Wednesday 27 February 2013

100 years of Aston Martin!

This year Aston Martin, makers of high performance cars, celebrate their hundredth year!
 
To commemorate their centenary, they’ve chronicled one hundred years of manufacture, design and racing with a series of vintage photographs and a video on their website.  Not only do they feature lots of fantastic cars, they’ve added dramatic footage of an Aston Martin being landed on top of the 1,000 ft Burj Al Arab hotel’s helipad in Dubai! 
 

If you’re interested in racing cars, car design and production, we have many automotive resources in the Owen Library at Mount Pleasant.  We recently added the Motor Sports Association’s ‘Competitors and Officials’ 2012 Yearbook’ to our shelves; you can also view it online through the Websites section of the Applied Design and Engineering’s link on our Library Home Page.  While you are there, why not take a look at the other websites we’ve listed, e.g. SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) and IMechE (Institution of Mechanical Engineers)?

 As well as having a range of books and journals in the Owen library, we also subscribe to a database called IEEE / IET Electronic Library (IEL)  (available through our Applied Design and Engineering’s Databases link).  IEEE / IET Electronic Library (IEL) is an excellent resource which contains technical literature covering electrical engineering, computer science and electronics, conference proceedings and standards.  (To make it easier to say, IEEE is often referred to as ‘I-Triple E’.)

If you need any help accessing any of these or any of our other resources, please don’t hesitate to ask!

 

 

Wednesday 20 February 2013

Introducing your newest Swansea Met library…


Welcome to the final instalment of our blog series profiling Swansea Met libraries. This week it’s time to introduce you to our newest library, located at Swansea Business School…


Swansea Business School Library opened its doors on Monday 24th September 2012 after many months of moves and reorganisation, involving a lot of hard work by library staff (and Pickford’s removals!). The library is conveniently situated on the first floor of the new campus building, making it easy for staff and students to pop in between lectures. We have a vast selection of books, journals, DVDs and CDs relevant to all subjects taught within the Faculty as well as daily newspapers, dissertations and lots of other useful reference material.











 
We’ve tried to create a friendly and welcoming environment with different ‘zones’ to suit all your study needs. There are 47 open access computers available along with printing, scanning and photocopying facilities…there is also free Wi-Fi throughout the library for anyone who wants to connect to the Internet via their laptops, tablets or smartphones. We have a quiet study area for those who need to concentrate, as well as a group study area for students that want to discuss their ideas with friends and classmates. If you need to practice a presentation or group project we also have a seminar room that can be booked in advance and is equipped with a PC and large plasma touchscreen. All our zones are comfortably furnished with a colourful range of desks, chairs, study booths, sofas and soft seating, so there’s always somewhere to take the weight off your feet when it all gets too much!    



Library Assistants are always available at the main issue desk to help you but, if you are in a hurry, why not use our self-service point to issue, return or renew your books and to pay fines by debit card. If you have a more detailed enquiry or would like to know how to access our online resources pop over to the enquiry desk and speak to one of our Librarians (mugshots below!)…they can also arrange library tours and more detailed training sessions upon request.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            


*See our library website for opening hours and contact details.

Thursday 14 February 2013

Ways to love your Swansea Met Libraries this Valentine's Day!

Today is St Valentine's Day, and is a perfect opportunity to express your love for your Swansea Met Library!

 - You can go on a blind date with a book from our Townhill Library (see our blog post from Monday http://smulibraryblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/how-about-blind-date-with-book-this.html)

- Why not tell us what you love about our new Swansea Business School Library by going to our Facebook or Twitter pages and taking part in the poll?

- If you don't already follow us on Facebook, Twitter or our Blog, now is the perfect time to do so - anyone new liking/following us up until Thursday 21st February will be entered into a draw to win this lovely heart-shaped box of chocolates!



So there are several options to get involved with your Swansea Met Library today! After Thursday 21st February, we'll pick one new follower at random to win the scrumptious chocs (please note, this competition is only open to Swansea Met students/staff). Happy Valentine's Day!

Monday 11 February 2013

How about a blind date with a book this Valentine’s Day?

