you will not be able to proceed with the reservation.