Come say hello at Freshers Fayre!

Myself and colleague Suzanne will be representing Swansea Met Library at Freshers Fayre this Friday, so do come and say hello and learn more about the library service and resources we have to offer you.

It's taking place from 11.00am - 3.00pm in the main hall up at the Townhill Campus, and there will be lots of stands to browse and freebies to gather! The library will also be giving away some goodies, such as bookmarks and chocolates, so we look forward to seeing all you new students there!

European Day of Languages

Bonjour! Shwmae? The special days are coming thick and fast at the moment! Today we celebrate the different languages spoken throughout the world and the rich cultures they represent.

You can find out all about the European Day of Languages on the official website. There’s also lots of information on the CILT (The National Centre for Languages) website, including some ideas of how you might mark the day. Why not slip some greetings or phrases from different languages into your conversation today? If you need some help to boost your vocabulary, your Swansea Met library might be able to help. Use the catalogue to search for the language you’re interested in to see what sorts of books and CDs are available.

Hasta luego!

It’s National Punctuation Day

I was going to leave out the apostrophe before that ‘s’ to see how many of you spotted it, but thought better of it! Strictly speaking, this is an American affair as National Punctuation Day was created in the USA, but we thought we’d take the opportunity to promote some of the library’s resources to help you with your semi-colons and ellipses.

Everyone’s favourite guide to proper punctuation, Lynne Truss’ Eats, shoots and leaves, is available at shelf mark 421.1 TRU in Griffith Library and Townhill Library. Borrow a copy and learn how to wield a comma with confidence! And that’s not all; search the library catalogue with the keyword punctuation and you’ll see we have lots of books that can help you to punctuate correctly. Perhaps it’s worth flicking through a few before embarking on your first assignment of the year!

If you’d like to find out more about National Punctuation Day, there’s a website which includes explanations of when to use particular punctuation marks, photos of punctuation gaffes and suggestions for how you might celebrate the day.

Welcome all international students!

Myself and my colleague Philippa are looking forward to meeting the new intake of Swansea Metropolitan international students, at the international student welcome event event taking place at Townhill theatre tomorrow morning. We will be on hand to say hello, and to answer any questions you might have about the library service and our resources.  We've also got some freebies to give away, so we'll see you there!

Words of wisdom from Lemony Snicket...

& a nice library quote for a Friday afternoon! :-)

http://nypl.tumblr.com/post/30993497256/a-library-is-like-the-best-person-you-know

Welcome new Foundation Art students!

We'd like to extend a warm welcome to all the new Foundation Art students who began their studies at Swansea Metropolitan earlier this week!

Your library induction sessions will take place next week, where we will introduce you to the wide-ranging resources and services that we have to offer to help you with your course. In the meantime, if you are on the Dynevor campus please feel free to come and take a look around the Griffith Library - you'll find us next to main reception.

We look forward to meeting you all soon!

It’s Roald Dahl Day!

The wickedly funny children’s author is celebrated every year on the 13^th September, which was his birthday. Roald Dahl Day 2012 is a particularly special one as the BFG (Big Friendly Giant, for those who don’t know), one of Dahl’s most iconic creations, is 30 this year! Click in to the Roald Dahl Day website for quizzes, activities and “50 Scrumdiddlyumptious Ways to Celebrate Roald Dahl Day”! We’ll be tweeting our favourite words on our Twitter page and posting some Roald Dahl-related quotations and information on our Facebook page, so keep an eye on both today. It’s going to be gloriumptious!

Man Booker shortlist announced

Yes, it’s that time again! The 2012 Man Booker shortlist has been announced. The judges have chosen the following titles:-

Tan Twan Eng, The Garden of Evening Mists (Myrmidon Books)
Deborah Levy, Swimming Home (And Other Stories/Faber & Faber)
Hilary Mantel, Bring up the Bodies (Fourth Estate)
Alison Moore, The Lighthouse (Salt)
Will Self, Umbrella (Bloomsbury)
Jeet Thayil, Narcopolis (Faber & Faber)

As usual, to promote reading amongst our students and staff, Swansea Met Library will be ordering these titles and they will be available to borrow from Townhill Library once they’ve arrived. Check our catalogue for details.

The overall prize winner will be announced on the 16^th October. We’ll keep you posted, of course, but in the meantime, find out more on the official Man Booker website.

Welcome to Swansea Met’s new PGCE students!

Yes, the new academic year starts today at Townhill as we welcome our new Primary and Secondary PGCE students for 2012-13. Croseo! The PGCE groups are usually enthusiastic users of the library and we’re sure this year’s cohort will be no exception (no pressure, guys!). The Primary and the Secondary PGCEs will be collecting their university ID cards from Townhill Library today. Staff from Registry and Finance will also be on hand to help anyone who hasn’t yet completed the enrolment process.

Tomorrow, the Primary group will have their library induction with Philippa Price. (Looking forward to meeting you all!) Don’t worry Secondary students, library inductions will be scheduled for you in your subject groups over the next few weeks. Bookings from your tutors are already coming in thick and fast. In the meantime, if you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask!

It’s lovely to see lots of students about the place again. Have a great first week, and enjoy the rest of your year at Swansea Met too!

Word of the day!

If, like me, you enjoy discovering new words and their meaning, you can sign up by email to receive a 'word of the day' via the Oxford English Dictionary online.

SMU Libraries subscribe to this resource with access via the Library web pages at http://www.oed.com/ As well as giving you a comprehensive dictionary with over 600,000 words from the English language, there is also a wealth of other useful and interesting information on the site, such as the history of words, quotes and a thesaurus.

Today's OED word of the day is 'orrery', and if that is new to you it means 'a mechanical model, usually clockwork, devised to represent the motions of the earth and moon (and sometimes also the planets) around the sun'.

So check it out...you'll be hooked!