If you think you might be stuck in a reading rut, or are just someone who likes surprises, take a look at the Valentine’s Day display on the ground floor of Townhill Library. It could be time for a ‘blind date’ with a book! Our lovely library assistants have selected some novels from our collection for you to pick up and borrow. Not so unusual, you might think, but the difference this time is that all the books have been wrapped up, so you can’t tell what they are! Each book has a little synopsis on the wrapping to give you a clue as to what it’s about, so if you see one that takes your fancy, here’s what you need to do:-

·         Take the book to the counter to borrow it (if you use self-service, no peeking at the title on the screen!)

·         Unwrap the book when you get home to find out what it is

·         Read it

·         Return or renew your book within three weeks when the due date is up

·         Let us know if you enjoyed your date!

So there you go. Easy! Stop by and pick up a surprise next time you’re in Townhill. The display will be up all month.

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Introducing your Swansea Met library - The Owen Library

The third part of our series highlighting the libraries here at Swansea Met features the Owen Library, at our Mount Pleasant campus!

The Owen Library is named after former Principal John Trevor Owen, who was Head Master of the Grammar School and Principal of the Technical College here from 1901 – 1910.

 
 
 
The library holds the majority of print stock - a wide selection of books and journals - for the various Faculty of Design and Engineering courses taught at Mount Pleasant. It occupies both the ground and lower ground floors of the stand-alone building (opposite Registry/Finance/Café Metro) and offers a variety of services and facilities. We also have quite a nice view of the bay!

 
 

One facility to highlight early on is the lower ground floor computer room, where from time to time we hold online resources user education sessions, to help students (and staff!) learn how to find useful library e-resources i.e. journal articles, conference proceedings etc. To arrange a group session, just ask your lecturer to contact Erica Fothergill, FADE Subject Librarian.

Other notable facilities include our self-service kiosk where you can borrow, renew and return your items independently. We have thirty-seven networked PCs available for student use, and you can also print or photocopy onto A4 or A3, in either black and white, or colour.


In addition to being the location where FADE students now hand in assignments, the Owen Library has a multi-purpose room on the lower ground floor for collaborative work, which you can use for group discussion. The room is kitted out with a whiteboard to aid you with your discussions/presentation work, and colourful, informal seating! Other more formal study space is available on the ground floor, plus there is WIFI throughout the building if you are bringing your own mobile device.

 


Our team of staff are on hand to help with you any library-related queries, so do please come and ask!
Our term-time opening hours are:

Monday – Thursday: 8.45am – 8.00pm
Friday: 8.45am – 7.00pm
Saturday: 10.00am – 4.00pm
Sunday: 12.00pm – 5.00pm
(For vacation hours and further information, see the library web site)

Please note that the days and times for the handing in of assignments are:
Mondays to Fridays 10.00am – 3.00pm only

Additionally, on display in the library is a folio of architectural designs and plans for the Free Grammar School of Swansea, produced by architect Thomas Taylor between September 1852 - January 1855. Also in the building we have two lovely stained glass windows – one next to the main staircase, and the other on the first floor (which is occupied by the Faculty of Art and Design).

For more information regarding the services or resources at the Owen Library, either call in, or telephone us on 01792 481 141. You can also keep up to date by following us and the other Swansea Met Libraries via our Blog, Facebook & Twitter pages.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Friday 1 February 2013

Read a good book lately? Librarywales.org wants to hear about it!

Librarywales.org is the website for everything you need to know about Welsh libraries. They’ve recently set up a blog (‘Read a good book lately?’) that lets members of the public, book groups and schools share their reviews of books. So if you’ve read a fantastic novel recently and would like to let others know about it, head to librarywales.org and submit your thoughts. Everyone is welcome to contribute to this bank of reviews, so it should develop into an excellent place to get some inspiration for your next read!

Did you know that you can also rate the books and DVDs that you borrow from Swansea Met libraries? Our catalogue now has a feature that lets you give a star rating to any of our items. To do this, just head to our new catalogue (you might see it called Prism 3), log on to ‘My Account’, then use the search box to find your book or DVD and click on the star rating you think it deserves. This is a great way to let your fellow students know which books are most helpful, and also which ones aren’t so good!