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Thursday 23 May 2013

Faculty of Arts Trip to Boston Spa 22 May

Yesterday Amber Regis, DLC for School of English, and I took 30 PGRs and Faculty of Arts researchers on a special coach trip to Boston Spa. Here we all are looking happy after a successful day in the Reading Room doing our research!
We arrived shortly after 10am and collected our reader passes and locker keys. You are only allowed to take a pencil and notebook into the reading room, so we had to leave our bags in the lockers. Some people had brought their laptops, which can be done by pre-arrangement.

When we went into the lovely peaceful reading room there were our piles of pre-ordered books and journals waiting for us. It is also possible to order more items on the day but they only go down 3-4 times to collect other items, so this needs to be kept in mind when you plan your trip.You can pre-order up to 16 items by checking the British Library catalogue:
You need to pick items with a "Document Supply" shelfmark - other material may be in London at St. Pancras. 

We worked through until 12.30 when most of us went off to the nearby restaurant and had lasagne, chips and garlic bread for £1.75!!! There were vegetarian options too. They also did puddings with custard, sandwiches, biscuits, cold and hot drinks. My coffee was only 75p. What a bargain! There is a card system for paying for lunch. Everyone was most impressed with the catering. You could pop in and out for drinks etc. but the smokers had a short walk to a nearby smoking shelter!

We all finished our research day and handed our books back just before 4pm as the reading room was closing and got back on the bus. We were back in Sheffield for 5.30pm. All in all an excellent experience and everyone enjoyed it- especially the peace and tranquillity and opportunity to concentrate away from email and interruptions.

Did you know that the Library runs a free minibus trip once per month - on the first Tuesday of the month? You can book onto it and pre-order your readings through the Library. For more information see our page here:

It is also possible to visit the British Library at Boston Spa under your own steam. If you have a car you can drive to Wetherby. Perhaps you could team up with some other researchers and share driving and petrol costs. If you need to use public transport you can get there by going to Leeds on the train from Sheffield and there is a local bus from Leeds to the British Library at Boston Spa. For more information on visiting the Boston Spa Reading Room have a look at the British Library webpages here:

We hope after this more researchers in the Faculty of Arts will use the Library minibus service.

Tuesday 14 May 2013

Information skills sessions running this week

Wednesday 15th 12:10-12:30: Bite-size in the IC: 'Five quick tips for a better grade'.
Making information work for you: come along to this session for some top tips on finding the best information for your needs and using it wisely. 
Be a Sheffield Graduate: be information literate.
No need to book, just turn up- Collaboratory 2.

Friday 17th 12-1: 'Searching for Researching' at 301 Student Skills and Development Centre
Are you an UG researching for the first time? Book here to find out how to get the best information for your needs- where to search, how to search and what to do with the information you find. 

Tuesday 7 May 2013

Writing a literature review?

Are you planning a literature review?  If so, you may want to have a look at our our Information Skills Tutorial: Producing a literature review.


Producing a literature review can be a complex process, and it can be difficult to know where to start.  
Our tutorial breaks the process into 7 steps, and provides advice, strategies and further resources to help you through each one.    


Seven steps model


Have a look at our Information Skills Resource for advice on referencing, database searching, using Endnote and much more.